BEND, OR -- A new Bend Police initiative launched this week aims to reduce the number of property crimes in the city. "People tend to leave valuables in their cars here; it’s a safe community, so they feel their valuables may be safe left in their car," Police Chief Mike Krantz tells KBND News, "We have reports of wallets left on seats, computers left in bags, purses left and leaving the cars unlocked." But he hopes the "Hide, Lock, Take" initiative will help. It was created by a BPD officer who saw many thefts from vehicles were crimes of opportunity.

Krantz says officers are now distributing free signs, "In certain areas where there’s more parking or more people tend to park their vehicles - maybe a business area, park areas, apartment complexes where there’s more groups of parking - and encourage people to either hide their items or take their items, and lock their cars." Officers are also meeting with business owners, apartment managers and others in the community who can help educate drivers.

"Our highest crime categories are typically property crimes, in the city - car thefts and thefts from cars. Those typically lead to ID theft, forgery, because people take those credit cards, they take checks, they take personal identification immediately; and go on a fraudulent run with it, until the credit card gets turned off," says Krantz, "This kind of hits multiple areas where we’re really trying to keep people safe, trying to keep people’s credit safe and we’re trying to keep their items safe by just encouraging some very small, basic crime prevention."

To listen to our full conversation with BPD Chief Mike Krantz, visit our Podcast Page.