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One third of all cars broken into in residential areas left unlocked - Gardaí

Gardaí say that the vast majority of cars that were broken into or stolen from were done so using the key.

NEW FIGURES HAVE indicated that one third of all vehicles broken into in residential areas had been left unlocked by the owner, Gardaí said.

Figures from the Gardaí show that 8,571 vehicles parked at residential locations were broken into between 2015 and 2017. Of those, 2,824 were reported to be unlocked.

The analysis also shows that the most common location for these thefts was in driveways, and that half of the thefts occurred between midnight and 7am across the country.

The vast majority of cars illegally entered or stolen from are done so using the vehicle’s key, which is usually obtained in burglaries according to the Garda Stolen Motor Vehicle Investigation Unit.

Gardaí are advising people to avoid leaving keys on the hall table or near a door or window where they could be easily taken.

On average, over €340,000 worth of property was stolen from vehicles each year. Property stolen included cash, laptops, tools, sunglasses, jewellery and sports equipment.

The regional breakdown of thefts from unlocked vehicles between 2015 and 2017 is:

  • Dublin: 1,245
  • Eastern: 532
  • Southern: 411
  • Western: 261
  • Northern: 234
  • South Eastern: 141

Sergeant Kelvin Courtney from the Garda Crime Prevention National Centre of Excellence said that many thefts from vehicles are “avoidable” and are  appealing to drivers to lock their vehicle no matter where it’s parked.

shutterstock_731679484 Shutterstock Shutterstock

“Unfortunately, this poor practice has risen as 38% of vehicles were unlocked when they had property stolen from them in January 2018. We’ve even seen cases where two vehicles from the same household were unlocked and broken into.

“Sometimes it is impractical to remove tools and equipment from vehicles. In these cases, owners should take extra steps to ensure the safety of their property.”

He advises drivers to take extra measures if possible:

Additional locking mechanisms to vehicles should be fitted.
Consider a monitored vehicle alarm and tracking devices for valuable property.
Wherever you park your car or van, we would always advise you to take your property with you and ensure the vehicle is locked, alarmed and parked in a secure, well-lit location.

Gardaí have also advised people to “reduce the payoff to thieves” by marking and photographing the property and take a record of serial numbers, makes and models of their property.

Read: Flanagan’s message to Kinahan cartel working abroad: ‘There is no hiding place’

Read: ‘The answer lies with the Polish community’: Gardaí ask for help finding man missing since 2014

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73 Comments
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    Mute Marbles
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    Oct 31st 2019, 2:13 PM

    I can’t believe the news today.

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    Mute Roy Donovan
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    Oct 31st 2019, 2:30 PM

    @Marbles: it was a beautiful day up until this..

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    Mute Marbles
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    Oct 31st 2019, 2:32 PM

    @Roy Donovan: Walk on.

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    Mute Manbackonboard
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    Oct 31st 2019, 3:03 PM

    @Marbles: How long must we sing this song?

    56
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    Mute Thomas Maher
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    Oct 31st 2019, 3:19 PM

    @Marbles: all these puns are giving me vertigo

    43
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    Mute Brian Flavin
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    Oct 31st 2019, 4:13 PM

    @Marbles: McDonald’s disrespect

    8
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    Mute Frank Martin
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    Oct 31st 2019, 4:44 PM

    @Thomas Maher: Indeed, there are some very punny people on here

    8
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    Mute Declan McArdle
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    Oct 31st 2019, 10:46 PM

    @Marbles: … Elevation

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    Mute Greg Ward
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    Oct 31st 2019, 2:09 PM

    FFS – Cop on.

    147
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    Mute Colin Mcgahon
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    Oct 31st 2019, 3:03 PM

    Missing the big picture here why has Portugal still got sundaes and Ireland doesn’t

    134
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    Mute filthypete
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    Oct 31st 2019, 6:33 PM

    @Colin Mcgahon: coz it’s a lot hotter?

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    Mute Dave Hammond
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    Oct 31st 2019, 3:41 PM

    ah would stop – it was Portugal – if they had of made this mistake in Ireland itself I would see your point and faux outrage but FFS. Google Sundae ? How would that have worked , people getting knickers in a twist over nothing these days.

