Neighborhood Teens Breaking Into Cars...

[Anonymous]

I'm sure this type of thing is so incredibly low on a police priority list....so is there anything neighbors can do to prevent or minimize this? They are just doing it for kicks, not even to steal things. But the cars are damaged nonetheless.

[Anonymous]

the worst kind of criminals--privileged punks who do it because they are bored. slap on the wrist or no prosecution and protection by powerful parents only feeds their ego and belief they are above others.

[Anonymous]

True, that, but is there any way to stop them?

[Anonymous]

We had car break-ins in our Alexandria neighborhood and the police were all over it. It was teens and they did have to pay for the damage.

[Anonymous]

You should push the police. Crime is crime. Damage to cars is not a small thing.

[Anonymous]

OP, are you willing to say which area this is?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should push the police. Crime is crime. Damage to cars is not a small thing.

This. If they consider themselves to be too busy to create reports on or investigate petty or quality of life crimes, then they simply have to allocate their resources differently so they aren't letting these things pass.

[Anonymous]

You should lock the car doors and not leave anything of value in visible sight. No iPods, no GPS thingies and no money. If they can't see anything of value, why would they bother?

[Anonymous]

oh please, we've had our car broken into and stolen and police have pretty much admitted there's very little they can do. what do you expect with pestering them... nobody's going to stand patrol 24-7 over the neighborhood. let's be real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should lock the car doors and not leave anything of value in visible sight. No iPods, no GPS thingies and no money. If they can't see anything of value, why would they bother?

Because the sound of smashing car windows is fun. It proves to your friends that you're a badass. By not leaving things of value in sight, you cut down on the theives who might break in, but the feral youth will do it just for kicks.

It's interesting that the PP upthread assumed it was "privileged" punks. I live in a decidedly non-privileged neighborhood, and the punks here do it too.

[Anonymous]

Can you install a camera. Also, check all your tires because I had a two-inch nail propped up on a back tire and ran over it and tire went flat immediately. Nasty brats but police also told me there was nothing they could do "unless they catch them in the act." This was in Fairfax County.

[Anonymous]

Do you have a neighborhood list-serv? Building awareness about this kind of thing can do a lot. If you could get a sense of when it was more likely to happen maybe even organizing a neighborhood watch type thing. This kind of thing is an opportunity crime, so if you can do anything to even slightly deter it, it will make a big difference.