POLICE are putting the brakes on car crime, which is down by a third on Teesside

There was a 38 per cent drop in the number of cars stolen across the area between October and December last year, compared with the same period in 2004.

The reduction is being attributed to the activities of Cleveland Police's Operation Hatch team, a group of officers working at fighting car thieves.

Thefts from motor vehicles were 594 in the last quarter of last year, compared with 761 in the corresponding period in 2004, a 20 per cent drop.

Tampering with motor vehicles was more than halved.

The force is "hugely encouraged" by the operation's success so far, but officers stress there is still a long way to go, and that drivers must play their part.

A poster campaign hammering home the message to motorists to remove belongings from cars and to use locks and alarms when they leave their vehicle is to be launched on Monday.

Detective Sergeant Steve Young, from Middlesbrough CID, said: "There's still a tendency for thieves to go for cars with satellite navigation systems. Car stereos, mobile phones and lap-tops are also attractive to thieves.''

In the last three months of last year, 1,250 officers carried out 2,733 spot checks, making 262 arrests, and patrolled for nearly 1,000 hours.

The team, reinforced with police community support officers and street wardens, uses covert and high-visibility patrols, as well as 'sting' vehicles, to tempt thieves, who are unaware that they have recording equipment.

DS Young advises removing satellite navigation cradles from dashboards, as thieves will smash a window if they see an empty cradle, assuming the driver has put the equipment in the glove box.