Car break-ins. Advice needed.

I agree with rbohm's suggestion of starting a neighborhood watch. You might also want to send letters to the managers of the various apartment complexes telling them you will post a list of the incidents on sites frequented by students (in need of housing or interested in protecting their property).

Negative advertising is a good incentive to correct lax security. We have had a lot of break ins in our neighborhood and the homeowner's association almost had a stroke at the idea of putting up neighborhood watch signs. They thought it would be a sign that we are not a safe area and home sales would drop. Profit is the biggest motivator.

Lurp,

This is S&T, not Comedy Central. When stuff like that starts showing up on a thread, it isn't long until it goes over the hill and far away.

And then it gets closed.

I thought you might prefer to have some serious discussion continue here, so rather than closing the thread I deleted the irrelevant/irreverent comments...

lpl

Car breakins are pretty low on the totem pole for the po po as are many petty crimes.

When both of my kids went to college I bought them a mechanicaly sound beater car to putter around in with no radio or anything else that could be stolen.

I told them to keep the doors unlocked so no one would break a window but to always look inside before entering.

They didn't care since both had a new car at home to drive when they came and realized it was one less thing to worry about while trying to get their education.

Yes they got kidded a few times but since both had a full ride and didn't have to work to support a good car or pay bills, they had more time to study and both graduated with a 4.0.

After all isn't that what college is about, not forming a neighborhood crime watch?

Enough time for that when they get their own houses.

Sorry about your troubles - I spent 5 years in Austin and I saw what you decribed all too often. Between my friends we had several car break-ins, a few cars stolen and a few motorcycles stolen as well. Like you I had a pretty standard pickup with no frills and left nothing valuable visible and I came out unscathed. However, after living close to downtown for a few years I got fed up with the area and moved up north off 183 & McNeil where this type of stuff was a rarity, not an everyday event. The commute to school wasn't fun but hey I only went a few times a week anyway!

I would so totally get a paintball gun and camp out on my balcony...

eric.cartman, that sounds like fun, until you consider that shooting at people can lead to them shooting back. I suppose if you are 100% sure that you are painting the break-in criminals, and 100% sure they are unarmed ... you could claim that you were marking them for police convenience?

Leave nothing of value in your car, and don't lock it.

I lived in the 3rd world most of my life.

Leave nothing of value in your car, and don't lock it.

Click to expand...

+1 to that. They might get in and rummage around, but if the only thing in your car is the owner's manual, you are out nothing. If you leave stuff in there and the doors are locked, they will break the windows, as you have witnessed.

Encourage other tenants to do the same. Once there was a rash of home and vehicle burglaries in my neighborhood. I passed out flyers warning the neighbors on my street, talking with them. I even dropped some off at the guy's house who I suspected of being the burglar. the break-ins ceased on my street, even though they continued elsewhere. A few weeks later that guy went to jail and they stopped altogether.

KBT, that is a great idea, maybe he could print up 1/2 page fliers and put one on every car warning them to take valuables inside because of the breakins, I'd be sure to paper the managers car.

I dealt with the exact same issue when I was in college. My apartment was on the border of Oakland, CA so you can imagine some of the characters coming through.

I could write forever about this but its frustrating for me, and probably boring for all you guys. I had a hard time getting the police to come to the scene at all. They mostly wanted to give me a police report # over the phone for insurance purposes.

Good luck. Spotlight is a good idea as are hidden cams. I suppose you could form some sort of neighborhood watch if you can find some non-apathetic neighbors, as well. This would increase the eyes on the ground, pool information, and multiply the amount of pressure you can exert on LE and/or the media.

Step 1 - transfer to TAMU College Station
Step 2- call the apartment complex's emergency phone #, in addition to calling the police. Make sure they know what's going on, and that you expect them to address it. If the complex refuses, you may have a legal basis for terminating your lease or continuing to live there without paying rent (check Texas and local law). If your property is damaged, you might also be able to file against the apartment complex's insurance, or your renter's insurance, rather than your own car insurance.
Step 3- Your school has legal aid for students; find out his title and number and decide if you want an appointment. Bring a copy of your lease. The free lawyer won't give you a lot of his time, but he'll answer questions that the internet wont.

There's a few rules to follow with securing your own car.

1) Don't tempt a thief...any proof of ipods, fancy car audio, etc should be well concealed. Remove all stereo faceplates when leaving the car.
2) Do not install a subwoofer any bigger than 8", 200 watts....just one. Any bigger can make it's presence well known in the community, thus be a theft target.
3) No "blinging" out your car.
4) no valuables in view. When I transport my firearms, they are in my trunk, or in a messenger bag that's the exact color of my interior. Obfuscation is a major plus in this game.

Now, to deal with parking lot escapades.

1) Video camera should be ready to go
2) a good flashlight
3) cell phone to call 911 on
4) carry protection

Protection can be as little as a walking stick or a can of pepper spray, just plan ahead. If they are stealing just to steal, they'll bolt, but if they are stealing to get cash for something (let's ignore for what at this point), they may attack you to delay any police activity.

