Don't leave weapons in your car, just ask the Secret Service

[Speedo66]

Article in today's NY Times about a presidential squad Secret Service agent who came back to his car to find a window broken and his pistol, shield, and other accoutrements of his job stolen.

The agency I worked for in NY had a strict policy of no slack for guns or shields stolen from your personal vehicle. We were under orders to never leave such items in a vehicle.

Some of you may remember some years back an FBI squad who parked at a motel, leaving M-16's, etc. in their official vehicle overnight only to find them gone in the morning.

Don't do it.

Here's the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/23/u...on&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0

 

[gspn]

This one always made me laugh. It happened in 1997...I guess I'm old because it seems like it was just a few years ago. The FBI had a van full of weapons stolen here in Memphis. Happens all the time.

http://www.cnn.com/US/9706/04/fbi.theft.update/index.html?_s=PM:US


LOTS of guns get stolen from cars around the country. Here's an interesting article from St. Louis that touches on an unintended consequence of "gun free zones." People can't take the gun inside, so they leave it in the car. Criminals know they have to leave them in the car...so they break in.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/aug/25/guns-stolen-from-vehicles-increasingly-used-in-vio/?page=all

 

[Speedo66]

The Memphis van theft with the weapons was the one I was referring to. OMG, was it 18 years ago?

 

[gspn]

OMG, was it 18 years ago?

Ha! Yep...you're old too.

 

[Speedo66]

I like to think of myself as experienced, thank you.

Really, 18 years?

 

[rcmodel]

Got a different report on CNN.

A report filed with the Metropolitan Police Department several hours later describes the agent returning to his car and noticing the back rear window of his car had been "unzipped."

Mercy!!

rc

 

[Ignition Override]

gspn:
Weren't those FBI agents eating in a restaurant when it happened, just north of I-40, near/on Sycamore View?
Either the "Comm. Appeal" newspaper or tv evening news reported that they were eating and could see their car(s) from the table.

Vehicles of federal agents must be so easy to spot.
On a similar note, FAMs are fairly easy for 'us' to notice when there are two or three walking in airports...they don't even Attempt to look like regular civilians. Nothing about their typical appearance should be mentioned.
And at the ATL "cheesegrater", extremely easy. Therefore, FBI agents....

 

[gspn]

gspn:
Weren't those FBI agents eating in a restaurant when it happened, just north of I-40, near/on Sycamore View?
Either the "Comm. Appeal" newspaper or tv evening news reported that they were eating and could see their car(s) from the table.

If my memory is correct, the van was in the hotel parking lot. Maybe they could see it from the restaurant?

Memphis is the home of the smash-and-grab car robbery though. I tell visitors all the time "if you wan to keep it...make sure it can't be seen through the windows."

It doesn't matter how insignificant it is...they will smash your window and steal it.

One friend of mine was visiting his girlfriend one night in a nice residential area. His truck was on the street with the guns he hunted with earlier that day. They stole his grandfathers shotgun among others.

Another friend was on his way to his farm and had a lot of his gun collection in his vehicle. He made one stop in a shopping center in a very nice suburb...they stole every bit of it.

A co-workers wife had her window broken so a crook could steal her baby's diaper bag. Same co-worker had his car stolen from the work parking lot. I think everyone in my 8 person office has had their car broken into. I do not leave weapons in the vehicle.

This town just sucks.

 

[cheygriz]

IIRC, that secret service member was a part of the Presidential security detail.

Betcha he isn't now!

 

[sequins]

Did he have an NRA bumper sticker, though? That's the real question!

 

[taliv]

Did he have an NRA bumper sticker, though?

HA!! good one

 

[Old Fuff]

I am appalled I tell you... APPALLED!

The person who broke into the agent's car did not go through a background check first. Nor did they fill out a #4473 form.

What are we coming too?

 

[jerkface11]

A report filed with the Metropolitan Police Department several hours later describes the agent returning to his car and noticing the back rear window of his car had been "unzipped."

I guess he drives a jeep.

