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Police repeat eternal plea to West Roxbury residents: Lock your car doors, this isn't Mayberry
By adamg on Tue, 02/16/2021 - 8:18pm
West Roxbury has started the year with 14 car break ins and all but one of them have involved cars that residents left unlocked, a District E-5 officer told a Zoomed community meeting tonight.
It's the only sort of crime in the district, which also includes most of Roslindale, that has not gone down over the same period last year, Community Service Officer Ed Roach said. Overall, major crimes are down about 23% in E-5, he said.
The solution, he continued, is easy: Lock your car doors when you get home, because so many of the robberies involve people just going down a street, trying car doors and rummaging around inside any cars they find open.
But it's an answer that BPD has been giving to West Roxbury residents for more than a decade now, with little apparent success.
"For years now, that's been our problem with car breaks," Roach said.
He added that the Roslindale part of the district has only had five car break ins during the same period.
"West Roxbury seems to have a much higher incidence of unlocked vehicles," he said, urging people to remember that this is West Roxbury in 2021, not Mayberry in 1951.
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Comments
I get it but.....
If the risk of a broken window is high enough. leaving the car unlocked is a way to reduce the risk of a broken window that you may not be able to afford to replace.
Couple of things
Roach said the West Roxbury burglars are opportunists - they're mostly just trying car doors, not smashing windows.
But isn't glass replacement part of car insurance in Massachusetts?
Windshield, not door windows.
Windshield, not door windows.
Ah!
I stand corrected then.
Maybe it depends on your coverage?
When we lived in JP, my husband’s car got broken into a number of times and a window, not the windshield, was smashed. The window replacement was covered by his policy.
actually
Basic car insurance/ comprehensive covers all glass windows in your car.
We in Dedham have had similar incidents. Sign of the times with so many out of work or with too much time on their hands.
Best to lock yer vehicle and leave anything that might look attractive ( bags, packages ) out of sight.
Actually
Two different things. Comprehensive car insurance covers a lot of things that basic does not.
So, if you don't have comprehensive insurance, you have to buy extra glass coverage. Also, not all comprehensive policies cover glass other than windshields. If you want to know what coverage you have, you have to either comb through your policy, or ask the company.
PS: The criteria for getting a windshield paid for when you have insurance coverage is that there has to be a crack 6 inches long. At least that's what it was some years back, when I had a Forester that must've had a warped windshield frame. I replaced 3 windshields in that car, not counting the extra one that the Safelite guy had break as he was putting it in. If you have a crack that isn't long enough, just wait a while, it will grow.
I don't agree, Ralph.
Leaving a car unlocked could and sometimes does mean that the vandals will do even more extensive damage to your car than a broken window. I knew somebody who never bothered to lock her car, and the vandals totally egged the inside of her car, including the steering column, so that the car could not be driven after that. She and her husband ended up getting a new car as a result.
Opportunists are Eternal
Neil Simon, Prisoner of Second Avenue
Especially if your car has a
Especially if your car has a console. Best bet is to empty the console the hell OUT and leave the lid open open so the can see it's empty. Or get old school and stuff a dummy in the back seat like it's a dude looking for a place to sleep. Stick a toy gun his hand.
technically, i dont think its
technically, i dont think its felony break-in if they are not breaking the lock to get in. they mite be charged with misdemeanor pretty larceny in that case.
Don't leave stuff in sight and lock your doors
In that area the people "breaking in" are not going to smash a window unless they see something REALLY good in plain sight. 99.99% of the time, a locked door with nothing in sight will be as safe as Fort Knox.
No no, keep it up!
If your car is unlocked, my locked car is less likely to be targeted. :-P
(...I don't actually own a car, but I do try to make sure my bike is locked up next to either a more expensive or less properly secured bike. Same idea.)
Ever Seen?
Has anyone seen the sort of crazy looking woman that rummages through the trash barrels and recycling bins? We used to think she was looking for cans, but it looks like she's pulling papers out of people's trash. So we started trying to hide our trash barrels until trash day. Anyone seen her? (She is NOT shy--walks down driveways, etc.)
Ever Seen
Has anyone else in WR noticed a sort of crazy lady who rummages through trash and pulls out papers from people's barrels and recycling bins VERY early in the AM? I thought it was cans, but it's papers she's pulling out.