LEAVING a laptop on the front seat of your unlocked car might seem impossibly naive, but for some motorists the message to not leave valuables on display has still not hit home.

Increasing numbers of thefts from cars have been reported in Aldershot since the start of the year and police are doing everything they can to educate people about securing their vehicles properly.

The reports either came in ‘dribs and drabs’, said PCSO Pete Coe as I joined him on patrol around Aldershot town centre on Monday, or heavily at once – with 11 reported over one night last month.

“It’s a way of thinking really,” he said. “The number of times we speak to a victim and they say, ‘Oh, I never leave it in the car’,” but they do.

“One woman recently left her iPod, laptop and handbag on show and left her front door unlocked – she was just asking for it to be taken.”

Several arrests have been made in relation to the thefts, including five teenagers aged between 16 and 18, but they have all since been released without charge. Despite that, officers are fairly sure they are looking for the same culprits each time.

“It’s not going to be a lot of different people,” said PCSO Coe. “We’re looking for a group of not more than 10.

“It doesn’t take a great deal of effort to get into a car and they’re just after anything that gets them some money.

“A tenner’s a tenner – a bit of weed or some drinks, whatever they’re into.”

For more on this story, see this week's Aldershot News and Mail, out now.

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