Hamilton County Sheriff's Office hands out free Kia steering wheel locks to prevent car thefts

CINCINNATI — Put your car in drive and cruise on over to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) for a free steering wheel lock.

The sheriff’s office is handing out 120 free Kia steering wheel locks at districts 1, 3, 4 and 5 to prevent more car thefts.

“We’ve had an increase in thefts of Kia’s. We’ve had 12 stolen out of this district alone,” Sgt. Robin Reid said. “When I go over my daily reports almost daily I’m seeing there was a Kia that was either a recovered stolen or a new stolen.”

Reid has been with HCSO for 21 years. She patrols district 4 and has noticed a sharp increase in the number of auto thefts.

“I have never seen as many car thefts as I have seen recently in my entire career,” Reid said.

She added the locks are only for people who live in Hamilton County and will only work for Kia’s with a still key ignition. They will not work for Kia’s that have a push to start or a fob.

Reid wanted to help her community after she met a woman who was worried her car would get stolen.

“I had a woman come in the station and said she couldn’t sleep at night because she was afraid her car was going to get stolen, so that is what actually started all of this for me on journey to find something to help these people sleep at night and if they sleep at night, I sleep at night,” Reid said.

She added Kia’s and Hyundai’s aren’t the only cars people are stealing.

According to Cincinnati Police car thefts are up across the city. For example, car thefts are up in West Price Hill by 615.8%, they're up in Madisonville by 525% and Mt. Washington is 520%.

To help prevent car thefts, Reid says they need help from the community.

“If you see somebody that’s hovering around a vehicle in a parking lot and it looks odd to you, please call us," she said. "It’s a challenge getting people to step up and say I see something that doesn’t seem right and call the police. Call us. We work for you. We will answer the call, we will show and we will investigate,” Reid said.

She added when they run out of locks they will start a waiting list. Once they get more in, they will give it to those on the waiting list first.