Posted on 01/04/2009 7:43:18 AM PST by NCjim
Tempted to leave that new GPS system in your car? Think you can get away with stashing your laptop behind the seat or your iPod in the glove box?
...
You might as well just leave them on the hood of your car with a "For Free" sign attached. At least you'd save yourself the cost of replacing a shattered car-door window, according to police, insurance agents, glass-repair experts and the legions of folks who've found themselves victims of Seattle's most oft-reported crime — the car prowl.
A two-week snapshot of criminal incidents reported to the Seattle Police Department shows that car prowls, in which windows are smashed and valuables grabbed, are by far the city's most frequently reported crime and that no neighborhood is immune.
In the last two weeks of November, for example, more than 370 car prowls were reported within the city limits, according to SPD statistics.
Experts agree, however, that those numbers represent just the tip of the iceberg, as most people — especially those who have been victimized more than once — don't report the damage and thefts to police or their insurance company.
Why bother, they say.
"There's nothing they can do about it," said David Gill, who lives in the Maple Leaf neighborhood and said his car has been broken into and plundered so many times he's lost count.
...
A man who lives in a big house on Federal Avenue East near Volunteer Park and has been a car-prowl victim several times said he tries to remember to bring everything he values inside with him at the end of the day.
Nevertheless, he's philosophical about the thefts he can't prevent.
"There are a lot of people around here who need help," he said. "Sometimes, my car is where they find it."
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
Yep. Disproportionate wealth. Easier to steal your stuff than to work for their own.
Agree. I still have great difficulty understanding why most think a thief has a greater right to my property than I have to his life.
ML/NJ
Car prowl sounds so much cuter than burglary.
Leave a few of these in your truck. Lock the doors so no one gets “caught”.
http://www.guardianpestcontrol.com/images/Jpeg%20Images/330%20Bodygripper.JPG
I’d be tempted to leave some bait and see what I could catch, but that’s likely illegal out there.
We can count on Lord Obama to make sure criminals will get unemployment insurance when they go to jail.
Given the location (near Volunteer Park), that’d be Capitol Hill. Not a large black population, but a TON of college students, artists, and homosexuals. I suspect crack or meth addicts, looking to finance their next score.
Cap Hill is also infested with liberals with money, especially on the northern end of the neighborhood, which is where the victim (read: idiot) lives. Lots of old houses, some aparmented out, and fairly pricey to live there.
.......Nothing can be done?......
How about bait?
Leave an I pod wired to a fully charged high voltage capacitor that discharges when touched.
Is that a gopher trap?
Sounded like a good article but the site is defective. A stupid circle blocked the text I was trying to read. If they fix it maybe I’ll go back.
“There are a lot of people around here who need a bullet in their head,” he said. “Sometimes, my car is where they find it.”
If this was a Texas story...
A gopher trap would be excellent in a console, make sure it is bolted down so you have someone to prosecute when you return or maybe they’ll chew off their own hand. There are several ways to do things, I like the idea of a wired iPod (#48), need a schematic, I’m challenged in that respect.
Tough times call for sronger character...
I've heard the suggestion to deliberately pi$$ your pants (if you haven't already done so involuntarily). Then be sure that it gets noted on the police report. I'd say that pretty much establishes just how scared you were. :=)
Just Google: electrified car alarms.
We once had an old car we left parked in the driveway unlocked. One night about 1 AM the door bell was ringing and ringing so we called the police. They were outside with a homeless person who was mad and complaining that we had locked it that day and it had her wine bottle in there, lol
Repost that after you sober up, it sounds interesting.
Thanks. I also found that if I go to print article I can read unmolested. :-)
http://wired-vig.wired.com/print/science/discoveries/news/1998/07/13931
I suspect that the victim and criminal populations are not necessarily completely disjoint. Middleclasskids might be tempted to try what appears to be a low risk adventure. Someone needs shift the calculus of crime distinctly to increase the risk side of the equation. The civil authorities in Seattle seem clearly not to be up to the challenge.
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