Nice guy thief steals Garmin, leaves note for owner

Interesting idea though
Fingerprint activation?

Only in the backcountry. Here the thief would just drive it, even if they don't need.

The theif took the most valuable part of the car....
David

You're absolutely right - a single locked GPS has no deterrence value. A locked GPS will only protect the owner's information on it. If ALL GPS's were locked, there would be a deterrent value to that because none of them could be used and would then have no value.

I think this is exactly backwards. If the thief gets one working GPS, he will return for another and another. If he finds that one in 100 are locked and unusable, he has 99 that are perfectly sellable. Reverse those odds, and they will look for something easier to steal and peddle. Thieves are not determined or persistent. They do what they do because it's EASY. And we make it easy for them.

Yeah, that would truly make a difference. If they were ALL locked, theft would drop drastically. But all the Debbie Downers would whine that it's too hard.

Oh for the good old days when you didn't have to worry about locking everything up. When you could leave your homes front door unlocked permanently or leave it wide open in the summer in the hope of catching a breeze. No A.C. then. All this without worrying about being robbed or physically attacked while you slept. Am I showing my age?

My nuvi 760 over 2 yrs old now. In the past I just assumed it would be a nuisance using the safety pin lockout, but recently I discovered otherwise and now use it. Virtually no nuisance at all!

You old codger, you! I can remember as a kid, coming home from a vacation trip and finding a new telephone on the kitchen wall where the old one used to be. The phone company had upgraded all the homes in the neighborhood. We weren't at home but since the house was unlocked, the repairman just went on in and took care of his business anyway. We thought that was real thoughtful of him!

that I can leave my doors unlocked, and keys in the car. GPS sitting on the dash, and laptop on the front seat. But the transportation cost from the moon to my job would be expensive. A Lot more than I make!!

Strange story!

Guess it would also be lonely living by yourself! LOL

NEVER lock your GPS. That kind of thinking just leads to it being left in the car, and ends up with a broken windows and a missing GPS, and some smug sap thinking "I'm so happy that the thief can't use my GPS because I locked it". It is far better to always take it with you, and if you do that there is little need to lock it.

Oh sure, you can come up with the fictional scenario like "I lock mine so when the burglar breaks into my house and takes it he still can't use it" but that's just rationalization, in reality locking the GPS never keeps it from being stolen, never keeps your windows from being broken, and might even lead to the thief coming back to grab your replacement GPS in the hopes that that one might not be locked.

Take it with you, don't lock it and leave it.

Must of been a Toyota.

The only way you can be found would be if you have a two way receiver in the GPS, like a NUVIfone.

I put the friction mount on the floor and a bit under the seat so it's out of sight when I remove the GPS. I either take the nüvi inside with me or, when traveling, I lock it in the trunk.

The nüvi itself has the Garmin Lock enabled. My home address is NOT the automagic unlock spot.

I also use a customized splash screen at start up. It states that the unit is locked and can only be unlocked by the owner. It gives the number to contact StuffBak, states there is a $50 no-questions-asked reward for return of the unit, and lists and the StuffBak owner ID - not my name. There's a metallic StuffBak sticker with a unit ID number specific to my nüvi on the unit. StuffBak will tell the "finder" to take it to the nearest UPS drop off location and they'll handle the return. They will also pay the "finder" $50 and charge it to me.

Hopefully, if it's lost or stolen, I'll get it back in working condition. That's worth $50 to me.

One word : Ball-sy!

I remember growing up that we never took the keys out of the ignition. We also had a house without locks on the doors and nothing was ever touched. Times have changed and now I never leave anything in the car.

My car was broken into last night.. and yes... my loved garmin is gone. Arrgh
Luckily I have quite a folder on my computer of POIs..so those can be reloaded if I can afford a new unit ( would happily accept donations..or even someones old unit...sigh.. never hurts to ask ..) But, I know at one time I downloaded the POI's I had personally inputed into my unit onto my computer. But, now, I can seem to find the file. What is the type of file I am looking for? Does it download as a CSV.. or POI...or even add a garmin to the name ? or does it download off the unit under another file name Im not looking for ??I may have thrown it out.. but maybe not. Any suggestions ?? email me off site.. madhypnotist@gmail.com

david

My car was broken into last night.. and yes... my loved garmin is gone. Arrgh
Luckily I have quite a folder on my computer of POIs..so those can be reloaded if I can afford a new unit ( would happily accept donations..or even someones old unit...sigh.. never hurts to ask ..) But, I know at one time I downloaded the POI's I had personally inputed into my unit onto my computer. But, now, I can seem to find the file. What is the type of file I am looking for? Does it download as a CSV.. or POI...or even add a garmin to the name ? or does it download off the unit under another file name Im not looking for ??I may have thrown it out.. but maybe not. Any suggestions ?? email me off site.. madhypnotist@gmail.com

david

David, the file you're looking for is 'Current.gpx'.

