Focus on Safety - Awareness Through Education

The city of Naperville consistently ranks among the safest cities in the country. Safety is no accident. The Naperville Police Department is dedicated to working with residents to provide a safe place to live, work, and do business.

A key part of effective crime prevention is focusing on current crime trends affecting the community and sharing that information with residents. Awareness of the types of crime occurring and implementing specific crime prevention strategies to avoid becoming a victim and keep your family safe is the focus of the Department of Health’s Safer Naper campaign this month.

For example, in the first six months of 2022, crimes against property, including car theft, car burglary, and theft of car parts (such as catalytic converters) top the list of crime trends.

There were 83 reported car robberies in the first six months of 2022. Did you know that over 80% of these crimes occur in unlocked vehicles?Stop openly inviting criminals to steal your belongings. Take your valuables away, lock your car, and carry your keys with you to deprive this crime of opportunity.

Locking your car is a great deterrent or deterrent to someone trying to steal or steal your car. and 83% of these thefts were to unlocked vehicles! , is to lock the car. “Lock it or lose it!”

Naperville, like many other cities across the country, is rife with catalytic converter thefts. In fact, catalytic converters accounted for most of the 94 auto parts reported stolen in the first half of 2022. Catalytic converter theft has skyrocketed over the past few years as profits are made from the precious metals they contain. What can be done to prevent catalytic converter theft?

• Watch out for suspicious people around you. If there are people around your car, call 119 immediately. Often there is one person watching and he is already under the vehicle.
• Listen to power tools in use at night (Sawzall).
• Always lock the vehicle and set the alarm. Increase alarm sensitivity if possible.
• Please park in a well-lit area.
• Engrave the vehicle’s VIN number on the catalytic converter. This will help police identify the converter if it is recovered.
• Paint the catalytic converter a bright color with hot automotive exhaust spray. Spray painting negatively impacts the resale value of the part. So I’m not really interested in separating the thief from the car.
• Equipped with a catalyzer shield as an anti-theft measure.

The Naperville Police Department has many ways for residents to learn more about crime trends and prevention strategies. Sign up for Naper Notify, visit the City’s website and NPD’s social media sites, and access the Public Safety Incident Map.

For more resources and prevention tactics for this month’s Safer Naper campaign, visit www.naperville.il.us/ASaferNaper.

Until next month… stay conscious and stay safe.