City of Lower Burrell Building

With the recent car thefts in the area this would be a good time for residents to take a hard look at their own safety practices when it comes to securing your property. There are times that having an alarm system and keeping your vehicle locked is not enough to keep your car safe from "professional thieves" that can defeat practically any security measure. However, a lot of times people make their vehicle an easy target by not locking it and even leaving the keys inside. Leaving your vehicle unlocked with the keys in it provides even the most inexperienced criminal a prime opportunity to turn you into a victim.

Furthermore, many people have garage door openers they keep in their car. Usually the car is kept in the garage but everybody, at times, will leave the car in the driveway overnight because they forgot to put it away before going to bed, or the garage needs to be picked-up before the car can be put away. If your car is stolen with a garage door opener inside you have just provided a criminal an additional opportunity to victimize you by coming back and burglarizing your home without even having to make a forced entry. They can simply wait until you are not home, come back, and let themselves in with the door opener.

All residents need to help themselves in the fight against property crime by not allowing yourself to be an easy target. Lock your car, don’t ever leave the keys in it even if you are just stopping someplace for a brief moment, and never leave the garage door opener in the car unless the car is locked inside of the garage.

Printed with permission from the City of Lower Burrell.