Colonel David B. Mitchell, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police and chairman of the Vehicle Theft Prevention Council, said motor vehicle theft not only creates a significant loss for each victim, but it impacts other crimes. Watch Your Car is a police partnership with our citizens that will give us a greater ability to identify stolen vehicles before they are stripped for parts and apprehend criminals before they use the stolen vehicles to commit other crimes. Your Car program to provide uniformity throughout Maryland. This means added protection for Maryland vehicle owners whose cars are stolen and driven out of state. At today's event, Secretary David L. Winstead announced MDOT will be erecting 1,000 signs at state parking facilities to remind motorists to prevent auto theft by locking their cars and taking the keys.
Parking lots are prime targets for auto thieves.
Statistics show more that 60 percent of stolen vehicles were left unlocked and more than 25 percent had the keys in them when stolen. We are pleased to assist in this effort by making these signs and installing them in our parking facilities. With nearly 200 Department owned parking lots providing more than 58,000 parking spaces, these signs will help to inform thousands of motorists of the easy steps they can take to prevent vehicle theft. Allstate Insurance provided a car stripping demonstration today to show how quickly a stolen car can be dismantled. Professionals completely dismantled a car into saleable parts in less than 15 minutes.