Car Break-ins

[disney junky]

The local news is talking about cars being broken into. An out of town couple had a gun stolen while they were eating in a restaurant. Their car was unlocked.

Here are my issues.
1. The car wasn't locked. How can this be called a 'break-in.'
2. If you have a gun in your car, how can you not make sure your car is locked?

I don't keep a ton of valuable stuff in the car. A few CDs. I have a French army knife in my glove box (I never kept gloves in it. Is it still called that?), a flash light, 23 years of insurance cards and registrations, and a phone charger or two, but nothing of real value in the grand scheme of things. I lock my car, but if I didn't and found this stuff missing, I think I'd be embarrassed to call the police. Not that I wouldn't, but I'd feel a little foolish when they asked that question.

 

[JaxDad]

The local news is talking about cars being broken into. An out of town couple had a gun stolen while they were eating in a restaurant. Their car was unlocked.

Here are my issues.
1. The car wasn't locked. How can this be called a 'break-in.'
2. If you have a gun in your car, how can you not make sure your car is locked?

I don't keep a ton of valuable stuff in the car. A few CDs. I have a French army knife in my glove box (I never kept gloves in it. Is it still called that?), a flash light, 23 years of insurance cards and registrations, and a phone charger or two, but nothing of real value in the grand scheme of things. I lock my car, but if I didn't and found this stuff missing, I think I'd be embarrassed to call the police. Not that I wouldn't, but I'd feel a little foolish when they asked that question.

1. Perhaps "break-in" was not the right terminology, but leaving your car or home unlocked does not give others the right to help themselves to your property.
2. I agree.

 

[aprilchem]

I think it's called a break-in because they entered someone else's personal property and took it. And I have no idea about not locking the car with a gun in it. I have an acquaintance who left his gun laying on the top of his car, got in and started driving, and it flew off somewhere going down the highway. To me that's just unconscionable - people who can't be responsible with guns shouldn't be able to have them, but nothing happened to this person when he informed the police. He didn't lose his gun license and just bought a new one.

 

[usnuzuloose]

I made that mistake as well , I forgot to lock the car and found someone had rummaged through my glove box and threw the stuff every where. It is nerve wracking, but I am not going to let them get the best of me. I think even some of the good places to live you get this stuff happening. Which is sad.

OP , I am sorry it happened to you. I do understand. I don't own a gun. But if someone does the car should be locked. So many guns stolen and used as well. There is a trial I am watching , the owner kept the gun in middle area in a grocery bag. I thought that was strange.

 

[Hikergirl]

I think break-in is just a general term used when your property is entered and burglarized.
Personally I think that people who leave their firearms in an unlocked car should be fined, and maybe even have stricter punishments if there is more than one offense.

 

[dish rag]

In Miami it's best to not lock your car door. That way your window won't get smashed.

 

[mjkacmom]

I never lock my car doors, it’s 11 years old and the most valuable thing in it is a $5 phone charger. Every now and then, our town has a bunch of driveway break ins, my car was hit once, it took me days to realize all of my quarters were gone.

 

[tvguy]

Burglary, not break-in.
We have had alerts from multiple police agencies in the past week about the most basic stuff that I can't believe people do (or don't do)
1) Lock your car
2) Don't leave ANYTHING in your car, especially in sight.

DUH!

 

[gillep]

The only things in my car is my collection of reusable shopping bags (that I still forget to bring in with me when I shop). We have been told by our local PD not to leave registration and insurance information in our cars, and that we can show them a picture on our phone, or to keep it in our wallets with our licenses because a lot of people are specifically breaking into cars in our area to get that personal information.

 

[3 MEN AND A BOAT]

My car looks as though it’s been broken into and rummaged through on a regular basis.

 

[katie01]

My car looks as though it’s been broken into and rummaged through on a regular basis.

Ha ha, I hear you. No one wants to break in to my van and steal the fast food wrappers and dirty socks my kids have strewn about the floor

 

[cabanafrau]

A lot of car break ins in our metro area are known to be the result of thieves looking for an easy score of prescription drugs.

 

[Colleen27]

I leave mine unlocked but there's nothing in there worth stealing. I'd rather someone just open the door, rummage around, and realize that than break a window to do it, which has happened to a couple of my friends. Obviously I'd lock it if I had anything of value there, but I wouldn't be comfortable leaving a weapon in the car whether or not it was locked.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

Our town is on the border of a city with lots of drug and gang activity, plus the highway runs right through here. As a result, car "break-ins" happen nightly. They only go into cars that are unlocked and typically steal loose change, phones, GPSs, computers, anything electronic. For some reason, if the car is a Honda, they'll also steal the tires and rims.

Of course, when someone complains on our town's open forum about the thieves getting into their car, the first comment is, "Was it unlocked? Then it's your fault. You're just inviting them to steal."

 

[MamaBelle4]

Eh, the break in terminology doesn't bother me.

If you leave a window unlocked because you had had it open and someone steals stuff from your home, isn't it still a break in?

And, as a poster above mentioned, the worst they could steal from my minivan is old chicken nuggets under the kids' car seats. They're welcome to them.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

The local news is talking about cars being broken into. An out of town couple had a gun stolen while they were eating in a restaurant. Their car was unlocked.

Here are my issues.
1. The car wasn't locked. How can this be called a 'break-in.'

Yes it is a break in. The "breaking" in breaking and entering doesn't refer to busting down something or breaking anything to get in. It refers to breaking the plane or crossing the threshold. Hence even with an open door, or if you just reach in and swipe something through an open window, you have broken the plane of the natural boundry of in this case the car with criminal intent where you do not have permission to be. And therefore you are breaking and entering. Now. If you had permission to be somewhere but you stole something. You're not breaking and entering because you had permission to be where you were. But you're still on the hook for stealing it.

 

[dotfurio]

My kid left my car unlocked one night when they went to get their backpack. Someone took my phone charger and audio cord. We've never had anything stolen before, even when the kids leave out their bikes and other things. But looking at Nextdoor it's been a big problem in our area lately.

 

[georgina]

I grew up in Cleveland where cars were stolen right out of people's driveways. Yes, my car is ALWAYS locked. My house is always locked. I will sometimes see unoccupied cars in a store parking lot with the engine running. I don't think that's very smart. I also don't think it's smart to leave your gun in an unlocked car. I see more reports of thieves going into unlocked cars than I do of them breaking windows to get into them.

We have had a few rental cars on Caribbean islands where you leave the windows down and the car unlocked, with nothing inside it.

 

[Doug McCoy]

The news was probably fear mongering about “break ins” happens all the time

 

[North of Mouse]

Always lock your car! Doesn't matter what/or if anything is inside you don't leave it unlocked, period! Never leave anything of worth anyway.