To curb car thefts, victims ask for strict punishments

Saudi Gazette report Khalid Al-Humood was recently the victim of a car theft. Shortly after Al-Humood was involved in an accident, his valuables were stolen from inside his car by someone he suspects was in a crowd that had gathered around his car. The thief took advantage of the situation at the scene of the accident and snatched Al-Humood’s wallet and cell phone and walked away without anyone noticing him. “Who would’ve thought that someone would sneak in like that and grab whatever he found in the car without caring about the people who were injured in the accident? I think some people have lost their moral compass and only care about materialist gains,” Al-Humood complained. In his opinion, the best way to curb such practices and raise public awareness is for mosque imams to bring up the issue of thefts in their sermons and warn the public against them. Saeed Al-Bishri was shocked when he discovered that his car had been stolen. He immediately filed a stolen car report at his local police station and the car was found a few days later parked on a street. Apparently, it was stolen by a young man who used it to drift. There was minor damage to the car’s chassis. “Several of my neighbors have also had their cars stolen while parked near their houses. Others have had spare tires stolen. The situation has gotten out of control and something needs to be done,” he said. Ali Al-Aksai, a victim of several car thefts, said without strict punishment, car thieves will remain undeterred and continue to steal more cars. “These practices reflect low religiosity levels; thieves should be ashamed of themselves. The first step that should be taken to curb this practice is to name and shame car thieves in local newspapers and the second step is to impose deterring punishments. Of course, this should be coupled with awareness campaigns targeting schools and families,” he said. Ali Hashlool said most car thieves are young men who are either jobless or students but financial gain is not their goal. He believes some young men steal cars to either joyride or use to perform dangerous drifting stunts. Most stolen cars are eventually recovered abandoned on the roadside. “Where are the parents? How can their sons engage in such practices without the parents protecting them or even seeing signs of them going astray? Each family must act responsibly and keep a close eye on their children’s behavior and the friends they hang out with,” Al-Hashlool said. “Although the media and mosques play a big role in raising family awareness about such practices, the burden falls on the shoulder of families as they are the ones who can contribute greatly to curbing these practices that have become a daily occurrence,” he added.