Our View: This should be common sense, but lock your doors

Published 4:29 pm Thursday, August 1, 2019

Unfortunately, no area in the country is immune to crime, including Chambers County.

During the summer months, it’s not uncommon for there to be a rise in specific crimes, including car break-ins.

Of course, a high percentage — as high as 90 percent — of car break-ins are committed on unlocked vehicles.

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“There are a few more this time of year than we normally see,” Lanett Police Department Patrol Commander Richard Casner said. “People need to remember to lock their doors and if there is something of value in there, make sure it is not visible.”

There’s a belief among some people that if they lock their doors, that thieves would bust through windows to steal items, but Valley Police Department Maj. Mike Reynolds said most local break-ins happen to unlocked vehicles.

It takes half a second to lock a car door and to peek in your window to ensure there’s nothing valuable in plain sight.

Unfortunately, people often think that crimes or bad things won’t happen to them.

Next door in LaGrange, the local police department and sheriff’s office are combating car break-ins by trying to get residents to take part in the “9 p.m. routine,” which encourages residents to lock their car doors every night at nine.

That’s a great idea, and it would be an easy thing to add to an everyday routine.

Whatever you need to do, remember that car break-ins are often opportunity crimes.

If you leave the door unlocked, it’ll only take five seconds for someone to open the door, grab something valuable and run off.

If you lock your doors, it’s going to discourage most wrongdoers.

Whatever you need to do, make sure you lock your doors. Just that will stop most break-ins.