 

[george burns]

Probably only had the Launch codes on the flash drive. I wonder where this agent is from, aside from violating protocol, he should have known better than to leave anything in his car. Those days are gone, yet every day I see people do it, even here at my home, I ask everyone if they left anything in their car and most say yes. Things like brand new Apple laptops and cell phones, wallets, etc. It's unbelievable how lazy and privileged people are to think that nothing is going to happen to them.

 

[X-Rap]

It's unbelievable how lazy and privileged people are to think that nothing is going to happen to them.

WOW so now we're lazy and privileged???
Sounds like that came right out of the DNC talking points.
I don't think it's lazy and privileged to expect people to keep their hands off your stuff, naive in some situations? yes.

 

[Shovelhead]

A prime example of why "You must take your firearm back to your car before entering" is a really dumb policy.
But then, he didn't even have THAT excuse...He was one of the privileged class.
Probably not so much now though.

 

[Warp]

Probably only had the Launch codes on the flash drive. I wonder where this agent is from, aside from violating protocol, he should have known better than to leave anything in his car. Those days are gone, yet every day I see people do it, even here at my home, I ask everyone if they left anything in their car and most say yes. Things like brand new Apple laptops and cell phones, wallets, etc. It's unbelievable how lazy and privileged people are to think that nothing is going to happen to them.

Lazy and privileged?

What?

 

[Ryanxia]

Those days are gone, yet every day I see people do it, even here at my home, I ask everyone if they left anything in their car and most say yes. Things like brand new Apple laptops and cell phones, wallets, etc. It's unbelievable how lazy and privileged people are to think that nothing is going to happen to them.

I leave guns in my truck all the time. So do most of my friends. None of us have ever had an issue.

Those days aren't gone, you just live in a city.

 

[george burns]

I have cows across the street from me. I am not in a city, and one night 22 cars got broken into in my little 300 home development on the outskirts of Vero. There is nothing more than 2 stories high here and off season, very few people. Crime is everyware not just in citys.
If you really think that there is no chance of getting your car broken into in this day and age, you are living in the past. Five years ago maybe it was true but with the influx of immigrants it is no longer so.
Don't wait to be a victim, just lock your stuff up in a lock box if you insist on leaving guns in your car, or eventually they will walk away. All it takes is one kid overhearing from another kid that his dad or brother has a gun in his truck.

 

[il_10]

I'll start by saying that a car is probably not the most secure place to keep a firearm; as a matter of fact, I had a cz82 stolen out of my glove box earlier this year (it was recovered quickly by the police).

BUT, similar to violent crime rates involving firearms, a point which we touch on quite a bit here, larceny rates are as low as or lower now than "the good old days."

Larceny rates haven't been this low since 1968,
vehicle theft rates haven't been this low since 1963,
burglary rates haven't been this low since 1965.

Theft from a vehicle accounted for 22.9% of all larcenies in 2014, making for a 420.7 in 100,000 chance.

0.42% is not bad odds, though I've gone as far as to lock my glove box and might get one of those little safes at some point. However, since it's happened to me once, at the current crime rate it'll take another 238 years before it's statistically likely to happen again


http://www.ucrdatatool.gov/Search/Crime/State/RunCrimeStatebyState.cfm
https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2014/crime-in-the-u.s.-2014/tables/table-23

 

[Warp]

Not to mention the location (city/neighborhood) component to those statistics, as well as things you can control such as what is visible through the glass, if it's locked, etc.

We had several vehicles illegally entered with some items stolen on my street earlier this year, including a police officer's personal vehicle that was parked maybe 15 feet from his patrol car (patrol car on curb, personal vehicle in driveway maybe 15 feet from the house). The commonality for every vehicle entered? The doors were unlocked. Not mine.

 

[morcey2]

There was a string of car burglaries in Salt Lake City earlier this year outside of a couple of well-known "no guns, and we enforce it" establishments. Usually arenas for sporting events or for conferences where everyone was required to go through metal detectors.

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=37063017&ni...rgeting-guns-in-salt-lake-city&s_cid=queue-14

"The burglars are actually watching people place guns in their vehicle, then waiting for them to go back into the establishment, and breaking into their car," said Lougy.

