Securing Your Vehicle

When I was a police officer, one of the most common crimes that we would see would involve vehicles being broken into. Contrary to what most people may have heard, vehicle break-ins can occur during the day or at night. In fact, the vast majority of them would occur during the day (depending on the area you lived in).

One of the primary reasons that a person's car gets broken into by a criminal is based on a number of factors that include what type or model car it is as well as what the contents of the vehicle are. The most typical cars that would get stolen were Hondas and Toyotas, and this is mostly because the parts on the vehicles are cheap and easy to replace, not to mention the fact that a vast majority of people in the United States own either a Honda or a Toyota. Additionally, when a person would have their car broken into, typically these were cars in which the car alarm was either turned off or non-existent. The criminal would usually look in the windows and from that angle be able to take inventory of any possible goodies that were left in the car.

Depending on the neighborhood, a lot of people carelessly leave their vehicles unlocked! It is sad to think that we no longer live in a day and age where we can leave our car doors unlocked or the doors to our homes unlocked without the fear that someone will violate this trust by trying to hurt us or take something that isn't rightfully theirs to begin with. However, this is what we are dealing with in this day and age. We need to face the fact that there are a lot of people out there who have lost their jobs, are homeless or are simply petty thieves. That being said, we need to be more vigilant in how we treat our personal possessions. I remember responding to a call where an older lady had left her medical supplies in her SUV for her husband and herself. She didn't think anything of it and had explained to me that she had packed them in her vehicle the night before because they were getting ready to go on a trip the next day. Instead of being well into their trip, they were filing a police report with me.

Even if you think you live in a "good neighborhood," realize that while you may know all of your neighbors, you can still get criminals who will come from other areas of your town or county just so that they can case certain neighborhoods ahead of time to know which people leave valuables out in their cars. And while we shouldn't be quick to judge criminals as being super smart, some of them are certainly cunning and shrewd enough to plan ahead.

Some ways in which you can reduce auto theft is by making sure your vehicle is as empty as it can possibly be at all times. If you're parking your car somewhere, make sure that you tuck or stow things where prying eyes can't see them. For instance, when I drive up to New York to visit family, depending on how much stuff I'm bringing with me, I'll carry an extra blanket in my car to cover up any goods that I have laying out.