Volunteers from Tauranga South Community Patrol and Police have had to cancel their number plate tamper resistant event today due to the weather.

'It's too dangerous for people to be out on the road,” says Tauranga South Community Patrol leader Maureen Kathan. 'There's lightning and hail forecast and the men would have been kneeling in puddles of water.”

The patrol and Police were planning to provide the public today with the chance to replace their existing vehicle number plate screws with special tamper resistant screws at Tauranga Crossing.

Volunteers from Tauranga South Community Patrol and Police were planning to hold the event in the lower car park opposite the BP Station at Tauranga Crossing from 10am to 2pm, but that has now been cancelled because of the worsening rain this morning.

'When we drove out there this morning, we had a deluge of rain, so we've had to cancel it,” says Maureen.

Maureen says the patrol and Police will plan to run the event in October.

'After winter. It's too risky now with the weather,” says Maureen.

She says that some people may be upset they will miss out on getting their number plates fixed with the special tamper resistant screws.

'If they want their plates done all they need to do is contact the Greerton Police Station. And they can go on our website and contact us through there,” says Maureen.

Unprotected number plates are easy targets for petrol thieves, especially if parked on roadsides outside the owner's property. As the price of fuel goes up, a lot of people use stolen plates to get some cheap fuel. They flog the number plates and put them on their car. When petrol thieves drive off without paying for the fuel, it is the stolen plate that is photographed by the service station security cameras.

Number plate theft is over in a minute but with a tamper proof screw fitted that requires a special tool to remove number plates cannot be easily taken from a vehicle. Thieves look for easy targets and by spending a few moments to have tamper resistant screws inserted supports the old adage that prevention is better than cure, and the best prevention in this case is removing the temptation.

'We insert a screw with a special head into the front and back number plate to help prevent it being stolen,” says Maureen.

Those who were planning to take up the offer today would have been asked to make a gold coin donation to the community patrols. The Tauranga South Community Patrol provides a voluntary patrol in Greerton, Welcome Bay, Gate Pa and The Lakes and act as an extra set of eyes and ears for police. They look out for any suspicious behaviour on the streets and report it to police for follow-up.

'This fundraiser is a great opportunity for us to get involved in the community in a positive way and we really support this joint venture with the community patrols. This initiative also assists us with the issues we are currently having where number plates are being stolen and used while committing other crimes,” says Tauranga South Police Senior Constable Leanne Fairbairn.

The tamper proof screw event which was to be held at Tauranga Crossing in the lower carpark from 10am – 2pm on Saturday, May 29 has been cancelled due to weather. The Tauranga South Community Patrol are planning to run another event in October, and anyone wanting to have a special tamper resistant screw inserted into their number plates can contact the patrol through their website http://tscp.org.nz