CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Charleston Police Department is hoping a new campaign will get citizens in a routine to practice safe habits and prevent crime.
The department launched the #9PMRoutine through social media to promote Charleston residents to practice safe habits to help reduce the number of preventable thefts and burglaries in neighborhoods.
“We are just trying to do a friendly reminder to everyone, especially with the holidays coming up, to be mindful to lock their car doors, remove valuable from their vehicles, turn on exterior lights,” Sgt. David Payne, Charleston Police Department said.
Other suggestions from the Charleston Police Department are removing of key fobs and garage door openers from your vehicles and lock the door from the garage to your house.
Payne said based on the department’s experiences and reports that around 90% of these types of crimes could have been eliminated with the safe habits, including locking doors mentioned in the campaign.
“Time isn’t as important as the task. We don’t care if it’s 9 p.m., 6 p.m., 7 p.m. We just want to make sure that you do these things and make sure that they are done,” he said.