July is National Vehicle Theft Prevention Month, and a member from the Perry Police Department discusses the importance of locking vehicles.

Perry Police Chief Eric Vaughn tells Raccoon Valley Radio that people can have misconceptions of small towns being safer. He emphasizes that some individuals take advantage of the “small town niceness” of residents leaving vehicles unlocked. Vaughn illustrates that people should remove keys from the engine and hide any valuables laying around.

“Either stow them under the seat or in the trunk, or remove them. If people do see those set of car keys or even a handful of change or (your) phone or whatever, they’re more likely to break into your vehicle. If they come up, don’t see anything in there, less likely they are to try and break into your vehicle, or get into your vehicle to steal your valuables.”

Vaughn stresses to not only lock doors for the protection of treasured items but advises against leaving children unattended inside of a locked vehicle.