One of our customers who is patiently awaiting his arrival of “CopTalk” by mail, recently emailed us with specific questions in regards to vehicle alarm systems verses other anti-theft devices. I got so carried away in answering his question that I thought, “Boy, there’s enough information here to be the tip of the every other week topic!”
And so, here it is.
If any of you that read our page have any questions pertaining to any information discussed in the site, please email us and we will be happy to either answer or research the answer for you to the best of our ability.
The Netcops Staff sincerely wishes you a SAFE and HAPPY Thanksgiving Day Holiday. Use good old common sense, DON’T drink and drive, and you’ll be headed in the right direction.
Stay Safe everybody!
Here’s this week’s Tip of the week in response to our customer’s question:
I just got home from an 18 hour shift and have to double back for graveyard again, but I wanted to give you a quick reply… (Yes we are real cops working those dreaded “real hours” in the middle of the night…”) If this doesn’t make sense it’s because I’m doing it with one eye open.
First of all, our entire staff is enthused that there are people out there like you with such a strong interest in personal crime prevention. We really do commend you, and we are here to be of any assistance you may need even if it’s just answering questions.
I live in a county which isn’t all that far from you and I often listen to the news and radio stations in the Sacramento area. I just heard on one of your local news station’s, that “they” (whoever that is supposed to be), announced that “crime rates are down and that people are feeling safer against being victimized.
Of course the citizens on the street that they interviewed, questioned the press release that came out because they don’t see a drastic change in the crime rate and in turn, they don’t feel any safer!
I admire the people that take the extra step in taking their own preventative safety measures and that’s exactly the reason we wrote CopTalk! So that people could be more informed as to what they can do on there own.
When you read the last chapter of the book, “What you should know about the system”, I’m anticipating that you’ll be shocked to learn why the crime rate never seems to reduce itself.
In response to your email you asked if it was worth having an alarm system installed on your truck or if just having “The Club” was sufficient.
Crime prevention is a check and balance. The more steps you take, you greatly enhance your chances of not being victimized.
We are strong advocates of alarm systems! You can’t go wrong with an alarm system on each vehicle and that goes for vehicles that are in your garage as well.
I went to a call at 4am a couple nights back for a woman that wanted her ex-boyfriend removed from her residence. He had shown up unannounced and had gotten into her garage through an unlocked side garage door. We arrived before he could gain access into the house and he was promptly arrested for trespass.
As we escorted the guy out, I looked into the woman’s vehicle parked INSIDE the garage and saw the driver’s window down. Her keys were dangling from the ignition! After we secured the guy in my patrol car I politely suggested to the woman that she keep her vehicle LOCKED and to never keep the keys in the ignition.
Her response was, “It’s in the garage, what’s the big deal?” The big deal is,
• What if this guy had quietly opened the garage door and split in her car in his drunken stupor?
• What if we had seen him and a vehicle pursuit took place and he ended up crashing the car?
• What if he smashed into an innocent motorist?
• What if he had hit and killed an innocent pedestrian?
• What if he crashed into the bedroom wall of someone’s house?
• What if a cop got injured or killed in the pursuit?
There’s a lot of “What Ifs” with drastic consequences, for something that could be EASILY avoided by simply locking the car and keeping the keys secured in the house. (No I didn’t try to sell her a book!)
At the agency I previously worked for, I got into a vehicle chase of a brand new BMW late one night. Right before I was going to terminate the pursuit because of this idiot driving like a mad man, he drove onto a dead end street and we boxed him in.
A 14-year old kid with his 14-year old friend, and two 13-year old girls, had taken his Dad’s brand new BMW that had been UNLOCKED in the garage, and had disconnected the garage door so that they could quietly open it manually. After rolling the car out to the street away from the house, the kid started the car with the keys that had been LEFT IN THE IGNITION and off they went. They blew a stop sign at 65 mph, which was the original reason I had attempted to stop it in the first place!
A whole lot more “What ifs!” This could have easily ended in tragedy. This kid could barely see over the dashboard!
I can’t forget that first woman’s frame of mind. “What’s the big deal?”
It’s that mentality that a crook is banking on in the middle of the night. Thefts of vehicles with the keys left in the vehicle ignition, under the floor mat, or over the visor, FAR OUTWEIGH the thefts of somebody doing the old “Hot-wire trick”. Why go to all that trouble when people make it so easy for the bad guy?
We often have a chance to converse (off the record) with the people we arrest following the booking procedure.
This is what’s been told to Mark and I in the past few years by auto burglars we have taken into custody.
It’s not worth making noise and waking people up by breaking a window. If the car isn’t unlocked they move on to one that is. And according to them, they always find one.
The club is an awesome device that strongly detours the guy that wants to steal the whole car. It does NOTHING to the guy who wants your cell phone, stereo, CD’s, or speakers that are in plain view.
Most the decks these guys steal have detachable heads or faces. If it doesn’t have the head attached, they pass it by. Too much hassle selling it on the street. But guess what? Most the decks they steal have the heads in place! People are too lazy to lock them in the glove box, in the trunk, or to take them inside with them. And thus you give the guy the incentive to get into your car.
If a vehicle has an alarm system, 90 percent of the time the bad guy will pass it up because he doesn’t want to make NOISE. On the other hand, if the vehicle is in a remote area where there are not a lot of neighbors around close-by, he might take a chance.
If a vehicle is locked and has no signs of having an alarm system, the bad guy will take a chance on getting in by:
• using a slimjim
• using a screw driver to damage the tumbler at the key hole,
• and the most popular that is on the rise by gang members and car thieves,
• A spark plug in a sock! They press the electrode end of the plug against the
• Door glass until the safety glass pops.
Firefighters and cops use “Window punches” for rescues where people are trapped in a vehicle. This is a make shift version of this and it makes VERY LITTLE NOISE! You can tell this was the method used the next morning when you find small pieces of the porcelain casing from the spark plug amongst the broken glass.
Factors that encourage them:
1. The vehicle is parked on the street.
2. No house lights are on in the area.
3. The victim residence has no motion lights that flood the area with light,
4. No dogs bark announcing their presence.
5. And most importantly, they SEE something of value in the car that motivates them to make entry.
Our motto’s,
Every action has a reaction, and
Take away the opportunity and you’ll take away the crime!
I hope this has helped you out just a little bit. This comes straight from the crime scenes we’ve responded to, but more accurately, from the mouths of the bad guys who got caught!
Take care and as always, Stay SAFE!
The Staff at Netcops P.S.I.
