Think Like a Thief To Stop a Thief

 “One simple thing” will go a long way to ensuring that your car is not “the car” targeted by thieves. That’s the message being driven home by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, in a crime-prevention video narrated by Deputy Jeff Service.

“Please help yourself by doing one simple thing,” he said, standing next to a vehicle — then locking its doors.

• For a July 2013 look at this crime of opportunity, see Ladies Looking For Unlocked Cars Burglarize Valrico Neighborhood

“That’s the number one reason why you’re being targeted, is you’re having your car door open, left open, whether you forgot it or you purposely left it open because you’re only going to be [gone for] a minute,” Service said. “Please get in the habit of locking your car doors.”

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What Do Burglars Look For When Targeting A Vehicle?

“Vehicle burglaries are a crime of opportunity and we’re trying to eliminate some of those opportunities,” Service said.

The premise is simple:

“If I’m a bad buy, or I’m a criminal, I’m trying to figure our what vehicle, what car I want to burglarize, this would be a prime example,” he said, showcasing a car with unlocked doors.

Inside, in view on the front seat, a cell phone and purse, which inside a thief knows is likely to contain personal identification and checks that can be used “later, against you, in identity theft," Service said.

The GPS receiver attached to the interior windshield?

“The bad guy doesn’t want it for his personal use,” Service said. “He wants it for [the] cash money [he can get at a pawn shop].”

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What Can You Do To Prevent Auto Burglary?

Service offers the following “good-habit” tips:

• Take out of the car, and with you, your keys, pager, expensive electronics and purse.

• If you can’t take them with you, lock them inside the trunk.

• Close your windows, lock your doors, at home in the driveway, about town in the parking lot.

Service said that most likely when there’s a rash of vehicle burglaries, "when we go up to do those reports most of the victims will tell us that either their car window was left open or their car door was left unlocked or some part of the vehicle was left unsecure."

Again, all it takes in most cases to stop a thief is to lock a door.

“Please help yourself out not to be a victim," Service said, "by doing [that] one simple thing.”

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This story originally posted May 22, 2102 at 5:15 a.m.