THE last time police faked a car break-in in Witney it almost caused an accident when ‘the thief’ was chased by a well-meaning member of the public.

Five years later, the police picked a safer spot to carry out the experiment to see how many people would alert police. A plain clothes officer “stole” speakers from a grey Saab in the Woolgate Centre car park on Saturday.

The publicity stunt was designed to raise awareness of thefts in the run-up to Christmas and warn people not to leave presents on show in vehicles. But the event did not produce the same drama as five years ago and no one dialled 999 – although a couple of people told nearby officers what they had seen.

Pc Craig Vaughan, who staged the theft in plain clothes, said: “Five years ago we did it in the High Street and someone gave chase to the undercover officer. There was nearly an accident when they ran out in front of a bus so we did it in a car park to make it less dangerous.”

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Officers also gave descriptions of ‘the thief’ to shops, asking them to keep a lookout for him and received a couple of responses.

Officers also set up a stall in the Woolgate Centre to give advice on crime prevention over Christmas.

Pc Vaughan said: “It would have been ideal if people had called the police about the break-in but there was a logistical issue because the stall was close to where the break-in happened. There were some officers watching it happen so it reduced the impact.”

Between April and September there were 125 thefts from vehicles in West Oxfordshire – down from 141 in the same period last year.

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