10 Tips to Prevent Vehicle Break-Ins in RB

The assortment of misdeeds cataloged in Patch's changes from week to week, but one type of crime seems to always be part of the mix: vehicle break-ins.

The San Diego Police Department offers a number of tips to help residents prevent vehicle break-ins on its website. There are also tips for preventing motorcycle theft, carjacking and vandalism.

We've picked 10 vehicle break-in prevention tips from SDPD to highlight:

• Park in open, well-lighted, and populated areas near your destination, preferably one in view of a security camera. Avoid parking near trucks, vans, dumpsters, and other objects that obstruct visibility and provide hiding places. Avoid parking near strangers loitering or sitting in vehicles.

• Turn off your engine, roll up all windows, lock all doors, and take your keys with you even if you are making a quick stop at a store or gas station, or even in your driveway. Close all windows and lock the trunk and hood.

• Buy a vehicle with interior hood and truck lock releases. Install a secondary hood lock if your car does not have one.

• Replace knob-type door lock buttons with tapered ones.

• When you lock your vehicle with a Remote Keyless Entry (RKE) fob make sure that all the doors are locked before leaving your vehicle, especially in public parking lots. There has been an increase in the use of jammers to prevent the RKE signal from activating the door locks.

• Never leave anything of value in plain sight. Remove all cellular phones, audio systems, computers, packages, sports equipment, cameras, purses, wallets, firearms, etc. from the inside of your vehicle.

• Take anything you can’t afford to lose with you, e.g., a wallet, credit card, or laptop computer. Put other valuables in the trunk before you park, never after you park. Thieves may be watching.

• In shopping, ask the store to hold all your purchases until you are finished there so you can carry everything to your vehicle in one trip. If you need to make more than one trip to load your trunk, move your vehicle to a different area of the parking lot after each trip.

• Make sure that any valuables that were locked in the glove box or trunk were not taken or tampered with when you return to your vehicle. Thieves are able to get into some vehicles without leaving any visible signs of a break-in.

• Make several slices through your license plate registration sticker after it has been placed on the plate. If the sticker is stolen you can get a replacement from your local Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) office.

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