Last week, Jeri wrote:
Hi there. I just wanted to share that we had our car (a dark green 1996 Honda Civic) stolen from in front of our home sometime between 8pm last night and 8am this morning. I was hoping you could share this on your blog in case anyone saw anything suspicious and also so to inform others to keep an eye out so they don’t experience the same unfortunate situation. We did file a police report but have not heard anything back yet. We live [near 40th and] Latona Ave NE, and the car was parked on an off street parking spot.
Now, you may be wondering why we’re waiting a full week to report it here. Truth is, we get a steady stream of car theft / car prowl type stories streaming in, and we don’t run them all for fear of becoming the all-crime-all-the-time blog (also, because it would freak my mom out). Still, it is worth reminding everyone that theft is common. The SPD has some interesting online maps and tools, if you’re interested in knowing exactly how common. I was surprised to see that not only is Wallingford crime lower overall than the U District (no surprise), it’s also lower than Fremont (but not Green Lake). Also, 2012 is on track to the be the lowest year for crime since at least 2008 (as far back as the reporting goes).
It’s frustrating, because, aside from reporting it to the police (which seems to have little to no effect), there doesn’t seem to be anything to do about it. Part of the reason we didn’t run Jeri’s warning initially was because it didn’t seem “actionable”. Should we not park our cars in our driveways? On the streets? Should we mount 24 hour stake-outs of our vehicles? Invest in the video monitoring service that caught the Amazon Fresh thieves in the act? Of course, by “caught”, we only mean “caught on film”, so what’s the use?
And then, when you do see something suspicious, how to behave? For example, I was biking up 45th Street the other day and saw a couple of guys who’s style of dress seemed out of place in the neighborhood (baggy, low-hanging denims, black Yankees caps) carrying bikes (one with the rear wheel removed) down 45th Street across the I-5 bridge. I stared at them for a while, trying to puzzle some other reason for them carrying the bikes away, when one shouted at me “what are you looking at?!”
What to do? I shrugged and told him I was looking at him, he walked on. Maybe I should have pulled my bike to the side of the road and called the police. Probably, though by the time they arrived, the pair would be long gone. In the thick of the moment, the light suddenly green, time to ride, it’s hard to make that call.
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One thing to do is to make sure you aren’t the easiest target on a street. Thieves will go for the easiest targets. Only park your car on the street if it has a security system. If you must park your bike for long hours in a public space then get a cheap bike and a good lock. Make sure your home is kept secure while you are away. Finally, if you see suspicious stuff and you’re in a secure place it doesn’t hurt to take a snapshot of it and send it to the cops. Yay for smartphones, at least until you get mugged?
“when you do see something suspicious, how to behave”
Good thing you were not a police officer, you would of been brought up on profiling charges, and be forced to lose pay and go to classes on profiling training. You wonder why cops don’t care!!!
If you are a victim of ANY crime please report it to the police. It may not help your particular case but the police do compile statistics that may help them in the future.
The cops do care but they can’t be everywhere at once…. The hardest thing to do is to organize your neighbors and establish a Block Watch. My personal experience is that things don’t seem so dire when all my neighbors are involved…..
Good Luck
@Obama – goodbye, troll.
The police told us the only way to keep criminals from stealing our vehicles that are parked outdoors was to use The Club. So we got one and it worked great until the one evening that I was too lazy to put it on the steering wheel and they stole our pickup that very night. What a bummer!
Was Jeri’s car locked? Is the off-street parking well-lit? Does Jeri’s car have an alarm in it?
According to the Seattle PI of August 23, 2012, the #1 most stolen car in Seattle is the 1994 Honda Accord. Jeri had a 96 Honda Civic. The #2 most frequently stolen car in Seattle is the ’95 Honda Civic. (see http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Washington-s-most-stolen-cars-3810438.php#photo-3360709).
A surprising number of car thefts occur each year because motorists simply make it easy for thieves.
I don’t know if Hondas are so “popular” because the demand for stripped parts is high or because the cars are EASY to steal.
I second “the Club”. I owned a Camry, and it always had a Club on it. It never got stolen in NYC (only the hubcaps) or Seattle. Yes, they can be compromised, but those bent on thievery will go to some other car that’s easier/faster to steal.
@SpamBot 5000 – easy to steal. Honda only used a dozen or so key patterns for most of the 80s & 90s. It’s very easy to collect a set of keys that will unlock any Honda from that timeframe.
I can’t recommend steering wheel clubs too highly. A few bucks for that kind of insurance and peace-of-mind is a no-brainer. No, they’re not infallible and they won’t stop theft of car contents, but they make your car a more difficult target to drive away with. Thieves will simply move on to the car without one. As a police officer told me once, “it’s not crime prevention, it’s crime displacement”.
GKB
Freak your mom out. I should think so !
I happen to know the woman in question uses ‘the club’ on her car even though it’s an old dingbat of a car. Easier to take the one minute to put it on than have the hassle of having a car stolen.
And further more……”if you see something,….say something”.
‘Nuff said.
I run a daycare preschool in the neighborh
ood, unfortunately cars get broken into. Most recently I had a parent experience a break in. When I asked ” was your car locked?” I got a blank stare. Lock your vehicles, use the Club, use an alarm. Make it hard to steal your rig, don’t be a sitting target.
If the car wasn’t locked, how can anyone say it “was broken into”?
Trust in God, and lock your frikkin’ car.
Hi and thank you for the post! I just wanted to mention that the car was locked and a street light is not to far away from where our car was parked. But the good news is that this morning (16 days after the car was stolen) our car was found 8 blocks from our house! They had used a shaved down key that they left in the car. The stereo was missing of course but I was able to drive it home! My husband will be picking up a club on his way home from work so hopefully this will not happen again! Merry Christmas!
Jeri, I think we are all glad you got your car back. Please don’t take any of the comments personally: although your personal experience kicked off this discussion, other incidents were also described and we quickly moved into the realm of universal and non-specific situations. I have found it worthwhile to order a couple spare keys for THE CLUB – no hardware store will duplicate them, the blanks are unique. HAPPY 2013!