ST. PETE, Fla. — It solely took St. Pete Police one day to offer away greater than 100 steering wheel locks. The division acquired them from Hyundai following a string of automotive thefts concentrating on Hyundai and Kia vehicles. It’s an issue ABC Action News first instructed you about in July.
Sgt. Cody Lance handles theft and property crimes for the St. Pete Police Department. He stated within the final two weeks, they’ve labored 36 automotive thefts. 12 of them concerned a Hyundai or Kia.
“A couple of months ago, we were hit by a nationwide trend of Kias and Hyundais being stolen by tampering with the ignition,” Sgt. Lance stated. “So they didn’t need a key to steal the car anymore, which is something we hadn’t dealt with for quite a few years in law enforcement.”
SPPD acquired greater than 100 steering wheel locks from Hyundai to curb the thefts.
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“It’s a big deterrent method, because if you are a thief and you see it on the steering wheel, you know, you might be able to use some tools and power through it,” he continued. “But why do that when there’s another car somewhere else that they might be able to get into?”
To many choosing the gadgets up, it comes at a time that they are on edge. Heather Dillman stated she grabbed one as a result of she’s weak to automotive theft.
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“Somebody actually just got their car stolen a few blocks away from us,” she acknowledged. “And I have a Kia Soul. I just got it. So it makes me feel safer.”
For Alissa Brinkley, the lock got here too late.
“I got home at 11:45, and I get a call at 1:20 or 1:30 saying that my car was damaged on the side of the road,” she stated.
Brinkley’s 2019 Kia Sportage was stolen.
“I’m like, ‘this can’t happen to me,’ but it did. It can happen to anybody at any time,” Brinkley stated.
While Brinkley was signing paperwork to launch her automotive to her insurance coverage firm, she noticed the steering wheel locks out there. Although she does not have a automotive in the mean time, she stated it will turn out to be useful for her subsequent automotive.
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“Anybody that has those cars, I will come and get one because I’m spending money now that I didn’t really have to spend to get transportation to and from school, to and from work,” she stated. “Today, I had to call off because I didn’t have my vehicle. And this was unexpected. So yeah, I will tell everybody come and get one because it’s not worth it.”
Sgt. Lance stated utilizing the lock is so easy, it solely takes about 20 seconds to make use of. It’s a bit of metal with a lock on it.
“You can extend it on the inside of your steering wheel,” he stated. “Essentially, this protrusion here acts as an inhibitor from you moving the steering wheel as it’s intended to be moved. If you put it on the right way, it bumps into something essentially your car, whether it be your leg or the door, and you’re not able to turn the wheel enough to safely or adequately drive the car.”
St. Pete PD is presently engaged on getting extra from Hyundai in addition to Kia.
