{"id":2198423,"date":"2026-10-14T14:07:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T11:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2198423"},"modified":"2026-10-14T14:07:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T11:07:46","slug":"vehicle-thefts-at-highest-level-in-decade-in-devon-and-cornwall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2198423","title":{"rendered":"Vehicle thefts at highest level in decade in Devon and Cornwall"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/c19c\/live\/3a4a3080-c7d8-11f1-9671-5b70c6e774ea.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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\"PressPress Association<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Organised crime gangs are behind the rise in vehicle thefts say police<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Vehicle thefts in Devon and Cornwall have risen to their highest level in at least a decade, with police linking the increase to organised criminal gangs and increasingly sophisticated theft techniques.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Devon and Cornwall Police recorded 1,550 vehicle theft offences in 2025-26, up 60.8% from 964 in 2015-16 and up 11.4% from 1,392 in 2024-25, Home Office data shows.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Police said organised crime groups were responsible for a significant proportion of vehicle thefts, with offenders increasingly using technology such as electronic key cloning to steal vehicles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Despite a recent drop, vehicle thefts are up almost 50% in England and Wales compared with a decade ago, according to the figures.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"AbbieAbbie Brookes-Morris<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Criminals use technology such as electronic key cloning to steal vehicles<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Vehicle thefts in Devon and Cornwall remained relatively stable between 2015-16 and 2020-21, when there were 964 and 955 offences respectively, before climbing sharply to 1,491 offences in 2022-23. Although offences fell slightly to 1,392 in 2024-25, they rose again to 1,550 in 2025-26.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Det Ch Supt Ben Deer from the force, said: “The increase in vehicle theft offences is being driven by a range of factors, many of which are being seen across the UK.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Organised crime groups are thought to be responsible for a significant proportion of thefts, targeting vehicles for resale, dismantling them for parts or moving them through wider criminal networks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Theft methods have also become increasingly sophisticated, with offenders using technology such as electronic key cloning and signal amplification to “bypass modern vehicle security systems”, Deer said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Vehicles could often be stolen quickly while leaving few forensic opportunities for investigators.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“The rising value of used vehicles and vehicle parts has also made this type of offending more profitable,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He also said vehicle theft investigations had become more complex because offenders often operated across force boundaries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Devon and Cornwall Police remains committed to pursuing all available lines of inquiry and bringing offenders to justice wherever the evidence supports it,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"The<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Sgt Owen Messenger advised vehicle owners to take simple steps to make themselves less of a target<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Devon and Cornwall Police has its own advice on how to deter vehicle thieves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Sgt Owen Messenger, from the force’s road casualty reduction team, said vehicle owners can take simple steps to make themselves less of a target.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He said one of the easiest ways to protect keyless vehicles was to keep keys in a Faraday pouch or box, which blocks the electronic signal that thieves can use to gain access to a car. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He also suggested keeping keys away from front doors, where criminals may be able to amplify the signal from outside a property.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He also recommended aftermarket immobilisers and alarm systems to make a vehicle as difficult and time-consuming to steal as possible. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Essentially you’re trying to make it more and more difficult for the thief to take your car,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“The longer it takes them to do it, the less likely they are to try and do it, because there’s more chance of them getting caught.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Messenger said he personally fitted aftermarket security systems to cars he believed were at greater risk of theft because he considered the extra expense worthwhile to protect his investment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Follow BBC Cornwall on <\/i>X, <\/i>Facebook<\/i> and <\/i>Instagram<\/i>. Follow BBC Devon on <\/i>X, <\/i>Facebook<\/i> and <\/i>Instagram<\/i>. Send your story ideas to <\/i>spotlight@bbc.co.uk<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cw30eq06y248o”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/c19c\/live\/3a4a3080-c7d8-11f1-9671-5b70c6e774ea.jpg”] Press Association Organised crime gangs are behind the rise in vehicle thefts say police Vehicle thefts in Devon and Cornwall have risen to their highest level in at least a decade, with police linking the increase to organised criminal gangs and increasingly sophisticated theft techniques. Devon and Cornwall Police recorded 1,550 vehicle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-2198423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2198423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2198423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2198423\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2198423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2198423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2198423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}