Do you lock your stuff up?

[Inked]

Growing up we always locked our doors including the cars. Funny story....in high school I started dating a girl from South Philly. After our first date she wanted me to come in her house to meet her family. After parking I began to lock the doors and she laughed saying there was no need for it since Angelo Bruno lived a few blocks over and no one would think about coming into the neighborhood to steal anything.

 

[opus1]

Religiously.

Even to the point of locking the vehicles in the garage, and taking in the remote from the car parked in the driveway.

My subdivision has a Facebook page and every so often there will be a post about 'x' number of cars were broken-into the night before and when things are investigated it turns out that all the cars were out in the driveway, unlocked, and people left their wallet or computer in the car. One busy night 5 vehicles were affected - 4 were unlocked and the 5th one had the window broken because the owner left their computer bag in the back seat. And don't you dare point out that maybe people should lock their cars and take their computer and wallet in the house because you will then be accused of "victim shaming."

Mayberry only existed on TV, and even they had Ernest T. Bass running around making life miserable for residents.

 

[Ws6]

Originally Posted by P10crew
Around here there is little to no thievery. I'm not sure when the last time I locked the house was. Keys are in the vehicles. Sheds don't have locks. Just thinking there is probably 8 or 9 AR's with in 500' of my place.
The babe thinks we should get a 3 camera Blink system. Not real sure why.
How secure is your area?

I lock up, even though it doesnt matter.

 

[Bud]

Always lock everything up.

 

[Ws6]

Originally Posted by AZjeff
Never understood the "have never locked up and never will" thing. Guess to prove something to the rest of us. Seriously, 99% of cars today it takes a click of the remote and locking the door on the way out might take 5 seconds.

Nothing bad ever happens or ever will, until it does then the fairy tale dies.

Because locking up only means not only will you be burgled, but you will also replace doors and or windows, along with it. Get an insurance policy and insure your valuables, is my advice.

Like I said, I do lock up, but mainly for legal purposes and chain of evidence, etc. Not because it will prevent any theft.

 

[supton]

I just avoid owning anything of value, no need to buy fancy locks. Saves me money all around.

We tend to lock the house at night, or if we go out for a while, but tend not to worry about it. We'll lock our vehicles while out shopping, but not in the driveway.

I tend not to leave anything of value in the car. Only one of our three vehicles has RKE, and that one isn't a daily driver.

 

[Pew]

I always lock my car when I step out of it, whether it's going inside my home or filling up at the gas station. I drive a manual anyways and if anybody wants to [or can] steal my focus they can go right ahead. Gap insurance!

House always stays locked too. Crime in my neighborhood is low but we had some kids going around at night a few years ago that were opening doors. Luckily most of the stuff was returned (parent's found out maybe?).

Originally Posted by Reddy45
Goodness you're all just bound to be hit by 'thieves of opportunity' one day for being so lax. My area was the same way, but then these out-of-staters started coming through little by little, driving around nice neighborhoods at night and simply going by each house to check for unlocked doors/garages/cars/etc. They all hit between 4-5AM which is when most people are deep asleep and they prey on people who insist on leaving things unlocked. Cars, golf clubs, guns, phones, wallets.. it boggles my mind that people would leave all that in their vehicles and not carry them 20 feet into the house and set them on the kitchen counter.

This isn't a type of crime that occurs in poor neighborhoods. It's quite literally a problem only because middle or upper-middle class people can afford nice things while digging their heels in that "crime shouldn't happen and I'm not gonna change my ways".

This is exactly what's happening in the suburbs of Chicago. They're coming out from the inner city and hitting the richer neighborhoods out here. I was playing a game online with a friend at night and he "had a feeling" and went to go look outside at his cars since he parks outside behind his place (he lives in a duplex in a white-picket fence area.) Low and behold, he saw a couple guys looking through his car windows and snuck up to them with his pistol drawn, yelled at them to GTFO, and they ran off.

 

[alarmguy]

I would think most people who live in a standard American community lock their doors and vehicles. These are communities like the photo above, homes on lots from 50x100 feet to 1 or 2 acre lots.
Its simple, most "break ins" are nothing more than teenagers with nothing to do. Walk through communities at night pulling door handles to see if a door is unlocked and the brave few that may know someone is not home, if the door is unlocked its an open invitation to some.

When you live in a more rural setting, you dont have young people walking down the streets of home after home every 60 feet.

 

[Rand]

Just 2 days ago we chased some guy out of the parking lot.. riding his bicycle around in circles and checking car doors.

