Capitol Hill & First Hill getting slammed with car break-ins (Seattle: live in, move)

[sean98125]

Just and FYI - Seattle Police told us that they've seen a sharp increase of about 25% on vehicle break-ins on First Hill and Capitol Hill since the beginning of the year. They are putting a lot of officers out and about, but the thieves seem to be well organized and pretty skilled and seem to be striking shortly after officers or security patrols go past.

At least some of the thieves are popping out windows and climbing in through the open window and getting what they want. They are stealing things out of cars with alarm systems - if you don't have a glass breakage sensor or a motion detector in your alarm system, it won't go off unless the thief opens one of your doors. It probably won't even go off if they open the trunk.

If you are going to be visiting First Hill or Capitol Hill, make sure you take any valuables out of your car. It doesn't take more than a few seconds for a thief to smash your window and to take what they want. Make sure you take your garage door opener out of your car as well.

[DJKirkland]

Great advice and very true. My friend and I live in a building with a parking garage and both of our cars have been broken into- they pulled the sunroof off of its tracks and climbed in. Took everything in the glove box, trunk - everything. We have friends on the hill that park in garages too and they've both had two break ins within a month of eachother. Do not leave anything laying around. Don't leave sunroofs popped or open.

[victorianpunk]

As ABSURD as this might sound, I have a trick to avoid having my car broken into. I have nothing in clear view except a cassette tape. Reason being, any would-be burglar is going to look at my car and go "What! He still listens to cassettes! This joker doesn't even have a CD player" and move on to a more promising target.

Hey, my car has not gotten broken into once, so I guess it works.

[ptfcNassoc]

Originally Posted by victorianpunk

As ABSURD as this might sound, I have a trick to avoid having my car broken into. I have nothing in clear view except a cassette tape. Reason being, any would-be burglar is going to look at my car and go "What! He still listens to cassettes! This joker doesn't even have a CD player" and move on to a more promising target.

Hey, my car has not gotten broken into once, so I guess it works.

What car/year do you drive? Any car like post-2005, no burglar is going to believe that. "A cassette tape on the dash of 2006 BMW, ahhh that's not going to have anything good in it" lol.