For Immediate Release

April 22, 2013

 The Walton County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) is always looking for ways to keep its citizens and visitors safe.  Now the deputies and investigators are urging folks to “Hide, Lock, and Take” your items from your vehicle, meaning:  hide your things, lock your car, and take your keys. It is a common sense approach to remind visitors and residents in our county to protect their belongings and prevent themselves from becoming a victim of a crime. The program involves placing signs in parking lots of business in our county and members of the Crime Prevention Unit are willing to speak to businesses and organizations about how this program works.

 “Hide, Lock and Take” was started by Texas Auto Burglary & Theft Prevention Authority and the Central Business District (Dallas).  The City of Dallas, Texas even adopted a local ordinance requiring all properties with more than 100 parking spaces to place them on their property. In the fast-growing city of Frisco, Texas the signs were first put up in 2007 and a recent analysis by the Frisco Police Department concluded that the holiday season vehicle burglaries in the town’s busy shopping district had dropped 87 percent since the program began.

 With the permission of local businesses, the signs would be placed in the parking lot of the business by a member of our Civilian Volunteer Posse unit.  The Posse unit member will meet to discuss the number of signs needed and the location of the signs. 

 It is the hope of the WCSO that businesses will take advantage of this free program and become our partners in crime fighting.   If you would like to participate in this crime prevention program, please contact Lt. Danny Garner at 850-892-8186 or dgarner@waltonso.org.

 Investigator Wendy C Ammons

Walton County Sheriff's Office

Public Information Officer/Intern Coordinator, Professional Standards Bureau

752 Triple G Road

Defuniak Springs, FL 32433

(850)892-8186-office

(850)855-0299-cell

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30a Hide, Lock, and Take puts a new spin on crime prevention techniques