Unfortunately, this is a very common occurrence here in Miami. My wife's car has been ransacked twice right in the driveway of our home. Both times, they just made a mess. The first time, they took her make-up case and tossed it on our neighbor's lawn two houses down. The second time, they left the driver's door cracked open and it drained the battery (we were on vacation for a week and had just arrived at home to find the mess). My wife has a bad habit of not locking her doors, so this obviously doesn't help.
These asshats typically roam through the neighborhoods pulling on door handles to see if the vehicles are unlocked. They are opportunists. On the second break-in, I had clear surveillance video of two punks working both sides of the street at the same time, but the police were not interested in seeing it. Since we had a rash of break-ins in our neighborhood during that time, our community's maintenance company put out fliers warning everyone to lock their vehicles and they were interested in obtaining a copy of the video that I had. Two weeks later, this happened and we haven't had anymore issues:
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2013/03/13...-in-w-kendall/
In the meantime, I call this a happy ending!
Fast forward to three months ago. I was having lunch with a manufacturer's representative at a popular North Miami restaurant. When we finished, one of the servers went around the restaurant asking who owned a black minivan. Well, the guy I was having lunch with did and when he asked why she was trying to find out, she said that a patron that parked next to it noticed that the side door was open. Immediately, we both ran out to the parking lot and found that his van had been broken into (screwdriver under the door handle routine) and his bag and backpack were gone. They got his laptop and his iPad, but left his Beats headphones and his GPS. I guess they were spooked by something. Regardless, they did this in the middle of the day in a parking lot that has six (YES, SIX!!!) security cameras on the wall facing the van!!! Again, North Miami Police told him to contact his insurance company because they weren't going to investigate any further. He said that the only way they would dust for fingerprints is if there was blood present. O-kay!
Not much of a deterrent if the police aren't trying to find out who these people are. By the way, before he left, he told us that he personally goes to at least a dozen vehicle break-ins each week on that small stretch of Biscayne Boulevard.
The lessons here are...
- Leave items out of view.
- Always lock your doors.
- At night, park in well-lit areas.
Don't make it any easier for these delinquents to ruin your day!
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