I agree with you that the safest protection for your GPS is to take it with you. Having said that, however, I also think if people placed a sign on their windshield that warned would-be-thieves that the GPS in this car is locked and protectd, theives would probably move on to another car. Why would the thief break this car window if it isn't going to get him anything worthwhile? (Don't many of us do the same things with the security systems in our homes, where with a sign outside we advertise to the theives that the house is protected, so they don't bother us.)

I expect that this would have a much more negative effect than a positive effect. You are announcing the presence of the GPS (even if it has been taken out) and more thieves would be tempted to smash the window to get it. I doubt that every potential thief knows what "Garmin Lock" is, some would likely think it's just something more that they have to break to get the device that you want to protect, and of those who do know what it is, many would figure that trial-and-error will eventuallu get them a nice GPS and others will just plan on reselling it locked.

Plus, at least in my area, many of the thieves are too illiterate to read the sign, although they might recognize and understand the letters "GPS", while a large number of them are non-English speaking, but again would recognize the letters "GPS".

So no thanks, I'll continue to take my GPS with me, and not add anything to the car to call extra attention to it and temp even more people.

Put up a sticker is announcing that you have a GPS in the car. The potential thief might think, what else is in there worth stealing?

If a mom-and-pop store can't afford a security system, do they deserve to have their merchandise stolen? Sorry, but victims do not deserve to be victimized. As has been pointed out, there are practical reasons why the thief didn't steal the car.

Maybe he just didn't have a drivers license.

I agree that taking your GPS with you is the safetest thing to do. That's what I do.

However, there are people who leave their GPS's in plain view and rationalize that it is locked and worthless to a thief if he takes it. I am merely suggesting that if that person taking chances with leaving a GPS in plain view, could lessen the chances of thief stealing it, if he lets the thief know before hand that it isn't going to do him any good. Placing a sign in the window is no more of announcement that the GPS is in the car, than the GPS which is plain view. Thieves in the business of stealing GPS's know what locked GPS's are. A sign, simply written to say that this GPS can't be used without knowing a secret security code, will tell a would-be thief to move on to another car with better pickins. Does it guarantee he won't break in anyway? Of course not, but it sure lessens the chance of a break in, just like a security system sign in front of your house, where you don't empty out all valuables every time you leave it.

Be sure to hide the mount as well! A lot of folks will just take the GPS off the mount and throw it in the glove box out of site, but smart thieves know this (just like they know few people actually take their detachable face stereo piece with them) and all they have to do is smash and grab. In larger cities, they even warn you to wash the suction cup marks off of your windshield as observant thieves will know that means either a GPS or a Radar Detector.

NP

Drive a junker and a thief won't look twice, heck they might even leave you a GPS and a couple bucks to boot!!!

... but I would not hold my breath while waiting for either to happen.

They need the Castle Law in Illinois like we have here in Mississippi. Then they could have put "Here lies an honest thief" on his tombstone. I hate thieves. You work hard for the things you have and an "Honest thief" takes it from you in a matter of seconds.

I know we all need to be more aware of the crimes committed against "normal people" but I am surprised at the numbers of contributors blaming the victim of crime almost more then the "honest thief". Crime is crime and a thief is a thief. We try to protect ourselves as best we can but the thief is the one who is doing the wrong thing.

My two cents.

would question the sanity of the owner of the keys that were left in the car in the first place, the GPS being the least of this individuals problems, WHEW!!

Perhaps we need something here like they had in Germany when I was stationed there back in the 1970's. (it may still be the law, but I can't speak to that.)

If you left your car unlocked, a nice, friendly policeman would leave a parking ticket on the windshield to remind you to lock your car next time.

You could see them walking down the street, trying the drivers door on each car they passed, and when one opened, they would stop and write a citation.

Unlocked cars were never a problem.

A few years ago in Long Island NY at a local restaurant, I diner had his car stolen out of the parking lot. The keys were in the car and he had a GPS. he thief used the GPS and hit "Home"
went to the owners house and used the owners own keys to go in and rob the house. He also left that car and took a more expensive one from the house.
This is another reason not to leave your GPS in the car.

My experience is thefts like this are normally neighborhood kids. they sure don't know how to get rid of a car. hope you had the Garmin locked so it is worthless.

My 91 year old mother, who still drives, leaves her car running. She has gone to the car in Wal-mart and it still be running. Can't believe no one took it. There have been several days she went to go somewhere and the car is running under the carport ( glad she doesn't have an attached garage). She went to visit my sister and after about 4 hours my brother in law walked her to the car and it was running.
She is still the same way she always was, hard headed. (Don't drive in Texas, she might be on the road)

Funny, I was laughing when I read it

lol @ no drivers license mayebe he forget his theft permit

by your theory if a see a drunk college kid lying in the road I should just run him/her over...

A car is obviously much more likely to get the thief caught. In Illinois, theft of anything over 300 dollars in value is a class 3 felony as well, so depending on what brand/model GPS and bluetooth headset it might be a felony just to steal what he stole.