I’ve kept track of reports of the thefts from cars in the city where I work (an upper-class suburb with around 35,000 residents) for the last 30 days. While I earlier referred to them as “car break-ins” that is truly a mischaracterization. Here’s how the numbers work out:

Number of vehicles entered- 24

Unlocked vehicles- 20

Locked vehicles- 3

Unknown or unreported status- 1

More than 83% of the vehicles with items stolen were unlocked! In only three cases did thieves actually break a window to steal something. In each of those cases, the item(s) stolen were expensive and clearly within view from the outside of the vehicle. You can safely assume that if there is nothing visible to steal in your car, thieves won’t break windows just to check. On the other hand, if you leave your doors unlocked, thieves will open the door and see what they can find. As the title of the article says: Lock your damn doors! If you don’t want your crap stolen, keep your doors locked and valuables out of sight.

From Greg Ellifritz

I’ve written about this before, about how to keep your car safe.

Locking your doors is a primary deterrent. Second is to keep things out of sight, or better, not in the car at all. Don’t even keep cigarettes and gum, as that may well be desirable (yes, I had a neighbor whose unlocked car was rummaged through, and the only thing taken was their pack of gum).

I have had mixed feelings about locking car doors due to an old friend who worked in the legal system for some time. He never locked his car doors, but also kept the car empty from all things (only thing in the car was the car itself). From his experience, it was better to keep the doors unlocked and avoid the smashed window. As well, if they really want the car itself, it doesn’t matter because if they want something that big that badly, they’ll get it regardless. I see his logic and where it comes from, but still — I’m a door locker and car emptier.

It holds for houses too:

The same advice also applies to your house as well. We had at least four burglaries last month where thieves entered through an unlocked door. The standard M.O. for these burglars is to find a house that appears unoccupied. They’ll knock on the door and if no one answers, they will walk around the house looking for an unlocked entrance. If they find a door unlocked, they go inside.

The thieves go straight to the master bedroom and steal jewelry and all the small electronics they can gather on the way. They are in and out of the house in only a few minutes.

I’ve seen countless surveillance videos to back this up. BTW, ever have someone knock on your door and when you answered gave a strange response? You may have been cased. I had this in my younger days: someone knocked, I answered and they said their friend needed a glass of water. I gave them one, then when I went to go look they were no where to be found. A teachable moment for myself.

If you have an alarm on the house? I sometimes question the utility of it for the above reason: by the time they are in and out it’s only a few minutes and police will not respond in time. Nevertheless, I have an alarm system — and use it — because I think every layer of deterrent is useful and adds up towards making my car, my home less of a target. Locking doors and windows, well-lit exterior, having and using an alarm system, attentive neighbors, dogs, etc.. Note that most burglars aren’t undertaking a major heist: they just want a quick and easy score. The harder I can be to score against, the better. One just cannot have a false sense of invulnerability, no matter how thick one’s layers may be.

This is especially true regarding dogs.

I have a big dog. She’s a livestock guardian dog, so by nature she’s extremely protective. She’s certainly another layer to our home and family security system. But reading this gave me pause:

The thieves saw the dogs and concocted a plan. They entered the (unlocked) detached garage. One of them grabbed a yard rake and the other grabbed a scrap piece of lumber. They used the rake and lumber to drive the dogs back into an area where they could close a pet gate and isolate them to a small area of the house. With the dogs walled off, the criminals went straight for the bedroom and stole the jewelry. They left the rake and the piece of lumber in the house entryway.

I don’t know what sort of dogs, or even if the dogs’ temperament played a possible role here (e.g. a friendly lab vs. a protective pit). Still, it shows that a determined burglar (or group of) can get what they want. Nothing is bulletproof, so the more layers you can have, the better.

Bottom line: lock your doors. It’s a simple step, and will prevent a lot of problems.