What are they for?
The initative aims to raise people's awareness of car crime in their area. Thefts from motor vehicles are opportunistic and often what makes one car more vulnerable to car crime than another is something left on display in the car. Thieves look for sat nav's, CD players, mobile phones, even cash and coats and bags left on display. They also look for sat nav cradles, phone cradles, and the tell tale sucker mark that says you have a sat nav (often people leave them in the glove compartment - and this is the first place the thief will look).
Over the years we've used a number of ways to remind people not to leave items on display in their cars and to be on the look out for thieves. We've put posters up in car parks, advertised on pay & display tickets, advertised in the papers, on the backs of buses and the radio. Talking signs have been used in other areas to great affect to warn people not to drop litter and to watch out for thieves so we thought we'd give them a try to see if they would work in the Wigan Borough.
Our Research & Information team analysed car crime stats for the Borough to find where thefts from motor vehicles were highest and where the signs were most likely to have an affect. We decided that the signs should be moved around the Borough at regular intervals to make sure they were in the right area. We created a priority list based on the figures and chose central Leigh as our starting point for the scheme.
How do they work?
The signs are solar powered and are fastened high on the lamppost to prevent them from being vandalised. A sensor is activated when people walk by and a warning message is played. The messages include: reminders to residents not to leave valuables on show in the cars, warnings about pick pockets operating in the area.
Examples of the messages include:
- Police warning – motorists have you locked your car?
- Police warning – motorists do not leave valuables on display in your car
- Police warning – pick pockets operate in this area
- Police warning – beware burglars operate in this area
- Police warning – keep your mobile phone safe – street robbers operate in this area.
Where are they now?
It took 20 hours to fully charge the solar powered signs. Here are all 20 talking signs enjoying the May sun in our back yard.
Following rigorous testing at our state of the art test facility (our back yard), we contacted the residents living near to our intended first site to make them aware of the scheme. So far the response has been positive from residents. The signs were then fitted to lampposts in the following streets:
The 12 streets we have selected to pilot are:
- Bouhey Street
- Chadwick Street
- Charles Street
- Church Street
- Gordon Street
- Henrietta Street
- Hope Street
- Oxford Street
- Romford Ave
- Rydal St
- Ullswater Street
Evaluation
Once the signs have been in operation for a few months we will look again at the crime statistics in the area to see if they have made a difference. We will review the initiative at regular intervals.
