So as break-ins happen every day, we don't see it in our neighborhood of Springfield that often. I live on Oriole Avenue in Springfield (some call our neighborhood Springvale) and my wife's car was violated for a handful of change last night. I am assuming she left the door unlocked as there was no evidence of forced entry but still kind of gutsy to do this in our lit driveway. I guess the Wifi camera will go up this week and a visit to the doggy pound for some added protection is in order.

If all they needed was a few dollars of change, they should have just knocked on the door....geeez.

Would like to hear if there is more of this activity in our neighborhood, so we can knock it out before they bring the slim jims.

- Lifetime local

I lived in Alexandria, a couple miles from Springfield mall, and there was one night where someone went around and jacked shit out of any unlocked cars in the neighborhood. My one roommate didn't notice anything missing, but all of her glove box stuff was on the seat. They took the neighbor's stereo.

There wasn't any forced entry, so it was probably just a crime of opporunity.

I think the punks that do this call it "midnight car shopping" or something.

I knew of some kids when I was in high school that would do this sort of thing.

They would probably get $10 or so in change and a bunch of odds and ends like radar detectors, flashlights, cassettes, etc.

They wouldn't break windows or use slim-jims. They would just walk through a neighborhood trying car doors until they found the unlocked ones. Pretty stupid, considering the risk of getting caught by the cops, or worse, some angry half-asleep guy with a baseball bat or worse, to rifle through a car that someone left unlocked because there obviously wasn't anything too valuable inside.

mrbeer, I wouldn't be too worried. As dumb as the kids that do this sort of thing are, they probably aren't dumb enough to do it again in the same neighborhood.

This isn't Mayberry. I'll never understand why people leave their cars unlocked with ANYTHING of any type of value inside and then act surprised when it isn't there in the morning.

It seems pretty common in this area (Springfield). We had four or five cars gone through on our street a year-or-so ago. The only damage done was one person whose glove box was locked so they busted it open -- but there was nothing stolen from it. (There's a lesson there: don't lock your glove box if you're not keeping valuables in it!) They didn't touch locked cars.

Wrinkle Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> from it. (There's a lesson there: don't lock your
> glove box if you're not keeping valuables in it!)
> They didn't touch locked cars.

Unless you have a trunk release button in your glove box, and have valuables in the trunk.

Kids have also been doing "Garage Hopping", they go into each open garage in the neighborhood and steal little things and search for cold beer.

I hate scum bag thieves..... so I am going to offer everyone a little piece of advice. Hot water will freeze faster because the impurities are removed when it is heated inside your water heater. With this in mind get yourself two 5 gallon buckets of hot water and dump them on either side of your ride. Let the water freeze, then repeat. Midway through the second freeze over, install a bunch of roofing nails, pointed side up in the ice. Rig a trip wire to a can of mace inside your ride. Use sewing threads that match your interior. Leave driver's side door unlocked. Setup your rig from the passenger side. Leave a bunch o' 1 dollars bills in driver's seat. Lock all doors except driver's side. Last but not least, spray down your ice and nails with WD - 40. When you here painful screaming outside let loose your 120 pound Rottweiler. I do this kind o' shit just for shits and giggles. My car got broken into a couple of times. I tried this little gimmick here and it was highly effective. Now I leave my car unlocked all the time and nobody messes with it. Question : " How does this guy sleep at night. " Answer : With a chrome .50 caliber Desert Eagle, 2 Browning semi - auto shotguns, a Smith & Wesson .45 revolver, and a muscled up 110 pound Pitbull named Goliath. All bite and no bark. Try the " icy trip " no one will mess with your ride..... God Bless This Beloved Land.

What do you do in the summer?

Jackie-O! Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What do you do in the summer?


I leave my garage door open, windows down, leave a hundred dollar bill on the dash, rig it to a clear fishing line. If the line jiggles bells ring in Goliath's room. He hates the bells. He knows what time it is when the bells ring. Goliath is well trained, he has no leash and no collar. He never runs away. There is a door that leads from the garage to the house. That's where Goliath's room is. He is free to roam. So far the bells have jingled twice. First time I found a bunch of my stuff knocked over and a piece of bloody t - shirt in the garage. Second time was false alarm due to high winds. If you can manage one I would reccommend the breed of dog " canis panther " They are bigger, and tougher than pitbulls.....They grow 100 - 140 lbs.