Replies

1. LONG - TERM PARKING
Agree - it’s always best not to have your insurance card/registration in your car, if at all possible (if you must leave the registration in the car, such as for multiple drivers, try to hide it). Also watch out for other items like tire receipts which may have your name and address on them. As to garage openers, if you have one, either carry it in your purse (if you’re a woman, or identify as such), otherwise make sure it’s out of sight when in your car (glove compartment, or some other cubby that’s out of sight to the outside). A more basic rule is to not have anything of value visible in your car, ever, and to remember that even things you think have no value, may have value to others. If a crook can see 30 cents in your car, he already has a sure bet if he breaks in.

2. GPS:
Agree that GPS’s should never be set to your house, maybe someone else’s, or a park, etc. Likewise, if you’re taking an Uber or taxi from your house, especially if you have luggage, go a few houses down to meet up - as you never know who’s picking you up. If you want to play it safe, do the same upon returning. The basic rule is that if someone doesn’t need to know where you live, don’t give them that information. As to Uber - the driver only gets your first name, so they don’t really have much to go on, unless you somehow give them more information. Likewise, if I’m away for a long time and get picked up at the airport, I never tell the driver that - a few days in California is all they need to know.

3. CELL PHONES:
This one is easy - everyone needs to have a lock on their cell phones. If you don’t have it, you deserve your fate. I go further had use BitLocker on my computer, which is included with Windows 10, and works great, but you do have to pay to activate it. I have valuable stuff on my computer, and don’t need others getting it. Also, with Bit Locker, you can (and should) encrypt portable storage devices. And one other comment: When you do encrypt the portable devices, like thumb drives, the encryption is on the portable drive, so if you plug it into some new computer, it will open up fine, providing of course that you know the password.

4. PURSE IN THE GROCERY CART SCAM:
Also had a co-worker lady drop off junior at day care. She was only away from her car for a minute. Her mistake - being female and getting out of the car without a purse (whether she used one or not doesn’t matter, as long as she’s female and purseless). That particular daycare location had a gas station next store - a perfect place to stake out from. For that case, if her purse had been locked in her trunk, she probably would have been ok...but it’s still always best for a woman to carry a purse when leaving a car, even if it is fake. Sorry if this triggers the ‘me-too’ crowd, but if so, deal with it.

I’ll add a few more:

5. GARAGE SALES
Unless you really need the money, don’t get involved with garage sales. Our neighborhood had one, which my wife made me participate in, and there were some real sleazebags. Then we found out there were 4 break-ins during the week that followed.

6. GUN SAFE
If possible, pay cash for a gun safe. The less people who know you have one, the better - obviously. If you’re selling a house and have it list, don’t have a gun safe in the house. Sounds obvious, but happened to a co-worker. It cost him his rather large collection. If the safe is too heavy to move, empty it and leave it open (providing no one can lock themselves in). And obviously if you do have guns, the less people who know, the better, and that includes neighbors and family, and especially girlfriends (often they’ll rat you out for revenge after becoming ex-girlfriends). Obviously there is a point where keeping that secret becomes impractical, but the longer you delay it, the better.

7. HIGH VALUE PURCHASES
A few years ago I bought a laptop from Best Buy. For whatever reason, maybe because it’s run by a leftist, they don’t give you bags. So you’re one big billboard as you walk out. I was followed to my house, while with my wife, but didn’t know until the end (we were too busy talking about other stuff). I wanted to back my car into the driveway, but there was another car on my tail, so, in that case, I always go to the cul-de-sac at the end of the street (which is a couple of blocks down) to shake off the guy behind me, no big deal. But this time, the guy followed me to the cul-de-sac and around the cul-de-sac, so I knew something wasn’t right, and so I drove past my house and left the neighborhood. The guy followed me out of the neighborhood and took off in another direction (probably back to the store). Luckily he was following me closely or God knows what would have happened.

8. CONTRACTORS
Minimize the amount of strangers in your house. If there’s a way you can fix something yourself, do it. If someone works outside, keep them outside, even if it’s cold out. Sure, that 55 year old plumber may be as honest as they come, but what about his millennial helper? Oh, they drug test and background check the helpers too - what about the ‘friends’ of the helper? There’s always risk once someone enters. Needless to say, hide valuables, and make the house look as crappy as possible when contractors do have to come over. Also, when they do have to enter, try to have a clear path to the worksite, with the path being as empty of temptations as possible.

9. USING YOUR VEHICLE AS A SAFE
So you go into store and buy some nice stuff (maybe a laptop, or nice clothes), and there are more stores to visit at the same mall. You don’t want to carry your new stuff around, so you go out to your car to drop off the stuff, and then go back in shop. You figure that your stuff is safe, since you put it in the trunk, and no one can see it there (but they can easily see you dropping your stuff in there). Seems like an obviously dumb thing to do, but I caught my wife doing that once and gave her my opinion of what she did. Just remember, cars are not safes - breaking in takes a few seconds, that’s all. So what to do if you do want to go to the other store: (1) Ideally come back later, or (2) Move the car - but be careful moving the car, since if you move it directly to the new location, maybe 150 feet away, you’re still in eyeshot of the bad guy. So drive the car out of the parking lot, maybe down the street a block or so and come back to the next store, and, if at all possible, don’t pass in front of the store you just came out of - try to enter the parking lot from the other side.

10. NEWSPAPER DELIVERY
If you’re still having newspapers delivered, don’t cut it off when you travel, instead join the 21st century and get a computer and Internet service, and cancel the subscription. There was a case where a person in the Circulation Department of the Los Angeles Times was tipping off his friends as to when people had their delivery service cut off.

11. SMART METERS
I’m still in the planning stages of dealing with this, but our wonderful ‘smart’ electric meters are a dream come true for anyone who has access to their data (sending in real-time energy usage every 15 minutes). With that data, one can figure out when the house is empty during the work day, for any particular work day, and one can figure out when you’re on vacation. If you can, take a look at your plots - very ragged and random when people are home (i.e., switching things on and off) - very smooth when they’re not home. Ideas I’m working on include random on/off timers that power loads of different wattages, with the goal to make it appear people are home and turning things on and off. Thankfully, I haven’t heard of any break-ins based on this information, but I suspect it’s happening, and if not, I’m sure it will be happening in the future.

12. BOXES and DAY/NIGHT WINDOWS
Try to cut up boxes from large purchases, like TVs. I remember one Christmas, my neighbor put his huge TV box in front of his house for trash pickup, but it was there for days. I don’t think he was broken into, but why advertise it. On top of that, he always had the front curtain open and the TV facing right to the front window. You could literally watch soccer game from the sidewalk in front of his house. So do what you can to cut-up and bag empty boxes before disposing of them and close the curtains (or blinds), especially at night. And related to that, always remember that the darker side of any window has the advantage, particular if there’s a big difference, such as the window to a well-lit room facing outside into the night. Anyone outside can see EVERYTHING in that room, clear as day, as if the window doesn’t exist. But, on the other hand, if you’re in that room and look at the window, all you see is an indoor reflection, so unless someone in the room thinks a bit, they figure the window is blocking in both directions and no one can see in. Not good.

That’s my list, so far.