Miguel Gonzalez EDINBURG – Edinburg Police Department Officer Arielle Benedict said Project-365 focuses on the most common issues in the county, with this year’s topic being auto theft and burglary prevention.
Benedict said stolen vehicles in Edinburg are common and happen quickly. She added that most of the time these vehicles are taken to Mexico.
“So, even if we find the suspect, you know, cars are already across the Mexican border,” Benedict said. “So, it’s really important that we lock our cars, park them in garages if we have that option.”
She said that locks deter criminals who are unwilling to take their time removing it from a wheel. The criminals choose easier targets such as cars without steering wheel locks or push-to-start vehicles.
“There’s advanced devices out there that criminals do get their hands on, and what that does is it sends a signal to the push-start vehicle,” Benedict said. “All they have to do is just break the window, do the signal, get an active signal and the car will start with that device.”
The Auto Theft Task Force is comprised of 13 different agencies, including Hidalgo County, Edinburg PD, Weslaco PD, and Alamo PD.
Benedict encourages everyone to get insurance on their vehicle for auto theft.
“We’ve seen surveillance footage where it’s the middle of the night, one in the morning, they’ll break the window open, they’ll get in, they’re sitting in the car for not even a minute and half and then they’re gone,” she said.
Benedict said the most frequent mistakes people make is staying un-informed about common crimes in their area.
She added a common misconception about calling for help is that it must always be an emergency call but that is not true.
“It’s totally fine to hear something outside at one in the morning and decide to call the non-emergency line and say, ‘Hey, I heard something suspicious. I saw someone walking down the street. Can you please come and check it out,’” Benedict said.
The non-emergency line for the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s office is (956)-383-8114.
