Preventing Car Burglaries
Lock Your Doors
A majority of car break-ins and thefts are from unlocked cars. Even if you are parked in front of your house, in your driveway or inside your garage, lock your doors. Criminals like to walk down the street and see if a car is unlocked, if it is they open the door and take whatever is visible and move on to the next target. However, if the door is locked, they are more likely to move on.
Secure Your Vehicle
Roll your car windows up all the way and engage the car alarm, but do not depend on it as the only way to deter a thief. A car thief can break into your car and be out in about 30 seconds, fast enough that an alarm doesn’t scare most of them away.
Keep Your Vehicle Tidy
Avoid leaving anything visible in the car. Almost any item that’s visible from the outside – even if you think it is worthless – could be seen as valuable to a thief. A cell phone charger. A pair of cheap sunglasses. An empty grocery bag. Leave nothing loose or visible in your car. Even if the items are of relatively little value to you, they could be a temptation for a thief
Take Your Garage Door Opener
Garage door openers are easy to forget about, but thieves are on the lookout for them. If they find one in your car in your driveway, they may open the garage door and help themselves to whatever is inside. Worse yet, they may open the door from the garage into your home and burglarize that, too.
Conceal All Evidence of Valuables
Stow your electronics and accessories well out of sight or take them with you. The sight of an accessory might be enough to interest thieves, including items such as power cords, adapters and GPS windshield suction-cup mounts. If you remove the suction cup, make sure to wipe the ring off the windshield; it’s a dead giveaway that you own a GPS.
If you must leave behind any electronics, turn off their Bluetooth function before putting them in the trunk. Burglars can use a Bluetooth scanner to see what’s inside your vehicle and make off with your computer, tablet or other gadget.
Stash Before You Park
Get in the habit of putting items you want hidden in the trunk of your car before you arrive at your destination. Thieves will linger in busy parking lots looking for you to stash your valuable items.
Park Smart
Park in a busy, well-lit area and avoid concealment from larger vehicles, fences, or foliage. Avoid parking in isolated and poorly-lit areas.
Install a Security System and Advertise It
Car alarms have come a long way. You can get a car alarm now that sends a notification to your smart phone so that you know if your car alarm has been activated no matter where you are. Many car alarms now feature sensors that will go off for unauthorized entry into the car, hood or trunk. Be sure that you put the sticker for the car alarm on your car. This deters thieves who don’t want the attention of a car alarm.
Make the Stereo Less Attractive
Stereos are a very common item that gets stolen in car break-ins, particular high-end units. One thing you can do is to remove the faceplate and keep it in your glove box or home. A missing faceplate makes radios less valuable and less attractive to thieves. Another option is to remove the stereo and put it in the glove box if you will be parked somewhere for a long time. Additionally, if a professional stereo installer tries to put a decal on your car with the stereo brand, decline. This is a target for thieves who see it as a sign that there will be a pricey sound system inside.
Report Break-Ins
If you see a break-in in progress, call 911 immediately! Provide the 911 dispatcher with as much information as possible, such as:
Location – Provide an address, block number, or specific location in a parking lot.
Description of the suspect – Provide as much information as you can, i.e. sex, race, age, height, weight, hair color and length, color and length of facial hair, colors and style of clothing, and identifying marks such as tattoos and piercings.
Direction – If the suspect flees, give the direction of travel. If they flee on a bicycle or in a vehicle, describe the color, make, model, and license plate number, if it is safe to do so!
Car Burglar Prevention Tips
You can minimize your chances of being a victim by practicing the following tips:
- LOCK your vehicle and take the keys
- USE anti-theft devices
- CLEAN it out; do not leave anything in your car
- REMOVE the garage door opener
- PARK in your garage, if possible
- MARK it; use an engraver to mark property
- REPORT suspicious activity or persons to the Sheriff’s Department at 874-5115, for crimes in progress call 9-1-1.
Lock up:
- An unlocked car is an open invitation to a car thief. Lock up when you leave your car, and take the keys with you.
- Lock the trunk or tailgate.
- Close all windows – professional thieves have tools that unlock cars through the smallest openings.
- Be sure vent or wind-wing windows are shut tight and locked.
- Lock your car even if you are making a quick stop at the gas station, convenience store or mini-mall.
- At night, park in well-lit areas with lots of people around when out running errands.
- Turn wheels sharply toward the curb when parking, this makes it extra difficult for thieves to tow your car.
Items to avoid leaving in your vehicle and/or view:
- Cellular phones and chargers
- Pagers
- CD’s
- Purses/briefcases
- Wallets
- Backpacks
- Clothing
- Laptops/cameras
- Sports equipment/tools
- Removable stereos including the removable face plates
New car burglar technology
Night time car burglaries are a constant problem in our area.
However, a new technological wrinkle has been observed in the past couple of years. In some cases, thieves have used electronic devices that allow them to open locked car doors.
However, there may be a way to block the ability of such thieves to unlock your car.
Modern car key fobs act as miniature radio transmitters. When you click the button, you fob sends a signal to your car telling it what to do. In newer vehicles, this technology has become even more convenient. The fob signal is always on and the car doors will unlock automatically when you approach your vehicle.
Some burglars are taking advantage of this newer technology. They use a signal booster that will pick up the signal from your key fob, even if it is inside your house, and boost its power, thereby tricking your car into thinking you are standing next to it. The car then dutifully unlocks the door, allowing the burglar to enter.
To foil such technology, you must block the signal sent out by your car key fob. There are a couple of relatively inexpensive ways to do that.
One is to buy a specially designed RFID signal-blocking bag. They can be found on Amazon for about $10 to $20. Such bags are lined with material that blocks electronic (RFID) signals. You simply place your key and fob into the bag, close it and the fob signal can no longer be picked up by the burglar’s device. Bags like this can be put into your purse or pocket while you are shopping. They may protect your car while it is outside in the parking lot.
A low-tech approach is to find an old candy tin, school lunch box, metal index card box or some other metal container, drop your key and fob into it and close the lid. If the box is made of ferrous metal (if a magnet will stick to it, it is ferrous), the signal will be blocked.
And don’t forget to store your spare fob the same way.