Downtown Dallas - HIGH CRIME AREA - pawn shops please? (Houston: rental car, rental)

[pinkgonegreen]

My first visit to Dallas was this past week. We stayed at the West End Hotel (soon to be Crowne Plaza hotel) in downtown near the Dart station. The parking garage consumes the first 8 floors of the building and the hotel is above that. Our rental car, a black ford explorer, was parked in the "secure" and expensive ($10 per day versus $3 per day next door) garage with card only elevator access to hotel floors.

On Thursday, our 4th day in town, our car window was smashed and the GPS unit (selling for about $40 on ebay as it is an old model), a verizon cell phone (the free one with sign up), and a pair of $2 sunglasses were stolen while parked in the parking garage with an attendant on duty!!

So here is my reality check to share with you...car insurance does not cover personal belongings, homeowners does not cover personal belongings in a rental car, parking garage insurance does not cover theft, AND our credit card supplied rental car insurance doesn't provide for damage due to theft. So basically, we were 4x covered with insurance and NOT ONE covers the broken window OR possessions stolen.

Does anyone know where the closest PAWN shop near ELM ST/GRIFFIN in downtown Dallas is? I'm guessing that is where the police can recover my belongings so I'm only stuck with paying for the window - which will be expensive enough. If you are thinking about visiting Dallas...at least downtown....I wouldn't unless you take out some personal property insurance!

[eastdallasson]

not to be too callous but its a city. there's crime. and yeah there are plenty of pawn shops downtown but i couldn't tell you specifically as i don't frequent them but i hate to hear your story because I myself have never been the victim of a crime downtown and hate to see my city treating visitors in such a way. We hope you'll come back

[DaveG99]

I learned the hard way too. I used to live off Elm st and I had my truck broken into and they stole my digital camera in a secure parking area with a security guard! They had stolen a shotgun out of my neighbors truck and had it on them so the un armed security guard didnt persue them. The security guard did see the two black males brake into 3 vehicles in my building though. After that I NEVER left my GPS attached to the window. I NEVER left anything visable or anything that would give a thief any reason to break into my truck. Now that I live in Plano I park in a garage and I dont have to worry about stuff like that. I dont think there are pawn shops in the downtown area. At least I dont know of any. Maybe you can google "Dallas Pawnshops"

[pinkgonegreen]

It really is unfortunate because there were so many kind people in the city, but it only takes one drop of poison to spoil the soup. It looks like google puts the closest pawn shop to the theft location at:[SIZE=+1]
Novin's Jewelry & Pawn[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]1704 Commerce St[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Dallas, TX 75201[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1](214) 744-0200‎

I also noticed something else on google, a Dallas City police department pawn shop squad. This is the first time I've ever seen a city with such a theft and pawn problem that they have a dedicated police squad for it. It appears that the pawn shops must maintain an electronic record of all people who pawn and the items, and that the police are able to search the database for stolen items. Does anyone know anything about this? It was not mentioned to me when I had to fill out the police report with the bike cops.

Just a response to "it is a city"...30 years in Los Angeles and San Diego, CA has totalled up to exactly ZERO thefts....I felt really bad for everyone in Dallas who said that this was a rare occurence...because with the pawn shop squad and TONS of beggars on the streets, and being a well traveled person to MANY cities worldwide, I have to say that Dallas (at least for the city size of downtown) is the worst place for crime I've seen thus far and it would appear the myriads of police on the street are there for a reason. :-/ I did find lovely parts of Dallas FAR outside downtown...it is too bad one person can create a bad image for all.

[/SIZE]

[pinkgonegreen]

We're back in Houston now (visiting family before flying back to CA) so I have no way of walking into the pawn shops to check for our stuff. I wonder if I can find some black friday leaked ads for GPS units....it was our Dallas friend's unit and we need to buy her a new one before we leave this weekend.

[Debsi]

Originally Posted by mommyntheoc

It really is unfortunate because there were so many kind people in the city, but it only takes one drop of poison to spoil the soup. It looks like google puts the closest pawn shop to the theft location at:[SIZE=+1]
Novin's Jewelry & Pawn[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]1704 Commerce St[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Dallas, TX 75201[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1](214) 744-0200‎

I also noticed something else on google, a Dallas City police department pawn shop squad. This is the first time I've ever seen a city with such a theft and pawn problem that they have a dedicated police squad for it. It appears that the pawn shops must maintain an electronic record of all people who pawn and the items, and that the police are able to search the database for stolen items. Does anyone know anything about this? It was not mentioned to me when I had to fill out the police report with the bike cops.

Just a response to "it is a city"...30 years in Los Angeles and San Diego, CA has totalled up to exactly ZERO thefts....I felt really bad for everyone in Dallas who said that this was a rare occurence...because with the pawn shop squad and TONS of beggars on the streets, and being a well traveled person to MANY cities worldwide, I have to say that Dallas (at least for the city size of downtown) is the worst place for crime I've seen thus far and it would appear the myriads of police on the street are there for a reason. :-/ I did find lovely parts of Dallas FAR outside downtown...it is too bad one person can create a bad image for all.

[/SIZE]

I don't live or work downtown, so I can't comment on that, except to say that I have never had a bad experience there, which is a few times per year.

My car was stolen from Mission Valley Center in San Diego, back when I lived there, which, as you know, is a well-lit underground lot with security guards. Crime happens everywhere.

[DaveG99]

There are a lot worse places than Dallas for crime. And saying a city is worse than anywhere else just because of one incident is wrong. A car break in can happen ANYWHERE.

[Grainraiser]

There are now pawn shops downtown. Car burglars are always on the prowl looking for vistors who leave their valuables in the car. Same as the do anywhere with a large amount of cars. Make sure your valuables are hidden away. Common sense will deter a thief more than the cops are what part of town you live in.

[HockeyDadof2]

I had a similiar situation happen to me in downtown Toronto a couple of years ago while we were there on a hockey trip visiting the Hockey Hall of Fame. We had our rental SUV packed up as we intended to leave straight from there to catch our flight home. They broke the rear passenger window and stole a back pack. We were fortunate in that it was a 9 year olds back pack which only contained a portable DVD player, a PSP and some games. Had they stolen the back pack that was in the back of the SUV we would have been in far more trouble as it contained our passports and about $500 in cash, we learned a lesson that day to be sure. Long story short my "glass" coverage on my personal auto insurance paid to replace the window with no deductible. We have been back to Toronto, including downtown a couple of times since then with no problems.

[lee_dfw]

Anything that can be used, worn, eaten, or sold for money is fair game for these guys downtown. I had a blanket, a checkbook, change out of my center console, a GPS, some shirts, magazines, a cell phone, a cigarette lighter, and an a/c knob stolen, and no, not all at the same time.