Residents are advised to take extra precautions to try and prevent the theft of their motor vehicles. Following several reports of KIA electric vehicles being stolen, your local Beat Team officers would like to take the opportunity to remind residents how they can make their vehicles less of a target to opportunistic and organised criminals.

Steps you can take to help protect your vehicle include:

- Ensuring that your vehicles are locked and secured after each use.

- If in possession of CCTV/ring doorbell, ensuring that these are in working order and recording.

- Making sure that keys are not left by doors or open windows (Thieves are known to be able to ‘hook’ keys through the letterboxes and open windows using nets / coat hangers etc)

- Ensuring homes are secured with doors and windows locked at night.

- Making sure that key fobs are kept in RFID Faraday pouches. These pouches disrupt the signal from your key fobs and so cannot be mimicked to unlock keyless entry/start vehicles.

Residents are being asked to remain vigilant and that any suspicious activity or behaviour is to be reported by telephoning 999 (if the crime is being committed) or by telephoning 101 or using the live chat and/or the online reporting tool both of which can be found on the Kent Police website.

Further advice on vehicle theft prevention can be found at https://www.kent.police.uk/cp/crime-prevention/keeping-vehicles-safe/preventing-car-vehicle-theft/

Additional advice on general crime prevention can be found at http://www.kent.police.uk/cp/crime-prevention/