FIGHTING THE RISING TIDE OF VEHICLE KEY THEFT 

- PIN-coded remote key alarm systems overcome key theft nightmare

Organised gangs and opportunist thieves alike are using increasingly devious methods to steal cars and then make them appear legitimate. Police say that gangs are going to extraordinary lengths to obtain the vehicle keys themselves - since this is the only way of bypassing complex security systems now installed in most cars.

By entering residential, office or leisure premises, thieves find it easy to take the car keys which are typically on the top or in the top drawer of a desk, or in the case of a house - a kitchen worktop, in an often-unlocked key cupboard or simply on a hook inside the door. Another favourite method is by "fishing" through letterboxes using a bamboo cane with a magnet attached to the end.

In London alone, 5,800 cars are stolen each month - that's 70,000 a year.
A third of all reported crime in London is car thefts or thefts from vehicles. A massive rise has been reported in the number of car dealers which have been broken into and the keys and cars stolen . . . 1998 saw two incidents; in the first six months of 2001, 180 cars were driven away from 43 break-ins. In the same period the Metropolitan Police investigated 1,491 key thefts of cars in the London. Burglaries and letterbox thefts accounted for 55 vehicles taken by stealing the key - nearly a third of the total.

The vehicle security industry is responding to this disturbing trend by developing the only sure way of counteracting the increasing problem of the theft of keys - personal identification. These products require the customer to enter a personalised PIN code on a remote key before disarmament of the alarm and immobiliser occurs. The system also prevents other unauthorised entry to the vehicle, for example by children.

PIN code technology can now be used without the need for dash-mounted keypads which can be unsightly and do not actually prevent the thief from entering the vehicle in the first place.