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I have lived in the same neighborhood for 13 years, ever since moving to Texas.... I have very seldom locked any of my vehicles, even when shopping in town or parking at work.... All that is changing now.... went out to trade out some .45 ammo that i keep in my bag in the truck and it was gone.... looked like the cab was rifled a bit too... checked the console where i keep a spare mag of Critical Defense and it was gone also.... CB radio was still in there... irate about the bag, not about the ammo (about 150 rds) but all my eye protection, ear, and field cleaning items, plus my nano vault.... checked around the truck some more and a set of keys were missing, just church and work keys on it.. no house keys... they did leave the set of pink ear muffs that my daughter uses... worse thing also is a pair of glasses in the bag were my prescription safety glasses for work.... nothing taken out of the tool box in the bed since that was unlocked also... I'm convincing my self that it was somebody who knew I kept that bag in my truck...

truck and tool box locked for now on....

like i said its my fault but just being able to rant a bit helps to calm down..... trying to decide if should make a report since all the stuff taken were small items, except the ammo

Thieves suck!

Sorry you got hit... Glad it was easily replaceable items and no firearms.

Thieves are everywhere these days. If it was someone who knew you had the stuff, the unlocked door might have saved your window.

RetNavy wrote:I have lived in the same neighborhood for 13 years, ever since moving to Texas.... I have very seldom locked any of my vehicles, even when shopping in town or parking at work.... All that is changing now.... went out to trade out some .45 ammo that i keep in my bag in the truck and it was gone.... looked like the cab was rifled a bit too... checked the console where i keep a spare mag of Critical Defense and it was gone also.... CB radio was still in there... irate about the bag, not about the ammo (about 150 rds) but all my eye protection, ear, and field cleaning items, plus my nano vault.... checked around the truck some more and a set of keys were missing, just church and work keys on it.. no house keys... they did leave the set of pink ear muffs that my daughter uses... worse thing also is a pair of glasses in the bag were my prescription safety glasses for work.... nothing taken out of the tool box in the bed since that was unlocked also... I'm convincing my self that it was somebody who knew I kept that bag in my truck...

truck and tool box locked for now on....

like i said its my fault but just being able to rant a bit helps to calm down..... trying to decide if should make a report since all the stuff taken were small items, except the ammo

Always good to have it on record, just in case something else happens in the future.

Just got done making a report with the police. Took fingerprints and pictures.

RetNavy wrote:Just got done making a report with the police. Took fingerprints and pictures.

Thieves are in cities both large and small. One advantage of living in a town of 25,000 people is the police will take the time to respond and actually take fingerprints and pictures. Same crime happening here in Houston does not get a similar degree of attention.

RetNavy,

This happened to me several years ago. The stuff that was stolen was of insequential value, but what was stolen was piece of mind. If someone would have asked me if they could of had those items I'd probably had given them away, stealing them from me......

It is not your fault, but you certainly made it easy for the crook. Burglars look for unlocked vehicles. Much less chance of getting caught.

There are three things you should do to avoid vehicle break-ins; Hide your stuff, Lock your vehicle, and Take the keys.

Keith B wrote:Hide your stuff

Can't tell you how many conversations I've had with the kids about not leaving stuff on the seat where it can be seen.

Keith B wrote:There are three things you should do to avoid vehicle break-ins; Hide your stuff, Lock your vehicle, and Take the keys.

Our daughter (who was a police dispatcher at the time and should have known better), left the detachable face on her Alpine stereo one night. The car was locked and less than 50 feet from from her bedroom window in an apartment complex lot when the burglar drove his feet through her passenger side window, ripped apart her dash and stole the Alpine. He pawned it in Irving for $25 along with 17 other similar stolen units. Her car repairs were $1,800.

If they cannot see it, they won't steal it. By the way, he was never prosecuted for the crime. Even though it was he who pawned every stolen unit from the Bedford crime spree, they could not prove that it was him who stole them. She eventually got the unit back because she could identify the CD that was still in it.

chasfm11 wrote:

Keith B wrote:There are three things you should do to avoid vehicle break-ins; Hide your stuff, Lock your vehicle, and Take the keys.

Our daughter (who was a police dispatcher at the time and should have known better), left the detachable face on her Alpine stereo one night. The car was locked and less than 50 feet from from her bedroom window in an apartment complex lot when the burglar drove his feet through her passenger side window, ripped apart her dash and stole the Alpine. He pawned it in Irving for $25 along with 17 other similar stolen units. Her car repairs were $1,800.

If they cannot see it, they won't steal it. By the way, he was never prosecuted for the crime. Even though it was he who pawned every stolen unit from the Bedford crime spree, they could not prove that it was him who stole them. She eventually got the unit back because she could identify the CD that was still in it.

A little off topic, but this is the reason I always get the upgraded factory stereo system when buying a car instead of going aftermarket. The factory stuff is not nearly as tempting to thieves as the aftermarket stuff.

RetNavy wrote:I have lived in the same neighborhood for 13 years, ever since moving to Texas....

For my first real job out of college I left small town WI for the big city of Chicago where one of the first things I heard was "the average life of a Corvette parked on the street is [was] 20 minutes" and enough other stories that to this day I lock everything all the time. And now that I think of it, I did once, living in Chi-town, have my locked trunk broken-into when parked outside at my apartment building.

Just takes one of these experiences of course to change one's behavior forever.

Glad you loss wasn't more significant than it was. Even in good neighborhoods in nice towns, crime is an ever-present threat.