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Steve Sharpe strolled down a row of cars Tuesday at Southgate Centre, peering through the windows for something to steal.

“Oh yeah,” he said, stopping at a dark Toyota SUV. “When I look inside this vehicle, I can see probably about four or five dollars worth of loose change. There’s a bag over on the other side. I don’t know the brand name, but it’s a bag with a big zipper on it, so my curiosity is spiked.”

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Sharpe, a staff sergeant with the Edmonton Police Service, spends his days trying to catch vehicle thieves. But on Tuesday, he demonstrated how thieves case vehicles for valuables to show Edmontonians how to keep their cars safe.

Edmonton police and the Alberta Motor Association launched a new campaign to curb vehicle theft Tuesday.

According to Statistics Canada data presented at the news conference Tuesday, Alberta led the country in vehicle thefts, with 29 per cent of all thefts in Canada last year — an average of 62 per day.