People who leave purses, wallets, briefcases or purchases in our locked cars are issuing an invitation to thieves.
Long gone are the days when you could leave the doors to your home unlocked while you ran down the street or went to town all day to run errands.
Most of us have become accustomed to rolling up the windows and locking the doors to our vehicles after we find a space in a parking lot.
But locked vehicles aren’t preventing opportunistic thieves who practice the dark art of smash and grab.
These thieves see a bag, a phone, compact discs, handbags, and briefcases – anything of value – in the parked cars as they walk past, break the window and take whatever item drew their attention.
It’s happening all too often throughout Grand Cayman. No parking lots are safe, not even at churches.
There are some easy things you can do to stop these crimes of opportunity.
For starters, always lock you car and take the keys. If you have valuables in your car, make sure they are marked with a unique identifier so that if the stolen property is recovered, it can be returned.
If possible, park as close to the place you are about to patronize so that would-be thieves are kept at bay because of pedestrian traffic.
Drivers should always try to park in well-lit areas.
But the main way to thwart smash and grab thieves is to keep a clean car.
Never leave packages, wallets, check books, cameras, purses or other valuables on the seat of your vehicle.
It is unfortunate that our once genteel and lawful society has turned into one of thievery and mistrust.
It’s too bad that we have to take the extra step to secure our valuables in the trunks or hidden spaces of our vehicles because we don’t know which passers-by to trust.
We hope the Royal Cayman Islands Police are able to quickly apprehend the smash and grab thieves, get convictions for them and send them either to Northward or back to their own countries if they are expatriates.
Most people in the Cayman Islands are peaceful, law abiding citizens who would just as soon be able to return to the days when they could leave the doors of their homes open whether they were there or not or keep their car windows rolled down to help keep it cool while they shopped.
But the winds of change have blown over this country and we now have to do all we can to protect ourselves and our valuables from opportunistic thieves.
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