City police kicked off a holiday safety campaign today intended to keep Pittsburgh residents from falling prey to thieves and scammers who take advantage of the season.

Waggishly named "Put your junk in the trunk," the initiative reminds distracted holiday shoppers to take basic measures to protect themselves and their belongings.

Officer James Snyder urged people to park their cars in well-lit areas, to enter and exit their cars with caution and to always lock their doors and roll up their windows.

He said drivers should never leave purses, cash, sunglasses, laptops, cameras or other electronics on car seats or dashboards. Instead, they should take any items of value with them or secure them in their trunk.

"Your junk is someone else's Christmas present now," he said.

GPS devices are among the items most commonly stolen from cars in the area.

Officer Snyder said drivers should never leave their GPS devices in plain view, and they should not program their home address into their device. If they do, they should buy a password-protected device that locks.

"When a person takes your GPS unit and presses enter, they now know how to get to your home," he explained.

Computer crimes Detective Mike Overholt also gave several tips to help protect people from identity theft, detailing some of the e-mail scams that are circulating in the area.

Employment scams are particularly common right now, he said. Such scams solicit people to apply for a job, then harvest their personal information from their resume.

Another common scam e-mail claims to be a missive from the Internal Revenue Service and asks the recipient to provide personal information, including bank account details, on an attached W-form.

Detective Overholt said anyone who receives such an e-mail should read it closely, and particularly question it if the writer uses poor English.

He also said people should not respond to Yahoo e-mail accounts or other free e-mail accounts claiming to belong to employers or agencies.

"If you think you're a victim of a scam, call the police," he said.

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