thieves!!

[Crashoran]

Woke up this morning to work on a photo story and saw my car stereo faceplate missing and innards bashed in. Apparently they couldn't get the stereo out so they made it unusable for me to use. They took my CDs and my TomTom Go910 (paid $500 for it new ). This is my first encounter with car theft and I'd have to say it really makes me angry

Locking the car was not enough. They used some kind of wire to get under the window seal and pull the lock. At least I still have my windows intact..

That's what I get for leaving my stuff in the car.
I'm so glad I always bring the photo gear inside no matter what.

Anybody have any success stories of catching the thief after filing the report?

[prncfarquad]

I actually had my car broken into at my apartment complex and because I had all of my stereo equip serial numbers I was contacted 4 years later by Tyler PD and said they had found most of my stuff in a 14 yo's closet..I would say this is the exception not the rule though. I do understand your frustrations and am sorry it had to happen to you. GPS units in the window are a prime target these days esp. the window mount Garmins/TomToms

[ttusa]

I'm sorry to hear that-glad you had the photo equipment inside...

[DavidsStudio]

That really is a bummer. I've been in that situation too and it does make you angry.

The first thing I did when I bought my new truck was get an alarm system put in it. One component that I added to mine that might have kept your car from getting entered is a field disturbance sensor which uses radio frequency to detect people that get near the vehicle. Someone getting close doesn't activate the full alarm but does give enough of a warning that they will tend to back away or, in your case, probably would have alerted you. If they ignore it, the full alarm sounds.

And, as always, never leave anything of value in sight inside a vehicle.

David

[DJ.]

I have no use for thieves! I was not so lucky. They broke out windows to gain entry and when the alarm went of they ripped out all of the wiring under the dash until it stopped. Then they proceeded to bust up the dash and take the radio. They rummaged around and made off with a bunch of personal stuff that was out of sight, including a Garmin GPS. And all of this took place in the front row if the World Trade Center in Dallas. So much for security...

[Crashoran]

People are suggesting that in addition to removing the gps and mount from the windshield each time the vehicle was not in use, that I should also wipe the suction cup area clean on the glass. What has this world come to? Geez.

[BSGp8ntball]

Yeah earlier you said, "thats what I get for leaving my stuff in my car". It's your car you SHOULD be able to leave whatever you want inside. However we have created a society that is all about me me me. It's a shame, I have had my business briken into 3 times in about 12 years and it's really just a huge feeling of violation. It's hard to describe until it happens to you.

[Crashoran]

Exactly. Right when I sat down and started my car and realized what had just happened, it just made me feel uncomfortable knowing that someone was sitting right here in my seat just a couple of hours ago going through and taking all of my stuff. I think some checks were stolen also.

[C!LLY]

I had a 92 honda civic and someone broke in, smashed the drivers window and tried to pry the stereo out, which was stupid because the faceplate was with me. They couldnt get it out so they took all of my cd's (about 70 in all), my marriage license, my car registration paper (this was in FL, they dont have stickers), and some of my clothes I had in the back from when I stayed the night at friends houses (I was 18 at the time and never knew when I'd crash on someones couch), and they took my toaster I had just gotten as a wedding gift. I got 2 toasters and was going to return the one when I had a day off of work.

It all sucked.

[Crashoran]

I just noticed they took the spare change from my tiny little change holder also.

[toverman]

So sorry to hear that.

I remember back in high school one of my classmates would pull up to the school in her Saab, take out the pull-out stereo, the radar detector and cell phone (they came in bags with the big batteries back then) and carry it all into school. Don't know if it was safer in school, of course.

[shawn patrick]

I had a miata with a new 10 day old convertible top. The top was cut open and my dash looked like it was hit with a crowbar so my stereo could be stolen. The stereo was $49 from Wal-Mart, The insurance claim for the damaged top and dash-$1350.

The doors were unlocked and the stereo wasn't installed in the dash, it was just pushed into the space where a radio goes. I was afraid of someone ruining the top for a $50 radio so I didn't lock the car or properly install the radio. I really thought I could just keep buying cheap radios every couple of months if it would keep the car from being damaged too much. My plan failed.

[VincentHerrera]

Prepare to vomit! This is disturbing and the audio is NWS.

Video of car thief here.

[KD5NRH]

I just put up an old BW surveillance camera on the garage and routed it to a spare VCR and TV in my reloading room after a vandalism incident last week. When the tax return comes in, we're planning to do a 4-camera system with DVR. The prices on some of them are actually reasonable as long as you don't try to get one with a big HDD. (the DVR makers tend to charge about 3-5 times what you can get the same size HDD from Newegg or any other retailer for. I can put a pair of 1T drives in a DVR for less than the mfrs charge for a single 250G.)

[Crashoran]

In my opinion a camera setup would not have been helpful unless the person drove in with a visible license plate. Other than that I think it would be too hard to identify somebody on foot, even with an infrared camera.

A camera inside the dash such as bait cars do (baitcar.com) would be more helpful but complicated.

EDIT: My backpack with all schoolwork gone. Yay.