This holiday season, the Harris County Precinct One Constable Alan Rosen has a present for you.
It comes in the form of a big, white, report card attached to your windshield.
It’s called the Holiday Vehicle Inspection Report Card and it’s meant to wake all of us up to the dangers of leaving anything in plain sight in our cars while we go shopping.
“You just can’t leave packages, gifts, boxes, bags, laptop computers, tablets, even cell phone charging cords out in the open in your car because that is an open invitation for a thief to smash the window and break into your car and steal what you have,” said Constable Alan Rosen.
Every day, deputy constables are checking the cars parked in shopping centers for items like packages and valuables that are left out in plain sight in people’s cars.
They then then write out a large report card telling you if you passed or failed as far as protecting yourselves from holiday thieves.
ITEMS THAT ARE MOST OFTEN LEFT OUT IN THE OPEN INSIDE THE PASSENGER COMPARTMENT OF CARS.
- Retail shopping bags
- Computer bags
- Gift boxes
- Toys
- Cellphone charging cables (which indicate a phone might be present in the vehicle)
The Precinct One Constable’s Office will be issuing these report cards for the next couple of weeks.
You may find one on the windshield of your car.
Don’t worry, there is no fine or punishment associated with these report cards.
It’s just Constable Alan Rosen’s way of trying to hammer home the fact that the thieves are out there in force at this time of year.
He says if you leave anything tempting inside your vehicle out in the open, you are opening yourself up to being a victim.
Put anything of value that you have in your car in the trunk and always double check to see if you have locked all the doors.
If there is nothing visible inside your car, then the thieves will move onto the next vehicle.
As Constable Rosen puts it, “There are plenty of cars that invite thieves in. Make sure your car is not one of them.”