Bay Area car break-ins are on the rise, prompting some auto owners to leave their trunks open

[janterry]

Some car owners in the San Francisco Bay Area have been going to great lengths to avoid vehicle break-ins, even if that means risking it all.

"I'm shocked," said former San Francisco Police Department Deputy Chief Garret Tom. "There's so much that can go wrong here."

We've heard of cars being left unlocked, windows rolled down, but now some people are leaving their trunks open too. It's raising eyebrows as reports of car break-ins are on the rise in San Francisco and Oakland.

A witness who saw it happen wrote on social media, "Imagine having to clean out your car and leaving it open in public, just so people won't break your windows. Oakland we looking sad man."

https://abc7.com/trunk-open-car-break-in-why-not-to-leave-your/11344070/

I don't live anywhere near California, but in my tiny town - people have reported leaving their doors unlocked (with nothing in the car) to prevent their windows being broken. (That was just reported on my towns facebook page).

[markie]

1. years ago

maybe 2009... when we were working on the road... we were in Miami and just starting to pack up car to move to different hotel... my SO locked the car each time he had to go up to get something else... trip down and he actually saw the person smash the window and grab what was on the seat... we were told just don't lock your car and your windows won't get broken

[janterry]

2. vermont has that stupid (lack of) law

where you CAN rummage through someones car and it isn't unlawful. (just looked up the proposed law to change that - it hasn't passed, yet)

https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2020/H.923

[markie]

3. ...

[janterry]

4. I heard originally it was a 'good neighbor' thing

you know, if I'm rummaging through YOUR car, it's probably because I mistook your subaru (or prius) for mine.

which is all well and good......fifty years ago (lol)

[doc03]

8. I did that a few years ago I parked my silver Mercury Tracer at the mall. When I came out of the

mall I got in a silver Mercury Tracer I was putting the keys in the ignition I noticed cigarette ashes on the floor
and console, I don't smoke cigarettes. Woops wrong car

[Sympthsical]

11. I've done that

I had a silver Corolla which every third person in California seemed to have at the time. Walked out of the store, unlocked it, got in, was just about to put the key in the ignition before I realized I did not have an air freshener hanging from my mirror.

Felt so stupid.

[doc03]

15. I think you could be shot for that now in Ohio

Castle Doctrine or Stand Your Ground. "I saw him attempting to steal my car so I felt threatened and had to shoot him"

[Sympthsical]

16. It was actually even dumber than that

I had actually walked to the store at the time.

But yeah, I don't know how I'd react if I saw someone in my car. Mix in a someone with a gun and a hair trigger temper, and it's off to the races.

[Elessar Zappa]

9. Car break-ins and auto theft was just as prevalent 50 years ago.

[janterry]

13. I know, but Vermont has a kind of rural

thing going on. We have only one big city (Burlington) - and it's not really all that big.

That was just a reference for Vermont - and that explanation was raised last year when people were really upset about car break-ins (and the police not doing anything about it, because of problems - it was suggested - with the law).

[bamagal62]

5. When we lived

in Atlanta, we always left our car doors unlocked and the cars empty. We didn't want to pay for broken windows! One morning I found a screw driver in my passenger seat. I knew someone had rummaged through the car. But, my windows were intact!

[Johnny2X2X]

6. LOL, did this in Detroit years ago

Lived near Corktown for several months, parked on the street. Left my doors unlocked and kept the car clean. Most of the street did so as you'd be waking up to a broken window if you didn't.

San Francisco actually has pretty low crime statistics the last couple years for a major city, and the only thing slightly spiking is burglaries.

[doc03]

7. I had my car broken into were I worked several years ago. They caused several hundred dollars

damage bending the drivers side door and door frame. The only thing they took was a cheap
flashlight. I left my doors unlocked from then on. One time someone got in and rooted through my
glove box and console but never took anything but some parking meter change.

[Dial H For Hero]

10. I've had two cars broken into over the last 45 years.

In each instance, a window was broken and the stereo ripped out.

[moonscape]

12. I lived in Manhattan in the 70's and

stealing stereos was rampant. One guy had his stereo ripped out 3x before he gave up, you just couldn’t park in the street in many areas without it happening. So, he didn’t have a stereo and put a sign in his car window ‘no stereo inside.’ When he got to his car one morning he found all his windows smashed and painted on his windshield ‘GET ONE’

[brush]

14. "Get one." How horrible. That made me laugh though.