[Currency Pair Crocodile]

To say that I've had a miserable christmas eve would be an understatement.

First of all, I've been grossly pissed off with the area in Stamford where I live coz everybody speaks spanish. They even respond in spanish when you speak english. Not that I have a spanish thorn in my flesh. I'm a foreign immigrant to America myself, but the prospect of having to drive several blocks to find english speaking people has begun to have a mental block on my life up here.

Second, crime. Lots of it in the area I live, it's the cove area by the way. There are peeps who do coke too.

While I was resigned to my own fate of minding my business, I found my car in a miserable state the sunday before christmas. Glass everywhere and my garmin gone. At least, the keebosabi didn't choose to crack my windshield.

The radioshack guy warned me to hide this thing when I bought it. And I followed. But owing to the lack of incidents and the assurances of my landlady on how crime-free this particular street is, which is why she never locks her doors, even when she leaves the house, I guess I grew negligent. But it was the 6 inch snow in late december which made me shut my car and run into my house in a jiff a new habit. And in one such night, I left my garmin back in the car. It's gone and the whole ordeal has cost me 600$+

I have a new garmin now, that 200$ more. At least the cops were nice and spoke english, thank goodness. They were polite and friendly. Coz the country I come from the first thing coppies do is grab me by the collar LMAO. They also have a lathi. Have also been lathied once. Poor me!

Then I was told of the wave of GPS theft all over stamford. I found another dude in the next street, in the cove. I found him taping his driver's window. We shared a moment of common gloom. His was done prior to new year's day.

All of you who own a GPS device, you better remove them off the car. Even the mounts. The cops told me to even wipe the GPS circular marks from the windshield, which makes the miscreants assume the unmounted device is hidden inside the car anyway.

Sick thieves!

[JayCT]

This is happening everywhere. There have been warnings all over the news recently to remove your GPS and any trace of it. Even the safer towns are having problems. Sorry to hear about your frustration though. Best wishes for the New Year. Jay

[Currency Pair Crocodile]

Happy new year to you too, Jay

And I know what you mean. Ever since coming here, I joined the Y in Darien. And I fell in love with Darien. It's simply gorgeous. I just take trips to go through the town, even if I have nothing to do there, for the cove is like at the edge of Darien.

Recently I heard that there was some theft in Darien. Yes, Darien. I was like....... holy craparoni! I couldn't digest it for a while.

[Rich Lee]

My Garmin was stolen outside of Eli's on Whitney in Hamden about a year ago. The individual broke the driver's-side window to get the unit. Of course, they didn't grab all of it which rendered it useless to them and me.

[kidyankee764]

In my opinion, leaving your GPS within view in any city within the USA is asking for your window to be smashed, and it stolen. I don't mean to be nasty, but people who leave these things out have no right to be angry at anyone but themselves. It's the kind of world we live in today.

I put mine in my trunk, AND lock my trunk. Call me paranoid...

[njohnson]

Yeah it's not a Stamford thing. Remember also don't keep them in the front of the car. I put mine in the trunk and have the trunk set to open only with a key.

Also always remove the suction mark from your windshield as it attracts thieves, especially at malls and other stores. I've had my car broken into a few times so I've learned my lesson in the past.

[toddb]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

In my opinion, leaving your GPS within view in any city within the USA is asking for your window to be smashed, and it stolen. I don't mean to be nasty, but people who leave these things out have no right to be angry at anyone but themselves. It's the kind of world we live in today.

I put mine in my trunk, AND lock my trunk. Call me paranoid...

Really? So, if I can see a flat screen TV through the window of your home, I'm justified by smashing the window and ripping it off the wall? Or is it only because the GPS is smaller then it's ok? It's this kind of crap that perpetuates the belief that if you can't go out and earn something for yourself then it's fine to go take what you want.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by toddb

Really? So, if I can see a flat screen TV through the window of your home, I'm justified by smashing the window and ripping it off the wall? Or is it only because the GPS is smaller then it's ok? It's this kind of crap that perpetuates the belief that if you can't go out and earn something for yourself then it's fine to go take what you want.

Lets not make assumptions. It's common knowledge that if you park your car somewhere, valuables shouldn't be left in plain view - especially a GPS that hangs in the window begging to be stolen.

There is a huge difference between a home, and a mobile vehicle that travels various places. Ever hear that when you travel, you should be more careful because tourists are targeted for theft? Same deal with a car. Cars thefts are much more common than home invasions.

[Uconn97]

I saw some of the new stories too. Mine is built into the car so hopefully no one is stealing those yet! Who knows. People will steal anything. Sorry about what happened - Sorry some of us on here posting aren't as sympathetic as others.

[njohnson]

As times change thieves change.

Remember in the early 90s it was car stereos. Then when cars came stock with decent stereos they moved to airbags and HID headlights, now they see GPS units as easy money. Eventually GPS units will come standard in most cars so people won't need them or they will get so cheap like car stereos that they really aren't worth much to pawn.

I remember when my car was broken into in New Haven a few years back, they broke my driver side window and tried to pry my radio out with something (essentially destroying it because I had 4 bolts holding it in), yet they left a good amount of spare change and a $200 set of sunglasses that I had inadvertently left out...