Police see ‘nonchalant’ attitude as operation targets idling, unattended vehicles

Calgary police say many drivers just don’t seem to care about the risk of leaving their car idling unattended.

Officers wrapped up Operation Cold Start on Thursday.

In a two week period, they found 697 people with their keys in the ignition in a two week period, and 32 cars were stolen while left to warm up.

Acting Staff Sgt. Lon Brewster said while the numbers slightly improved during the education campaign, but they still need to get the message out.

“There was more than a few people that just didn’t seem to really think it was a big deal, and I just don’t think those people realize what happens once these people take these vehicles,” he said.

He said stolen vehicles are often used in smash and grabs.

“They’ll use it for secondary offences that involve drug offences, I mean, you name it. It’s not your neighbour stealing your vehicle to get a nice warm drive to work, it is people that are looking to do bad things once they have it,” Acting Staff Sgt. Brewster said.

It also uses up valuable police resources.

“Our officers — we are at risk every single day that we step into that uniform and we step into that car, and we acknowledge some of that risk, but if we can have some of our citizens help us out and not make it an easy get for these people, to get these vehicles, that helps us,” he said.