Protect your car from break-ins

By Technician Reyes Trujillo, Denver Police District 2 Community Resource Officer

Don’t leave valuables in plain view. Thieves break into cars when they can see the prize. Thieves really like purses with checkbooks and credit cards, cellular phones, cash, laptop computers, the garage door opener to your home, firearms, golf equipment and anything else.

If you must park your car outside overnight:

• An alarm can be your best defense. This is because nighttime car prowlers look for the small light that indicates an “active” alarm and they avoid those cars. In a daytime parking lot, however, alarms are much less effective, as people tend to ignore them.
• Participation in the Colorado Watch Your Car Program is advisable for any vehicle you typically don’t drive during the early morning hours. Thieves avoid these cars as officers can stop them whenever they are being operated between the hours of 1am and 5am.
• An ignition or starter “kill-switch” is a very inexpensive and a very reliable way to prevent the theft of your car.

Please remember that it is against the law to let your car warm up without someone in it even if you have the car locked or you are keeping an eye on it from inside your home.

Until next month, be safe and report suspicious activity in your neighborhood.