Locking Car Doors Can Prevent Theft, But There’s No Accounting For Less-Than-Clever Criminals

Let’s play a game called “Who Was Stupider?” Your choices are the victim and the perpetrator in a crime that happened between 6 p.m. on Oct. 21 and 7:45 a.m. on Oct. 22.

Here’s the case for the victim, a resident of the 4000 block of Miramar Avenue: Not only did she leave her gray 2007 Lincoln Navigator unlocked overnight, but she left the key to the vehicle in the console. She also left her $3,500 Chanel purse in the car, which contained a $1,200 diamond bracelet and her $500 Prada wallet.

Here’s the case for the perp: He stole the wallet – which held three credit cards, two debit cards, a health insurance card, and a driver’s license – but he left behind the much-more-valuable purse and bracelet. He also passed up the opportunity to steal the Navigator.

Of course, he had plenty of other opportunities that night in Highland Park. The following incidents all happened that same evening, and all of them involved unlocked vehicles:

• Between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m., a thief stole an $800 black Trek bicycle from a driveway in the 4700 block of Drexel Drive. The thief also rifled through a white 2008 Mercedes in the same driveway.
• Between 9:30 p.m. and 7:15 a.m., a burglar entered a black 2014 Cadillac Escalade in a driveway in the 3600 block of Crescent Avenue and stole a $300 pair of DGBG sunglasses, $150 worth of Gap girls’ clothing, and a $100 bottle of Romance cologne. The burglar also entered an unlocked side door on the house and tried to remove a wall-mounted 40-inch Panasonic television. The door was left ajar.
• Between 6 p.m. and 7:30 a.m., a burglar entered a 2008 Lexus LS460 beneath a porte-cochere in the 4000 block of Miramar Avenue and stole a $5,000 ostrich briefcase that held a $600 iPad.
• Between 11 p.m. and 7:30 a.m., a burglar entered a black 2014 GMC Sierra in the 3500 block of Euclid Avenue and stole a Sony laptop, a Tenba computer bag, and $50 in quarters. Because the police were at his house, the victim also reported that his white Trek bicycle was stolen from his garage between May 11 and Aug. 10.
• Between 10 p.m. and 11 a.m., a burglar entered a 2011 Chevrolet Suburban in the 3900 block of Euclid Avenue and stole a $350 gold cocktail dress that had been purchased from Neiman Marcus so recently that it was still in a plastic bag and bearing a price tag.

Click through for last week’s other residential crimes in the Park Cities:

Between 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 19 and 6 a.m. on Oct. 20, a thief stole two $180 bicycles – a Schwinn Sidewinder and a Novara Duster – from a front yard in the 2800 block of Milton Avenue.

Between 7 a.m. on Oct. 19 and 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 21, a thief stole both license plates from a black 2014 Mercedes-Benz E350 in the 4200 block of Lakeside Drive.

Between 10:30 and 11 a.m. on Oct. 22, a burglar entered a 2003 Mercedes-Benz SL500 that had been left unlocked in the 3800 block of Beverly Drive and stole a $250 purse that held a $350 Louis Vuitton wallet containing $500 in cash, four blank checks, three credit cards, and a driver’s license.

Between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Oct. 22, a thief stole a 4.5-foot park-style bench from a front porch in the 4500 block of Bordeaux Avenue.

Between 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 22 and 5:30 a.m. on Oct. 23, a burglar broke into a silver 2013 Chevrolet Suburban in the 4300 block of Larchmont Avenue and stole the third-row seat.

Between 7 p.m. on Oct. 22 and 7 a.m. on Oct. 23, a burglar pried open the rear window of a white 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe in the 4400 block of Westway Avenue and stole the third-row seat.

At 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 23, a resident of the 4300 block of Shenandoah Avenue came home to find a stranger exiting his house through a side door. Nothing was missing from the house.

Between 1 p.m. on Oct. 23 and 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 24, a burglar entered a white 2013 Chevrolet Tahoe that had been left unlocked in an attached garage in the 3400 block of Harvard Avenue and stole an $1,800 Prada purse that held a $100 Kate Spade wallet containing $200 in cash, a credit card, a debit card, and a driver’s license. The victim said she left her garage door open but closed the gate between the alley and her driveway.

Between 11:30 p.m. on Oct. 24 and 7:30 a.m. on Oct. 25, a thief stole a $400 Trek bicycle from a front porch in the 4200 block of Bryn Mawr Drive.

Between 10:30 p.m. on Oct. 25 and 10 a.m. on Oct. 26, a burglar entered a red 2010 Ford Ranger that had been left unlocked in a rear driveway in the 3300 block of St. Johns Drive and stole several items, including a security guard’s jacket, two coin purses, and a nylon bag holding jumper cables. Those items were all found in a nearby trash bin, but the victim’s $400 in cash and driver’s license were not.

Between 11 a.m. on Sept. 14 and 11:11 a.m. on Oct. 26, a thief stole $1,950 worth of golf clubs from a garage in the 2800 block of Daniel Avenue.

Between 3 p.m. on Oct. 24 and 7 p.m. on Oct. 26, a thief stole $1,000 worth of patio furniture from a house in the 4200 block of Emerson Avenue.