Minnesota Town’s Key Protection Plan Aims At Decreasing Car Thefts

Eighty cars stolen in a single year — more than twice the city’s average — was the last straw for Greenfield police, who have asked aldermen to approve a measure calling for dealerships, and any business that fixes, rents or stores cars, to make sure vehicle keys are protected from thieves. If a business fails to meet the industry’s standards for best practices for keeping keys safe, and a car is stolen, the businesses would have to pay the police department’s cost to investigate the theft, under the proposed ordinance. No other local communities have an ordinance seeking to recoup the costs of such an investigation. Milwaukee is the only other community that has an ordinance calling for keys to be locked up at night, said Greenfield Police Chief Bradley Wentlandt.