In their ongoing efforts to get people to "Lock It or Lose It`when it comes to their vehicles, Airdrie RCMP has released stats on vehicle thefts for the month of April and they show a marked jump from the previous month.  

Constable Dan Martin says it`s a bit unusual for the Airdrie RCMP to release crime stats.  ``Ìt`s not something we do often but we just wanted to put out another reminder.  We`re quite well aware that people talk about stolen vehicles on social media.  Our stolen vehicle numbers jumped in April from March, almost doubling.``

Martin says the Airdrie RCMP received 32 complaints of stolen vehicles in April, up from just 19 the previous month.  He says one thing is very clear.  If you take your keys out of your vehicle, it`s a lot less likely to be stolen.

``Of those 32 vehicles, half of them were stolen with the keys inside them.  Pretty good evidence to support that locking the vehicle definitely helps.``

The RCMP also released stats on the time of day that most vehicles were taken.  19 were stolen between 6:00 am and noon, which Martin says is another indicator that car thieves are looking for low hanging fruit, targetting vehicles that are easy to steal.  

``That`s a case of people starting their vehicles in the morning and letting them warm up.``

23 vehicles were stolen within Airdrie city limits and nine were taken from the rural area, something Martin says is understandable since the Airdrie rural area is a lot different from other rural areas in the province.

``It`s quite a populated rural area.  Homes are easily accessible with paved roads and such.  In daytime, it`s easy for someone to be driving up and down roads and looking for people who are away from their homes.  Criminals are opportunists quite often and they`re looking for vacated properties and easy vehicles to steal.``