2 September 2013

Project Safe Plate heads to Woden

| Barcham
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ACT Policing’s ongoing efforts to secure number plates against theft is heading south.

ACT Policing and Westfield Woden are joining forces to prevent number plate theft with a free program this weekend, Project Safe Plate.

This Saturday (September 7) between 10am-2pm, motorists are encouraged to bring their vehicles to the Westfield Woden Callam Street car park, opposite Hoyts, where officers will fit vehicle plates with tamper-proof screws.

Number plate theft is linked to other offences, such as petrol drive-offs and burglaries. This project is aimed at reducing the opportunity criminals have to use stolen plates as a criminal tool.

Officer-in-Charge of Woden Police Station Sergeant Steve Hogarth said he is looking forward to speaking with members of the community within his patrol zone about crime reduction strategies they can implement.

“Most people would generally only interact with police when something has gone wrong. Project Safe Plate is a great opportunity to for us to engage with the public in a positive way and it’s also a great way for people to meet their local police officers,” Sergeant Hogarth said.

“It’s also a quick and cost-free way to save yourself the huge inconvenience of having number plates stolen. The taper-proof screws are a great way to protect your vehicle and we’ll even install them for you.”

In the last financial year, 1381 number plates were reported stolen in the ACT and, of that, 338 were stolen in the Woden patrol zone.

Project Safe Plate is a whole-of-ACT coordinated effort, against action items contained within the ACT Government’s Property Crime Reduction Strategy. This year ACT Policing along with Westfield, Gungahlin Marketplace and It was also been held in Civic and Belconnen.

For more information on Project Safe Plate and future events go to police.act.gov.au.

If your registration plates are stolen, report it to ACT Policing on 131 444

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how do I remove the tamper proof screws if I want to swap my plates to a new car?

m_ratt said :

johnboy said :

Let’s say you’ve got an unregistered white commodore.

Your neighbour has a registered one.

With no rego stickers you nick your neighbours plates and blammo! RAPID fooled.

Just don’t let your neighbour see it. Best not to park on the street.

Except that your neighbour will report the plates stolen quick smart (at least quicker than a real, live cop would notice a vehicle without plates), and you’ll be busted by RAPID anyway, this time with stolen plates as well as an unregistered vehicle….

anyone want an unregistered white commodore, I have one in my front yard

justin heywood9:41 pm 02 Sep 13

On a side note, do the point to point cameras flag the use of stolen plates?

Could be useful if plod knows what kind of vehicle is using stolen plates, especially if it’s an easily recognisable car. If they bother about such things of course.

johnboy said :

Let’s say you’ve got an unregistered white commodore.

Your neighbour has a registered one.

With no rego stickers you nick your neighbours plates and blammo! RAPID fooled.

Just don’t let your neighbour see it. Best not to park on the street.

Except that your neighbour will report the plates stolen quick smart (at least quicker than a real, live cop would notice a vehicle without plates), and you’ll be busted by RAPID anyway, this time with stolen plates as well as an unregistered vehicle….

johnboy said :

Let’s say you’ve got an unregistered white commodore.

Your neighbour has a registered one.

With no rego stickers you nick your neighbours plates and blammo! RAPID fooled.

Just don’t let your neighbour see it. Best not to park on the street.

That only works until your neighbour reports her plates stolen, at which point RAPID pings you for driving around with stolen plates on.

No, the reason plates are being stolen – and have been for several years now – is for the very simple crime of attaching stolen plates, filling up the white commodore with $90 worth of premium unleaded, then driving off without paying.

johnboy said :

Isn’t it great that to save on sticker printing we’ve created a whole new class of crime!

The lack of stickers may lead to an increase in number plate theft but, as note in the OP:

“In the last financial year, 1381 number plates were reported stolen in the ACT and, of that, 338 were stolen in the Woden patrol zone.”

and not providing stickers only started this FY.

johnboy said :

Normal screwdrivers work fine for screwing them in.

The head just won’t let it screw out.

Waist of time, plates are soft aluminum so they just jam the screw driver behind the plate and tear it off.

I see people changing their numberplates all the time in the carparks close to the ACT Shopfront.
How does that then work?

johnboy said :

Isn’t it great that to save on sticker printing we’ve created a whole new class of crime!

I don’t get it – what’s the relationship?

Let’s say you’ve got an unregistered white commodore.

Your neighbour has a registered one.

With no rego stickers you nick your neighbours plates and blammo! RAPID fooled.

Just don’t let your neighbour see it. Best not to park on the street.

thebrownstreak694:05 pm 02 Sep 13

farout said :

Why not just post these tamper proof screws to ACT motorists with the Rego Renewal notice?

Perhaps they could post the special screwdriver also.

Normal screwdrivers work fine for screwing them in.

The head just won’t let it screw out.

Why not just post these tamper proof screws to ACT motorists with the Rego Renewal notice?

Isn’t it great that to save on sticker printing we’ve created a whole new class of crime!

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