Car thieves ‘infiltrating vehicle manufactures to stay ahead of latest anti-theft tech’

4 October 2024, 10:02

Car thieves have been getting jobs at car manufactures so they can keep up with the latest developments in anti-theft tech.

They are then using everything they've learned at the manufacturers to develop devices that can easily break into keyless vehicles.

The National Police Chief's Council lead for vehicle crime, Jenny Simms, told the Times that criminals are looking at new ways of keeping ahead of technological developments.

Ms Simms also said: "Criminals infiltrate every organisation where there’s profit to be made. When you’re manufacturing cars that are of a significant value, manufacturers invest so much in their security systems to make sure that they can’t be infiltrated.

"But it would be naive of us to say that criminals aren’t looking at every way they can to be ahead of technology so that they can exploit it.

“Manufacturers are very, very alive to this and they work with policing to prevent criminals from infiltrating their companies, but criminals will infiltrate wherever they can to get ahead of the curve to exploit profit."

The police have been making efforts to recover stolen vehicles, including a "national week of action" that resulted in the recovery of 325 stolen vehicles. 196 arrests were made for the thefts of the cars, which had a total value of £4 million.

The plans to fight vehicle crime more aggressively are part of a scheme named Operation Alliance, which aims to tackle serious organised crime. The operation previously targeted chop shops and ports across the country.

Between April 2023 and March 2024, there were 129,159 vehicles reported as stolen, according the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

The National Vehicle Crime Reduction Partnership will be launched in October 2024, which will bring car manufactures together with the Home Office to prevent future car theft.