    89
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    Mute Declan Snow
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    Oct 31st 2019, 2:27 PM

    I just wish they’d bring the sundae back to Ireland

    79
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    Mute Steph
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    Oct 31st 2019, 2:47 PM

    @Declan Snow: Bring back hot fudge sundaes

    77
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    Mute Seán Corcoran BSc (Hons)
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    Oct 31st 2019, 2:22 PM

    Period Sundays. Nice.

    65
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    Mute Jack Johnson
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    Oct 31st 2019, 3:28 PM

    You wake up in the morning, you’ve got to read all the Sunday papers, the kids are running round, you’ve got to mow the lawn, wash the car, and you think “Sunday, bloody Sunday!”

    69
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    Mute The next small thing
    Favourite The next small thing
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    Oct 31st 2019, 3:45 PM

    @Jack Johnson: good man Alan, have a thumbs up

    19
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    Mute Marcus Massey
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    Oct 31st 2019, 8:48 PM

    @Jack Johnson: Really encapsulates the frustration of a Sunday

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    Mute ReallyBadHusband
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    Oct 31st 2019, 2:45 PM

    I Can’t close my eyes and make this go away

    37
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    Mute My Name is?
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    Oct 31st 2019, 3:50 PM

    It only a jasus ice cream

    30
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    Mute John Euro Cooke
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    Oct 31st 2019, 2:21 PM

    Portugal lol

    24
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    Mute Craic_a_tower
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    Oct 31st 2019, 3:20 PM

    They couldn’t just googled the expression before using it? There is tone deaf and willful ignorance. We don’t own the expression but there isn’t anything funny about any of the uses through history

    23
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    Mute Dave Hammond
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    Oct 31st 2019, 4:23 PM

    @Craic_a_tower: So you think the Portuguese people should have Googled the terms with ‘Sundae’ in advance to find out if it was offensive…… and that it was beyond tone deaf….. willful ignorance ? when even the Lord himself has spent the past 33+ years preaching to us that Sunday Bloody Sunday was not in fact a rebel song ….nonsense..

    26
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    Mute Lorcan OReilly
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    Oct 31st 2019, 6:43 PM

    @Dave Hammond: more so a multinational that spends millions on advertising. Look it was a mistake they apologized but they should be doing their research. Do you know how many people have to sign off on ad campaigns it wasnt just one guy. The apology and removal is an appropriate response.

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    Mute Mike
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    Oct 31st 2019, 7:25 PM

    @Craic_a_tower: I’d say you’re no craic at all. Get over yourself. Some joke getting offended by this.

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    Mute Dave Hammond
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    Oct 31st 2019, 7:26 PM

    @Lorcan OReilly: yep I do ( happend to have worked in Ad industry for years ) but in my opinion this is just complete nonsense…restaurants in the states sell St Valentines Day Massacres and nobody gets outraged and upset ….it’s just more PC / Faux outrage BS – they apologised in case they offended anyone , nobody has managed to find someone who was actually offended …it;s nonsense.

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    Mute Matt Connolly
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    Oct 31st 2019, 3:26 PM

    There’s more to Ireland den dis.

    https://youtu.be/6RTJ4vHoYUs

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    Mute Clancy
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    Oct 31st 2019, 4:09 PM

    Streisand effect. You get more bang for your buck by being banned. More column inches by causing offence. If you can’t be great be offensive, mediocre gains no cut through.

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    Mute Rob Hunt
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    Oct 31st 2019, 2:22 PM

    It’s always a small number of stores isn’t it?

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    Mute Paul Quirke
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    Oct 31st 2019, 6:50 PM

    Fatima from morketing got it slightly wrong :)

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    Mute Martin O Reilly
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    Oct 31st 2019, 5:05 PM

    Utter bullshite.

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    Mute Kevin Coyle
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    Oct 31st 2019, 5:32 PM

    Bono will have them in court for this

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    Mute Squiddley Diddley
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    Oct 31st 2019, 8:03 PM

    @Kevin Coyle: Nah, he took the name from a film.

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    Mute Sarah Clifford
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    Nov 1st 2019, 7:22 AM

    Great advertising for maccys thou

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