13. XVP, security system to prevent theft
Date: Tue Sep 25, 2007 9:00 pm ((PDT))Someone mentioned installing a security system to protect my vehicle.? My car is
a 2006 Ford Fusion and the Ford system actually works pretty well.? What is
missing is glass breakage detection and/or a motion detector feature.?Bottom line is that if I had put the laptop in my trunk instead of leaving it in
view, the theft would have never occurred.? None of the other 15 cars in the lot
were touched.? There was even a convertible with the top down and no motion
detector parked 3 cars from me.??
I think you've pretty much hit it on the head -- there is nothing you can do to protect your property absolutely -- but you can protect it relative to the next guy. For example, when we were first married over thirty years ago, I installed security lights outside our apartment in a four-apartment building. During the two years we lived there, every building around us was broken into, while ours was not. Security lighting, dead bolt locks, and alarm systems will not prevent a break-in, but they'll encourage an opportunitic thief to go to an easier target, unless they have some specific reason for targeting you (eg, perhaps they know what kind of property is inside, justifying the additional work and risk).
Likewise for cars, not leaving anything visible to invite thieves gives them one less reason to select your vehicle for "attack". Anything of value (yes, including the previously posted trivial amount of loose change) that's in sight may invite an attempt. We carry a black sheet in our trunk to cover things in our car on those occasions when we have no choice but to put something where it could otherwise be seen -- I suppose the sheet sends the message "there MIGHT be something in here", but that's a less specific message than the actual sight of what's there.
My first car, a VW bug, was broken into to steal my 8-track player (yes, it was the 60's) -- when the thief couldn't get it removed, he took all the tapes in the car and smashed in the player (or maybe that was an attempt to remove it). The fact that it was after-market and therefore looked "removable" was probably the incentive for the attempt.
He may have been disappointed to learn my collection was mostly classical music 
As an extreme example, I once overheard a conversation (in a small midwest town, where these attitudes are not unusual), where someone was bemoaning that their car had been broken into and wrapped Christmas presents stolen. When asked, "was it locked?", the answer was "well, no, but....". I also once heard of someone who was raised in the country and their father would never lock the house when leaving -- "what if someone breaks down out here in the middle of nowhere and has to make a phone call?". Small-town and rural attitudes are NOT suspicious, but most of us have learned that even these locations are not always safe, and almost all of us understand that in urban locations, every precaution is both necessary -- and insufficient.
--BG
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