It’s two a.m. You are asleep in your warm bed when you hear your car alarm going off in your driveway. What do you do?
How many of you would grab your bedside pistol and run outside to check what’s going on?
That may not be the best course of action.
Check out the article and surveillance photos below. This gang of youths is stealing things from cars in a neighborhood near where I live. When you heard the car alarm and ran outside, would you have expected to handle three armed criminals? Two of the kids pulled security by covering the house with drawn pistols while the third broke into the cars to steal things.
The kids with the pistols seemed ready to shoot any homeowner who came out of the house (or even looked out of the upstairs window) to investigate.
Police working to identify suspects in NW Austin vehicle burglaries and thefts
Over the years I’ve seen some significant changes in the characteristics of criminals who steal from cars. Thirty years ago, almost all the auto burglars were high school kids rummaging through unlocked cars looking for loose change for beer money.
In the mid-2000s, that changed. The folks stealing from cars were all heroin addicts who “boosted” anything they could sell on the street for drug money.
Now it’s mostly organized urban street gangs doing the thefts, even in “safe” suburban neighborhoods. The thieves aren’t looking for beer money. They are looking for guns, electronics, and keys that get them into houses where they can steal even better stuff.
Are you prepared to deal with three armed individuals when you walk out of the house in your boxer shorts at three a.m.?
A few tips to consider…
– Lock your car doors and don’t leave any visible valuables in your parked car.
– Take your garage door openers inside the house when you park your car for the night. Alternately, you might be able to deactivate the remote opener from the control panel inside your garage.
I park my car in the driveway and leave the opener inside. I hit the switch to disable the remote from inside the garage every night before going to bed.
– Lock the door from your garage into your house (and all your other doors as well).
– Check your outside perimeter cameras before you walk outside at night to check any alarms. Better yet, stay holed up in your house and call the police to do that job for you.
Lots of bad things can happen when you confront criminals outside your house. Don’t get yourself needlessly killed by a 14-year old gang banger with a gun.