From January 1 to October 9th of this year, 1,136 vehicles have been stolen in the city of Aurora, which is a 14.7% increase from 2015. To help in their fight against auto theft the Aurora Police Department is turning to social media.
When someone reports their vehicle stolen to the APD that information will now be posted on a newly created Facebook page and Twitter account. It is hoped that by getting this information out to the public it will help the victims of auto theft get their cars back sooner.
If one of our social media followers sees a stolen vehicle they are asked not to follow or approach it and to call police immediately. The Telecommunicator with Public Safety Communications Department who takes their call will then verify that the vehicle is stolen and then broadcast the information to officers in that area.
Sergeant Chris Amsler, the department's social media coordinator said "We believe that using social media for this purpose will bring more public awareness to the issue of auto theft. Auto theft affects not only the individual vehicle owner, but our entire community. We also want auto thieves to know that starting today not only are the police looking for the cars they steal but so is the public."
If you are interested in receiving social media auto theft alerts you can follow on Twitter at https://twitter.com/APDStealAlert or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/APDStealAlerts/
Click here for auto theft prevention tips.
Sergeant Chris Amsler
Public Information Officer
Media Relations Unit
720.432.5095
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