Monday Musings...

The GOOD news is that vehicle thefts in Fort Wayne have gone DOWN.

The BAD news is that your vehicle still "could" be next.

I couldn't help reading yesterday's article in the Metro section of the J/G and NOT smile (just a little). Try as I might, I couldn't help smiling, and not in some perverted sarcastic manner. I was smiling because I know that so many stolen cars don't have to wind us as...well, stolen in the first place. And again, it's all about PEOPLE (just like Soylent Green).

After all this time, and regardless of how sophsticated an alarm system you may install on a vehicle, there are STILL people out there that just leave their vehicle running while they go back inside the house for whatever. And aside from that driver becoming the next poster child for that "special kind of stupid" award, that vehicle cries out "PLEASE STEAL ME...MY OWNER IS AS DUMB AS A BAG OF ROCKS"!

I have a saying that we used to use in Philly...a LOT:

"Set yourself up to become a victim, and someone will be there shortly to oblige you".

Granted the automakers have made it more difficult to steal cars today, what with the chip-imbedded keys (which can go wrong all by themselves and set you back a few HUNDRED bucks), as well as the after-market systems to deter theft. Note that I said "difficult to steal" and "deter theft". It's not impossible to steal ANY vehicle, given enough time . But when someone all but HANDS THE KEYS to a car thief, what can you do? Well, you could slap the car owner about the face and neck for a hour, but that will do little if nothing to improve their short-term memory,and will make your hand smart.

Now I have a (nearly) 25 year old car (yes, that picture is of my car), and still in pretty good condition (for only having less than 60K on the odometer), and I admit it has no alarm system, aside from me. I still use THE CLUB, because it will take time to defeat it. And so far...so good (plus the club can become a "weapon at hand", should the need arise, and can be fashioned into a hand-made shotgun with very few modifications, but that's another post for another time, and I'll have to kill you when I tell you anyway...lol). Oh, I also have a nasty habit of doing something many car owners seem to forget, namely LOCKING THE DAMN DOORS! And keep a spare door key in the wallet or purse, in case you lock yourself out with the motor running.

I even have a CLUB in my wife's car, and it's got those chip-key devices. Oh, about those keys...there are only about 6-7 DIFFERENT chips in them, so if you find yourself among a lot of other cars JUST like yours, chances are YOUR key will work in one of them (and vice versa).

Funny how the carmakers never tell you THAT bit of information.

Cars are stolen for a number of reasons.

They can be used for "spare parts" at the neighborhood chop-shop (like we USED to have in one garage in our area before I dimed to the FWPD about it). They can be stolen as a "getaway car" for a robbery elsewhere (and imagine your surprise when the police knock on your door asking where YOU have been while you car was seen leaving a bank robbery). Most people will steal a car for the "fun" of it, and to just joyride around until they get bored (yeah, even THEY suffer from ADHD), and dump it at some corner and bail out of it.

But whatever the reason, when it happens to YOU, it's a big deal.

The trick is...to NOT allow that to happen. If you have to warm up your vehicle, stay IN the vehicle, or if it's in the garage, keep the door cracked about 6 inches (if the emissions bother you). Most garages are drafty enough to allow the door to remain shut (like ours).

A large part of our problem today stems from the fact that we DEPEND on our vehicles SO much (we literally have to), and we still treat them like crap. You love your kids (hopefully), but would you leave them UNATTENDED at the curb (and NO, I'm not speaking to the dipshit parent that left her infant in her minivan last week on Warsaw St.) while you went back inside the house?

OK, so maybe we don't "love" our vehicles as much as our kids...and that's OK, but we still owe something to that machine we paid SO damn much money for that takes our asses from A to B whenever the mood strikes us, and in any weather, right?

For the average person, a vehicle will be the SECOND MOST EXPENSIVE item they will purchase (a house being #1), and you owe it to yourselves to NOT allow some thief the chance to make what is YOURS...THEIRS! You sure wouldn't think of leaving the front door unlocked on the house, if you didn't want what you have inside to go outside with some stranger, right?

Believe me, my Dad was so right when he said to me:

"You take care of your car, and it will take care of you".

That didn't mean give thieves a chance to steal it. It meant protect it. It's the often ignored family member, the one that's always ready, rarely gripes, and never has to be put through college. It's like a pet that eats fuel instead of Snausages, but is often JUST as loyal as your Labrador Retriever. So think twice every time you get behind the wheel. Do you want to hand the keys over to a thief? Or do you want to get to work, take the kids to soccer practice, or take your family to dinner?

For the average car owner...that choice should be REAL easy.