By Mary O’KEEFE

Recent vehicle burglaries have prompted Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station to begin a new program to educate car owners on how to not be a victim.

“Our volunteers [on patrol] will be doing routine checks of vehicles, mostly at local businesses,” said Deputy Jorge Valdivia.

If volunteers see items like iPods, purses, laptop computers and global positioning systems they will leave a card on the car’s windshield. The card will advise the owner not to leave the items in the vehicle, or at the very least to place them in the trunk and out of sight.

Burglarizing a vehicle is often a crime of opportunity. Car phising is an action where a suspect goes from vehicle to vehicle trying doors to find the ones unlocked. In cases throughout Crescenta Valley, expensive items have been left in both locked and unlocked vehicles. With locked vehicles, windows are often shattered to gain entrance.

The cards will be placed on the windshields of vehicles as a way to remind drivers to take precautions. When asked if the program might now identify tempting vehicles to those who burglarize, Valdivia said he thought the cards would be a deterrent.

“The cards will have the sheriff’s emblem on them,” he said.

The sheriffs hope the cards will act as a warning for those who are looking to burglarize vehicles letting them know that the area is being routinely patrolled.

The card program began this week.

  Mary Okeefe