Preventing Crime

Monday, 4 November 2013 at 05:30

WPS marking Crime Prevention Week through a number of local initiatives.

Woodstock Police are reminding the public to "lock it or lose it" during Crime Prevention week.

This week, across Ontario, residents are being encouraged to crime-proof their homes, businesses and take the necessary measures to protect their property, including their vehicles.

Constable Steve McEwen says they're addressing an ongoing issues within the city. "This year, Woodstock Police we're going to be out, actually I'm going to have some auxiliaries assist me and we're going to be out doing some lock it or lose it. Checking vehicles, making sure they're locked and not leaving valuables in their vehicles. And we'll just be letting people know and we'll actually put a little notice on their vehicle".

Police will not only be out speaking to a number of groups and schools throughout the week, they'll also be set up Tuesday at Walmart and Thursday at Canadian Tire to answer questions and offer advise on helping to prevent crime. The MasoniChIP program will also be in attendance for parents to register their children or update their files. Their kits offer photos, video, voice recordings, digital fingerprints, dental impressions, saliva swabs as well as traditional statistical information of the child.

McEwen points out that crime prevention is not just the work of the police. "Crime prevention, this is something for everyone to think about. It's not just the police, we can't do our job without the public helping us. When people see something, call us. If something seems suspicious, if they see some suspicious activity, don't be afraid to call us. If we check it out and turns out to be nothing than at least we can tell you that. It's really about the police and the public working together to deter crime".

Home and business owners are also being encouraged to crime-proof their property.

And police are also highlighting their website, www.woodstockpolice.ca where people can register their bike, check out the most wanted and crime plot crime mapping pages.