Police Lock Your Door For You

[AcGold]

Originally Posted by jar_e

To clarify, if a cop was walking down the street, saw a bunch of coke/gun/etc. in plain view in a vehicle, there's definite cause and duty for the police to act in something in plain view. Door unlocked or locked is irrelevant if its in plain view.

Opening up doors and going on fishing trips in a veh, obviously a different issue.

That being said, this is all acting in good faith and essentially a push to make police more efficient and reduce crime. The vast, vast, vast majority of car break and enters are done through unlocked doors and damage to vehicles I'd guesstimate is at around 4-7% in Calgary. A large portion of stolen vehicles are stolen through unlocked doors. So doing this preventative work actually reduces police investigating this work and probably further ahead in the long run time/manpower wise.

Is it illegal for them to open the door of a car that's not their property? I would assume it's illegal to walk up to a cop car and open the door. I don't care if someone has something to hide or not, I'd prefer they keep their hands off people's property regardless of whatever good intentions they say they have. Good faith? How about don't touch my car, it's not yours.

[saillias]

Originally Posted by The Familia

Then you charge that person. Having illegal drugs is illegal whether you hide it or not. As another stated, if you have nothing to hide there is nothing to worry about.

Yeah ok we get it. The government is good, all laws are good, breaking them is bad, obey obey obey.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

We have parked multiple cars outside for years. One time for the first time in whatever reason, we left a car on our drive way for a few hours unaware that the car was unlocked. Someone went into the car and looked for stuff to steal. Stuff everywhere, door left open. I can sort of see the logic of not locking a car, but not something I would do.

We live in the NW.

On a different note, I believe people in Churchill Manitoba do not lock cars.

Yeah, we'll that's a matter of public safety...

[Wormius]

If you leave your door unlocked, and a little token change to keep some thief from ransacking your whole car, you're making it worse for everybody in the long run.

It's like feeding bears, or leaving your beverage containers out next to your recycling bin for people to take. The message that's being given to would-be thieves is, 'maybe there is a reason to hang around this area, maybe there is stuff in other cars too, if we just break the windows to get in'.

[Ozy_Flame]

If you're not on the side of locking your doors, here's something to help convince you - park your car right under the parking lot street lamp. If someone is ballsy enough to smash your window, at least he's going to be center stage under the spotlight in doing it.

Also, try and park close to a tall apartment building if you can. You can get an army of witnesses if the thief gets caught and it goes to court. Someone from the building is usually watching or can hear the commotion going on.

One more thing - insurance papers and car registration are a gold mine for identity theft. So don't think bringing your jewelry and iPhone out of the car is good enough; if you're going to leave your doors unlocked, grab your car papers too. I highly recommend it.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

One more thing - insurance papers and car registration are a gold mine for identity theft. So don't think bringing your jewelry and iPhone out of the car is good enough; if you're going to leave your doors unlocked, grab your car papers too. I highly recommend it.

+1 for that. I haven't kept anything with my name or address in my vehicle in years.

The other concern is making a note of the address, and walking away with the garage door opener for later and walk off with anything of value in the garage. I know of at least one person who had that happen to them.

Personally I find a locked door and not leaving anything visible in my car deterrent enough. Sure insurance will cover your ipod and sunglasses, but I'd rather pay the $500 for a new window than go through an identity theft scam or find everything in my garage (or house) missing.