There's a longer article that I can't find that says that the police think that the perps had someone near one of the sets of metal detectors who would notify an accomplice when someone was wanded and turned away. With today's technology, it would be trivial to send a description or even a picture of the person.

Matt

 

[lemaymiami]

Thefts from vehicles are all too easy -particularly if items are left in the passenger compartment. I've actually done active parking lot surveillance as part of a crew dedicated to that sort of stuff (and in my later years run such a unit). From personal experience (and the experiences of my crew) you can be within 20 feet of a car getting it's side glass popped and all you'll hear is the sound of a handful of gravel hitting the pavement... side glass on vehicles is designed to crumble if there's a crack in it (and a simple spring loaded centerpunch doesn't make a sound if used properly..). In my years in police work (the stone age for anyone needing to know....) breaking into cars was a popular pastime for every kind of thief - from the kid looking rip your radio and anything else of value in the interior -to the pro that doesn't touch a car without a ready buyer in advance... We caught quite a few car burglars in the act but rarely made much of a dent in that kind of stuff.... The only time that we ended that sort of stuff came after one of my guys shot and killled a car burglar right as the theft was occurring.... No, we never planned on something like that - but I can tell you that for six months after the shooting my town didn't have one car popped..... NO, I'm not recommending deadly force to deal with stealing, this was a one off where the officer was closing on the guy and he did something stupid and paid for it...

It was really bad in the seventies and eighties down here in paradise. I mentioned on another thread that I actually had a shotgun ripped out of a marked police vehicle in broad daylight while it was parked right in front of the Dade county courthouse.... I had court that day and was on duty so my mistake was not removing that popper and storing it in the trunk before heading downtown --it was mounted in a supposedly secure electro-lock dashboard mount.... Live and learn - that weapon was never recovered that I know of .....

 

[Ignition Override]

gspn:
Both of my car break-ins were in Shelby Farms. The first time (about '94) they grabbed a rigid rectangular leather 'brain bag' which had been left in the back seat. The second time nothing was visible, but almost no traffic (misty New Year's Day) at the start of a jogging trail, just east of the fishing pond.

A few weeks ago a police officer chatted with me in a hotel by ATL Airport, just north of Virginia Ave. in Eastpointe.
Over in that very high-crime area, a carjacking suspect then committed a home invasion. His bond was set at only $10,000, and the bail bondsman or whoever then reduces the bond to 10%, which is only $1,000. Back on the streets...
The officer said that some of those thugs seldom go to court. Could it be a similar situation in Memphis with 10% of really low bonds?

 

[lemaymiami]

Bonds are pretty much the same around the country. If you're eligible for bond you (or someone else) posts the full amount to guarantee you'll show up for trial. You get that money back when you do, in fact, show up for trial... A surety bond (pretty much a piece of paper guaranteeing to pay the full amount of the bond if you fail to appear -an insurance contract of sorts....) is put up by a bondsman on your behalf - usually for a fee of 10% of the face amount from you (or again someone else on your behalf...) and that money you don't get back... Bondsmen range from straight up to badly bent (and everywhere in between I'm afraid...) but they'll usually do their best not to bond out someone that is likely to skip. Many times in addition to the face amount of the bond (and that 10% fee...) they'll want to hold some sort of security until the court date is met. The title to your car, the deed to your house (or your family's house....).

NO, it's not a perfect system, and YES there are pretty much professional criminals that get out on bond then go back to "work" to sustain themselves (and generate the funds to pay lawyers and bondsmen....). I've known of bondsmen that were so crooked they not only bonded out bad actors -but promptly put them back to work doing what they do best..... The one in particular I'll never forget (I did my best to take him down over a ten year period...) eventually went down hard for a triple murder.... I'd like to say I had something to do with his downfall but guys like that usually take themselves down....

The whole bond system isn't very pretty - but with jails badly overcrowded it's the system we use to allow someone freedom until their court date. If you were locked down with every ugly you can think of... there's not much you wouldn't do to get out of jail until your court date.... No matter how much it cost. Remember that under our system you're innocent until proven guilty -that's how we roll and if you look at countries in Europe (where it's supposed to be civilized...). I wouldn't change if for anything.