ICT Kicks Off Crime Prevention Program in El Paso

The Insurance Council of Texas (ICT) has joined with State Farm Insurance Co. in introducing the state’s Hide, Lock and Take program to law enforcement officials in El Paso. Both the El Paso Sheriff’s Department and the El Paso Police Department’s Auto Theft Task Force will be placing the signs in and around El Paso in an effort to prevent auto thefts and auto burglaries.

Mark Hanna with the Insurance Council of Texas said ICT has implemented the crime prevention program in 16 Texas cities with good results. “The signs reduce crime. Burglars aren’t interested in breaking into cars with nothing in sight and a locked car with no keys makes it harder for auto thieves,” said Hanna.

El Paso law enforcement officers will distribute 200 HIDE, LOCK and TAKE signs in the parking lots of shopping malls, restaurants, apartment complexes and other heavily congested areas. The signs were made possible by a State Farm grant that encourages education for motorists. State Farm has also been promoting the HIDE, LOCK and TAKE program with billboards across the state.

In Texas, an estimated 100,000 vehicles are stolen and another 250,000 are burglarized each year. It is also estimated that half of the vehicles stolen had the drivers’ keys left in the ignition.

ICT started the crime prevention program in Austin on March 2, 2005, and has since begun similar programs in Round Rock, Garland, Mesquite, Frisco, Celina, Highland Village, Houston, College Station, Lubbock, Beaumont, Galveston, Waco, Del Rio, Laredo and Brownsville. More than 1,000 HIDE, LOCK and TAKE signs are being distributed to Texas cities this month.

Source: The Insurance Council of Texas