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Becomea
DERTARGET
FOR
CRIMINALS!
by
Donald D. Schroeder
Here's how to avoid being an easy ma rk for theft and violence!
I
T's
exasperating and dis–
couraging to be a victim
of c ri me. 1 know, J've
been a crime victim twice in
recent months.
Even though
l
constantly
read about increasing crime, 1
was still jolted and upset when
1
became the victim.
In both cases l had been doing
something that l 've done many
times in past years without loss or
harm. But after looking back on
each crime incident, 1 carne to
rea1ize I was not as diligent as 1
should have been in considering
rapid ly changing social and crimc
patterns. As a rcsult, my guard
was down , my vulnerability was
high.
First Loss
The first incident with crimc oc–
curred when in the company of a
friend and his children visiting
from another country. Wc wcnt in
my car to a nearby popular moun–
tain campground.
Aftcr cnjoying a refreshing hikc
along a mountain trail and stream,
wc returned to thc campground
parking lot. But my car, an older
model, wouldn't start.
lt
was totally
dead.
Getting out of the car and open–
ing thc hood,
r
found my battery, a
new one, had been ripped out and
stolen. Maybe 1 shouldn't have
bccn surprised. My car, made by a
November / December 1983
majar U.S. manufacturer, hadn't
even been designed with a hood
lock.
lt
had only a simple outside
hood latch that anyone could
open.
Mi les from any gas station, 1
had to ask another campground
visitar for a ride down the moun–
tain to a phone. There 1 called a
friend to pick me up and take me
home. Once home I fortunately
had another car, purchased anoth –
er battery and then drove back to
my stranded guests to install it.
As it turned out, the incident
wasn' t a highly serious matter com–
pared to what can be involved in
brushes with crime. But it could
have becn. What if we had been in
a really isolated area? Or suddcnly
found ourselves in the dilemma
with night and bad weather rushing
upon us?
The next day 1 read a newspaper
article about how my popular
mounta in recreational area was
becoming a rapidly growing crime
area. T he article cited as one of the
causes the willingness of more indi–
viduals to seize opportunities to
commit crimes.
One beneficia! th ing did result
from this theft. l took stcps to lock
the hood of my car so entry would
not be casy. But 1 also checked my
other car, a vehicle only a few years
old. To my surprise 1 found that
despite this car having a hood–
unlocking lever within the car com–
partment (connected by cable to the
hood latch) the hood was still easy to
unlock from the outside. 1 took steps
to harden that vulnerability.
Grea ter Crime
My second incident with crime was
more serious. lt happened a few
months later with the same car pre–
viously broken into. 1 was on an
outing with my teenage son, one of
his friends anda dog in a California
desert and farming area.
Because of rains earlier in the
week
i
parkcd my car next to a
paved country road instead of driv–
ing into dirt roads around thc
fields. l had occasionally parked
along this paved road in past years
without problems.
After a long day walking in the
countryside and being tired and
hungry, we returned to the car
only to find- no car. It was gone.
Stolen. Of course there was that
initial sinking, empty, panicky feel–
ing. And the prospect of a long
walk to find help.
1 knew the chances of finding my
car in the maze of back country
roads, high brush and old farm
sheds by my own efforts, were nil.
T he car thieves couJd be miles
away by now, 1 thought, or headed
for the Mexican border.
But just then a pickup truck
carne down the road. To my su r–
prise the driver immediately
stopped when I llagged for help. 1
told him that my car had been
stolen and I needed to contact the
police. After learning what kind of
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