Car theft down in QC

Car theft incidents in Quezon City have been reduced by at least 55 percent last year, according to the Quezon City Police District Director

QCPD chief Senior Superintendent Magtanggol Gatdula, in his report to Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr., noted that cases of car theft were down from 312 in 2005 to 175 in 2006, an indication that the QCPD is able to deal with the problem.

Gatdula acknowledged, however, that the 175 cases remain alarming. "We all want a zero-crime incidence in the city," he said.

Gatdula said they expected an upsurge in the number of car theft incidents from the third quarter up to the fourth quarter of 2006 due to the holiday season and the upcoming national and local elections in May but it did not materialize.

This, he said, was a result of various anti-crime strategies initiated and implemented by his force.

Despite their success last year, Gatdula ordered the city’s law enforcers to continue to work harder to enable Quezon City to win the war on crime.

In line with this, Gatdula called for the implementation of anti-car theft operations, which include random police inspections of establishments suspected of selling parts from stolen cars.

"We will be targeting in our operation street carnappers, financers, marketing/peddlers and buyers of carnapped motor vehiclels," Gatdula said.

The QCPD reported that 23 areas in Quezon City registered the most number of car theft incidents while the vehicles were parked. These areas include Manresa, La Loma, Sto. Domingo, Banawe, Del Monte, Vasra Village, San Francisco del Monte, SM North EDSA, Project 7, Visayas Avenue, Tandang Sora, among others.

According to QCPD statistics, Police Station 10 (which covers Barangays South Triangle, Kamuning, Piñahan, Santol and Laging Handa) recorded the highest number of incidents with 43, which included six cars that were forcibly taken.

Police Station 4 (which covers the Novaliches area) registered the fewest number of incidents with only one.

According to studies, the types of vehicles that are most likely to be "stolen while parked" because of their protruding key slots are Nissan Sentra, Nissan Frontier, Nissan Santa Fe, Hyundai, Nissan Safari, Toyota Revo, Toyota FX, Toyota Models 90-98, Mitsubishi Lancer L200/L300, Pajero models 94-96 and Honda Esi/VTEC/Lxi/LX, SIR.

Meanwhile, vehicles that never figured in carnapping incidents while parked because of their build-in security features are Toyota Vios, Toyota Altis, Toyota Fortuner, Toyota Innova, BMW, Mercedez Benz, Mitsubishi Pajero 2006 model, Honda models 2005-2006, Ford cars and Nissan Patrol.