Car Crime Prevention Roadshows are being held in Nottingham in a bid to make motorists aware of how best to protect their vehicles from criminals.

Over the next few months, shoppers will be given advice about they can avoid becoming targets.

The roadshows are being held as part of a campaign, called Operation Mutual, to tackle car crime in Nottingham and South Nottinghamshire.

A number of organisations that make up Nottingham Crime and Drugs Partnership and the South Nottinghamshire Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships are working together to reduce the number of items stolen from vehicles and the volume of vehicles damaged and stolen. Staff from these organisations will be at these roadshows to hand out leaflets, air fresheners and give information to people using car parks.

The campaign’s main messages are:

• Don’t leave valuables in your vehicle on display or otherwise
• Use car alarms and steering locks if you have them
• Park in well-lit areas, next to other vehicles
• Use car parks with the Park Mark sign where possible

The events are taking place at the following locations:

Broxtowe Borough

• Chilwell Retail Park, Beeston Lane, Chilwell on Saturday 29 December 2007
• Morrison's, Derby Road, Eastwood between Monday 10 December to Monday 17 December 2007

Gedling Borough

• J. Sainsbury's, Sir John Robinson’s Way, Arnold for the opening of the extended store on Thursday 29 November 2007
• Victoria Retail Park, Netherfield on Friday 30 November 2007

Rushcliffe Borough

• ASDA Superstore, Loughborough Road, West Bridgford and Morrison's, Gamston on Friday 23 November 2007.
• Grantham Canal Car Parks on Wednesday 12 December 2007.
• A car crime roadshow recently took place at Cotgrave Place Golf Club in Cotgrave on Thursday 15 November 2007.

Nottingham City

• The Queen’s Medical Centre car park on Friday 7 December 2007, with Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service.
• Further events are planned at ASDA in Hyson Green, Castle Meadow Retail Park and at the Showcase Cinema car park in the Lenton Industrial Estate
.

Chief Inspector Steve Haylett of the South Nottinghamshire Division says: “These car crime prevention roadshows are being held to raise awareness of what the public can do to protect their vehicles.

“ Having a vehicle broken into can be extremely frustrating and inconvenient. You can minimise that risk by parking in well lit areas and securing your vehicle properly with a car alarm if you have one, and using a steering lock. Most importantly don’t leave anything on display in your vehicle as even a few pounds on the dashboard could end up costing you the price of a window repair.

“Take electronic items with you, especially satellite navigation systems, whenever you leave your vehicle too. They are designed to be removable, so make sure you remove them, even if only leaving the vehicle for a few minutes.”

Chief Inspector Satinder Sharma of the city division adds: “ Nottinghamshire Police want people to enjoy the festive season and anyone coming into the city to do their Christmas shopping should remember to take sensible precautions to avoid car crime. We’d also encourage people to use the park and ride facilities available to help reduce the volume of traffic in the city centre area.

“Our message to would be thieves is that we are already deploying a variety of tactics which include capture cars and capture dogs, as well as conducting covert and overt operations. So if you don’t want to spend Christmas behind bars - think again before committing car crime in the city or the conurbation.”