ACT Policing will hold Project Safe Plate tomorrow in Woden, reducing number-plate theft by providing free tamper-proof screws to motorists.  

From 9am to 3pm tomorrow (Saturday, 15 October), motorists can bring their vehicles to Marist College on Marr Street, Pearce, where ACT Policing members and Neighbourhood Watch volunteers will fit number plates with free tamper-proof screws.  

More than 1,300 registration plates were reported stolen last year, and more than 500 plates have been reported stolen in the past four months alone, Acting Inspector Mark Watson, Officer in Charge of Woden Police Station.   

“Today is a great opportunity to come down to Marist College and get your plates secured with free tamper-proof screws,” Inspector Watson said. “We’ll have a drive-thru arrangement where you don’t even have to get out of your car – police and volunteers will fit them while you wait.

“Our Project Safe Plate event in Belconnen in April saw more than 450 cars fitted with tamper proof screws, which I am hoping to beat tomorrow. Replacing stolen plates is both frustrating and an additional cost for motorists that is generally not covered by insurance.”

Car thieves are known to steal number plates and place them on stolen vehicles in an effort to avoid police detection. Those stolen plates are also used to disguise the real identity of a vehicle when it is used in other crimes such as petrol drive-offs and burglaries.  

If motorists are not able to attend tomorrow, free tamper-proof screws are also available at any ACT police station.