How common are car break ins? (townhouse, neighborhood, high school)

[streetsmart]

Opened my car door this morning to find the contents of my center console on the driver's seat. A few small things were missing but I don't keep anything of value in my car. The car was parked in my driveway, and this is not exactly a neighborhood I'd associate with petty crime. I ALWAYS lock my car but of course since there were no signs of forced entry I'm wondering if I did or if I just forgot (when I used my key to open it it sounded like it was locked, but...). Which also makes me wonder - do people go around all the time trying doors, and mine are usually locked but weren't this time? Or did I just forget to lock my door on the exact night some jacka$$ decides to loot my car?

So how common is this? Happens all the time, or very rare? Curious. Thanks.

[North Beach Person]

I can't speak for Toronto but even here in more or less rural small town Maryland it's not uncommon. I've stood on my porch at night and watched people walk down the street trying car door handles. Sometimes they'll get lucky.

We had a rash of thefts from unlocked cars in the high dollar and "exclusive" townhouse development at the end of my street. Turned out it was someone who lived there.

Unfortunately it's changed since we moved here almost 35 years ago.

[klmrocks]

It is area specific. When I lived in North Toronto. Cars use to get broken in to in the underground parking frequently. Car break in were frequent at Yorkdale Mall.

Living in a nice area in South Scarborough we had the windown in of one of our cars smashed in on our own drive way and someone stole the GPS.

It comes in waves in my opinion. A certain group of people get an idea on how to make some extra cash and they start randomly doing stuff like that.

It happens. Not really every day, but it happens.

Toronto is not a small town. It is a major city.

If an area have lower traffic and poor secuirty ex no camera the risk increases.

[zortation]

I ride to work and see patches of shattered tempered glass near curbs every day. Its RAMPANT.

[klmrocks]

Originally Posted by zortation

I ride to work and see patches of shattered tempered glass near curbs every day. Its RAMPANT.

That is another reason I would not drive downtown to work. I dont want my car keyed.

The person who I bought my Mercedes from got the car keyed while parking downtown for work. My coworker had her brand new Lexus keyed.

My co-workers have had feces sneered on their cars too. Even with camera in the parking lots. People who do this usually look for cars outside of exact view of the cameras.

[UrbanLuis]

Originally Posted by klmrocks

.

My co-workers have had feces sneered on their cars too. .

You always have the craziest stories. lol

[klmrocks]

Originally Posted by UrbanLuis

You always have the craziest stories. lol

The feces things was true and gross.
In that case it seems to always be happening to people that parked in a certain area of the parking lot. It is an out door parking lot and it was happening in an area of the parking lot that was not supervised. There tried to figure out who was doing it.... but at is was happening randomly and there are so many people that could have passed in the area they could never been sure.


At first people thought is was just mud ... but over time they realized it was not and more people started to report it.

When I worked in North York they had a issue with cars being keyed in the parking lot. Again an above ground parking lot. In that case it started to seem certain cars were being trageted. Also again in a spot where the camera did not cover.

Don't underestimate how messed up some people are.

I recall working in one health care facility where they kept of finding feces on the floor on the public washroom. The house keeping staff where annoyed, but thought it was a patient.... but then they started to suspect it was a staff member that was actually really disliked one of the house keepers. They never proved it ... but it was looking pretty crazy for a while.

When you work in health care with 1000s of people .... you really get to see the crazy sides of people... and there are a lot of batty people out there.

I have worked in health care facilities for quite and while and could tell you some crazy stories. Nothing compared to that of any person that works as part of an EMS team.... but lots of crazy things happen every day.

Then again ... again I worked in a pharmacy while in school for a bit and that also came with some interesting tales. It was crazy to see the variety of people that shop lift things. From cute little old grannies to peopel that actually have jobs and money and the most common things shop lifted was pretty interesting too.

Have you never heard of that game some kids use to play where they would go around breaking off hood ordaments from cars ...

ex



This use to be thing in the 80s and 90s. Not sure if this happens so much now as I dont notice a lot of cares with these things any more.

[klmrocks]

Originally Posted by zortation

I ride to work and see patches of shattered tempered glass near curbs every day. Its RAMPANT.

Do you think it is worse at certain times of year?
I was always given the impressions that break in are more common around the Christmas. Not sure if there is any truth to that.
It happens ... but it is not like a 1 and 5 change or something wild like that.

[UrbanLuis]

Originally Posted by klmrocks

The feces things was true and gross.


Have you never heard of that game some kids use to play where they would go around breaking off hood ordaments from cars ...

ex



This use to be thing in the 80s and 90s. Not sure if this happens so much now as I dont notice a lot of cares with these things any more.

That is really gross. And yes I remember kids breaking off mercedes signs and putting them on their chains. I never understood that one. LOL I can't believe you brought that up, we are clearly around the same age.

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by klmrocks

The feces things was true and gross.
In that case it seems to always be happening to people that parked in a certain area of the parking lot. It is an out door parking lot and it was happening in an area of the parking lot that was not supervised. There tried to figure out who was doing it.... but at is was happening randomly and there are so many people that could have passed in the area they could never been sure.


At first people thought is was just mud ... but over time they realized it was not and more people started to report it.

When I worked in North York they had a issue with cars being keyed in the parking lot. Again an above ground parking lot. In that case it started to seem certain cars were being trageted. Also again in a spot where the camera did not cover.

Don't underestimate how messed up some people are.

I recall working in one health care facility where they kept of finding feces on the floor on the public washroom. The house keeping staff where annoyed, but thought it was a patient.... but then they started to suspect it was a staff member that was actually really disliked one of the house keepers. They never proved it ... but it was looking pretty crazy for a while.

When you work in health care with 1000s of people .... you really get to see the crazy sides of people... and there are a lot of batty people out there.

I have worked in health care facilities for quite and while and could tell you some crazy stories. Nothing compared to that of any person that works as part of an EMS team.... but lots of crazy things happen every day.

Then again ... again I worked in a pharmacy while in school for a bit and that also came with some interesting tales. It was crazy to see the variety of people that shop lift things. From cute little old grannies to peopel that actually have jobs and money and the most common things shop lifted was pretty interesting too.

Have you never heard of that game some kids use to play where they would go around breaking off hood ordaments from cars ...

ex



This use to be thing in the 80s and 90s. Not sure if this happens so much now as I dont notice a lot of cares with these things any more.

Yeah. I had high schoolers coming to school wearing hood ornaments they'd taken on chains around their necks. Middle/upper middle class school.

The kids in the lower socioeconomic schools would steal the whole car.