Its not what I would consider a bad area.. but we do have not 1 but 2! methadone clinics within 1/2 mile.

 

[Alfred_B]

I live in a rural area. People will be friendly to your face but there is a lot of punkery behind the facade. So everything is locked, no valuables are kept in the house and have a loaded shotgun under the bed.

Been a victim of a burglary once so lessons were learned.

 

[AZjeff]

Originally Posted by Ws6
Originally Posted by AZjeff
Never understood the "have never locked up and never will" thing. Guess to prove something to the rest of us. Seriously, 99% of cars today it takes a click of the remote and locking the door on the way out might take 5 seconds.

Nothing bad ever happens or ever will, until it does then the fairy tale dies.

Because locking up only means not only will you be burgled, but you will also replace doors and or windows, along with it. Get an insurance policy and insure your valuables, is my advice.

Like I said, I do lock up, but mainly for legal purposes and chain of evidence, etc. Not because it will prevent any theft.


So you think the people who proudly proclaim never lock and never will do so to prevent replacing broken glass along with valuables taken? I think it's an unfortunate confidence that "my" area is so good it can't happen, or, I or my good neighbor will hold the bad guy at gunpoint until LE gets there.

A few years ago I lost a GPS out of the glovebox because I forgot to lock the car one night. Someone worked the neighborhood checking car doors and I got unlucky along with others. Locked cars weren't bothered so yes locked doors will prevent theft. Found this out when I filed a report with the PD.

Since you mentioned it, can an insurance company deny a theft claim if you didn't lock your house or car? The GPS wasn't worth claiming obviously.

 

[exranger06]

I live in an upper-middle class suburban town with a low crime rate. I still lock everything up. Even though most people around here are good law-abiding citizens, we often get people from the ghetto 15 miles away prowling around at night and stealing things out of unlocked cars. They always ignore the locked cars; they'll try the door and move on to the next car if it's locked. The police are constantly warning everyone to lock their stuff up. I'm also working on installing security cameras around the house, both inside and out.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted by exranger06
I'm also working on installing security cameras around the house, both inside and out.

We've thought about putting in cameras at our house, mostly because we can't look out the living room window and see if anyone is in the driveway. Being able to just look on our phone or iDevice might be worth the effort. Let alone being away from home and being able to do a quick check at what is going on. I know a couple coworkers who have them inside the house to check on kids and pets.

 

[skyactiv]

The home I had custom built has a panic room with a liberty gun safe in it. We keep our cameras, lenses and other things in it. The panic room just has a much better door and lots of wood top to bottom making it harder to bust into.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Is it just me or do other people also recognize that it seems where government gives out more "free" stuff and benefits, crime is generally higher in that metro area? In metro areas not known for high concentrations of government handouts, crime is lower. I know some will say it's because the population density is higher in metro areas, but my money is on the fact that in areas where people have to work hard for everything they got, they tend to respect others' property just a little more.

OP, I live in a rural town in a county that has a big heroin problem, so I lock my cars and house there. Where I'm moving is out in the country, over 1/4 mile from my nearest neighbor and almost 1/8 mile from the nearest road, so I will probably not do it there. As ol' Hank used to sing, I got a shotgun a rifle and a four wheel drive...

 

[JC1]

Should you guys be admitting you leave stuff unlocked????

I always lock stuff up. I don't even like leaving my garage door open, never know who's driving by and might like what I have lying around.

One of these days, I'll be installing cameras. Plenty of people with unlocked doors have had stuff stolen out of their vehicles.

 

[Blaze]

I live in a very remote area. Closest neighbor is one mile away. We lock nothing up besides the guns which are in a safe. We do have a camera in the driveway.

 

[Leo99]

My stuff is locked up. Alarm is on. Cameras record 24/7. No need to tempt fate.

 

[SZR48207]

Originally Posted by Blaze
I live in a very remote area. Closest neighbor is one mile away. We lock nothing up besides the guns which are in a safe. We do have a camera in the driveway.


Living somewhere remote should actually mean you are on higher defense because the sounds of a crime being committed won't be heard by neighbors. It would be incredibly easy for a truck full of criminals to come raid your home in the middle of the night and nobody would witness or hear it.

 

[postjeeprcr]

I always lock everything up (cars, shed, house), added extra lights around the house, have security cameras. Never had anything tampered with luckily and even have a neighbor who leaves his garage door open at night with the lights on. I do not think he has had anything stolen but in the general area there have been many "break-ins" into cars, almost always unlocked.