Reducing Vehicle Crime across the County is one of the priorities outlined in the Local Area Agreement document within the ‘Safer and Stronger Communities’ element. There is a commitment to reduce Theft of and Theft from Vehicles in Derbyshire by 19% from 9818 incidents (2003/04 baseline data) to 7953 incidents by 2008.

Each of the 8 Community Safety Partnerships is working towards this target reduction and has its own local targets to tackle car crime. These targets are in the local Community Safety Strategies 2005-08.

Community Safety funding has been allocated to carry out projects to tackle car crime hotspots. Initiatives include:

• Permanent signs in public and private car parks reminding drivers not to leave items in their vehicles 
• Audible warning devices in public car parks with a spoken warning advising drivers not to leave any items in their vehicles 
• Postcards delivered in high vehicle crime areas giving residents tips to reduce vehicle crime 
• Provision of metal poster frames and Home Office car crime posters for public places
  

Community Safety Partnerships have working groups to identify actions to reduce vehicle crime in their local areas. Some partnerships work together to achieve this. 

Examples of actions are:

• Researching hotspot areas and which vehicles are most at risk
• Using CCTV and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology to target offenders
• Campaigns to raise awareness with the public
• Targeting new drivers with advice on improving vehicle security
• Free etching in hotspot car parks
• Working with car park owners to encourage work towards the national ‘Safer Car Parks’ scheme   

see also: "Safer Parking"