You're ahead of the game in that you are aggressively reporting activity like this. You should talk to your neighbors and tell the apartment manager to improve security there. One thing that worked here was closing off one of the three entraces to the complex. This leaves two routes in or out...less escape routes is good.

Next up, get the community together and as a whole, implement a community watch, focused on vechicular break-ins for now. As the crime flavor of the month changes, change scope. If done correctly, crime in the area can be reduced significantly.

I live in the inner city and two of our cars have been broken into. We leave nothing of value in the car. We now park our locked cars in our locked garage.

Get a loud car alarm. Use it. Maybe get an alarm with a pager to alert you when it has been tampered with so you can call the police during the act.

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but if you don't want to fork out $200+ for an alarm, any stereo shop can install a red LED light mounted anywhere (I suggest a highly visible spot, like on top of the dash). Set it up so it continually blinks when the engine is off. Don't worry about the battery drainage, as I'm sure it can power that little LED for years. Should only cost $20 installed.

I don't know how much you pay a month in rent, but I would easily shell over another $25-$50/month for a private security firm to cruise the complex. If you had 100 residents x $50 extra a month, that should cover the expense. May want to talk to the property owners about it.

Just my .02.

Good luck!

I also advise not locking the car, especially if it is a convertible. I drove a well used 1968 Mustang convertible when I was in school. I lost several sets of cheap $19 a pair Sparkomatic speakers, but nobody ever cut my roof to get at them.

I wrapped a 6' tractor chain around the brake pedal and locked it to the steering wheel whenever I parked it (This was before the Club was invented.) I also put in a poor man's ignition cut out switch ($1.99 plus some lamp cord and electrical tape) and installed a key lock on the hood.

I sold that car for $1 when I got mobilized to go to Iraq. I had thrown a rod years earlier, and didn't want to burden my wife with a used up relic that she would feel sentimental about if anything happened to me.

Lurp im wondering if you are in the same complex as my gf. she has had her car broken into twice within the last 6 months...last time they got my gps. I dont plan on staying up all night to catch these guys but i almost hope they dont get caught by me. I dont appreciate their amateur way of doing things.

Letters to the PD and city leaders might make you feel good, but I am sure the PD already knows where these are occurring. As long as BMV is a misdemeanor in Texas, the risk is low, and of course, especially in a college town, the reward is high.

BMV used to be a felony in Texas, but prison overcrowding was a main reason for making it a misdemeanor. Finally, a couple of sessions back, it was changed so that repeat BMV offenders can be charged with the lowest level of felony. But, it seems, the rewards still seem to outweigh the risks, for plenty of burglars.

As for the police, unless there is a surplus of police officers, requests for "extra patrols" are largely a fantasy. I work night shift patrol in another big Texas city, bigger than Austin, and I do very well know where the BMVs are happening. (BMV is THE most common crime in my area; Austin is probably similar.) I drive through those areas frequently, when I have uncommitted time, but generally, the burglars know the hours when I tend to be busy running calls, and they strike at those times, and around shift change. Even though my PD has staggered shift changes, there are periods when there are fewer officer on the street. Moreover, I spend more time patrolling areas where business burglaries occur, because, quite simply, it is the same amount of effort and risk to ME to catch either type of burglar, but a burglar who broke into a building or habitation goes away for years, whereas I will see the usual BMV suspects back out on the streets in days or weeks. Felony arrest look good when the admins tally my productivity, too.

I have arrested, or been present when others arrested, one car burglar FOUR times over a period of years. I recently saw him back out on the street, riding his bicycle at night. A different car burglar I caught inside someone's car was soon back out on the street, and I arrested him a second time shortly after he tried to break into a house. It never ends.

Oh, and by the way, one of my vehicles was burglarized at the POLICE STATION! I had no stereo; nothing fancy, but they got the battery and a small multi-tool. My SUV was parked right by a major entrance, in a well-lit area. I found my battery nearby, beside a disabled car; it did not fit that car. If a police station is not safe, what is?

To get back on the original topic, the best thing is to minimize one's own risk of BMV by not having a fancy stereo, not leaving anything of value in sight, locking or otherwise disabling the remote trunk release, and this last is often overlooked but VERY important: either secure valuables in the trunk BEFORE you arrive at a destination, or take them with you. Yes, burglars do indeed scout parking lots for folks putting valuables into the trunk.

got a friend with a dog you can borrow?

it was 1979 and i was in transition. i kept my beater torino with me and had a short term apt lease near where i needed to be. the area was much as you describe yours, including car break ins. add unauthorized apt entry's by mgt & 'others'. having my new neighbors tell me this, i decided to be proactive:

a good friend who i had dog sat for when he traveled loaned me David.
David was a properly trained full sized male german shepard. he stayed inside during the day and after his late walk, slept in the car...

another neighbor thought it was a good idea and did the same with their family mutt. David scored first----one morning i noticed what looked like blood on the passenger seat but didn't think much about it till a couple of days later i saw the managers high school kid with lots of bandages on this arm. he said he hurt himself doing the areas gardening. coincidence that break ins stopped also?