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For the love of all that's good and decent, PLEASE lock your doors when you're home.

You know, I just want to apologize in as public a manner this thread allows.

Going to the store today provided me with three seperate examples that this is just a status quo for the region.
- Example 1: I pull up to park and a dodge stratus is sitting there with keys sitting in the passenger side door, no owner in site. Inside the car is a laptop, a purse, and a mangy looking maltese. Obviously, if any of those items, or the car was lifted, the victim would in no way be responsible, and should be made whole immediately from their insurance company, and Caddy Deval.
- Example 2: Going in to another store to get dog food, there is a new model camry sitting with the trunk completely open, filled with food and Best Buy bags, no owner in sight. Another situation where the victim would share no responsibility for policing their items, and anything that grows legs should be immediately replaced by the various vendors or by Caddy Deval himself.
- Example 3: Been home for a half hour, there is a minivan parked outside my window, NH plates the driver side slider and driver's door are open, and engine is on. No one is in it, or visibly attending to it. Should it be stolen, Mayor Curtatone should provide a replacement immediately.

I was obviously wrong, and carrying a lot of pent up aggression, sexual maladjustment, penis envy, a fear of algebra, and unneccessary western ideals. I apologize, I was wrong. I'm now going to unlock all my doors relax a little and drink a bottle of bulleit. I have nothing to worry, nothing bad happens.


ETA - Now, being serious for a moment -
Utilizing this definition of culpability:
In explanations and predictions of human action and inaction, culpability is a measure of the degree to which an agent, such as a person, can be held morally or legally responsible.
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I was erroneous, Jose's distinction is far more accurate, and I agree with it.
 
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davemata said:
You know, I just want to apologize

I was obviously wrong, and carrying a lot of pent up aggression, sexual maladjustment, penis envy, a fear of algebra, and unneccessary western ideals. I apologize, I was wrong. I'm now going to unlock all my doors relax a little and drink a bottle of bulleit. I have nothing to worry, nothing bad happens.
.
Click to expand...
Apology accepted, the first step is admitting you have a problem.[laugh]

11 more steps and you can beat the liberal Kool-Aid...

Stay strong...

p.s. so far as I could tell just about everyone in here was saying what Jose said...
 
OfficerObie59 said:
I can't count the number of times I've responded to a rash of break-ins to a neighborhood where only unsecured, unlocked targets were victims. The reason is that there were more than enough unsecured targets available to keep the theives busy without having to resort to smashing windows or prying doors. Why bother doing that if you don't have to? I've also seen and heard of the "CSI effect" weighing on these decisions; for example, a criminal unwilling to smash a window for fear he might get cut and leave blood at the scene.

While I don't blame or hold accountable victims in such circumstances, sometimes you do wonder what happened to common sense of the guy who reports he left his $1,500 work laptop on the passenger seat of an unlocked car in a neighborhood where break-ins have been frequent.
Click to expand...
That's the nut of it right there. You'll never protect yourself enough against a directed and well planned incursion, but crimes of opportunity can be avoided. Don't be the easiest target out there. It's like running from a bear: Don't be the slowest guy.
 
I safely left enough ambiguity with "well planned".

If you have that time to react, it wasn't well planned enough, but I'm just trying to split hairs.
 
Many of us here are old enough to remember growing up in Mayberry, everyone's doors were unlocked and you just walked in to your neighbors house and said hello and they gave you a glass of lemonade or, god forbid, "Kool aid". But seriously, back in the 60's and before, this was the way life was, heck, people actually said hello to one another. When someone's home was vandalized, the police pretty much had the person arrested later that day, everyone knew who the troublemakers were. Now it's a bit after midnight and my kids have some friends sleeping over, my 5 yr old daughter is sound asleep, my dogs are always at the ready and I have my alarm system on go and my sidearm of choice at the ready and an 870 loaded with slugs/9 pellet because Mayberry is no longer here anymore. What happened to our country?! What the F--- really happened??!!
The worst part is that the worst part hasn't even arrived yet, we ain't see nothing yet.
 
I rarely lock my doors when I am home except after dark. I know that something bad could go down, but I try not to live my life worrying about all the what ifs. I take reasonable precautions and am always armed while at home and away. I just recently got in the habit of locking my truck at night because there had been some car breaks in town.

I am not criticizing those that do. I know it is prudent.
 
My friends don't understand why, and I don't bother explaining anymore (tried a couple times) but every single door & window in my house is locked & secured. Garage door, side door, back door, front door, upstairs windows? I don't care. All is always locked. My truck? Inside my garage? is locked. Wife won't lock her car, but I do it for her when I remember.

I always try explaining this to computer illiterate people when they ask me about security risks; the basic stuff such as passwords/hiding ssid and such will weed out 90% of the possible perpetrators. These are the not so determined ones. I apply the same concept when securing my house.
 
cstockwell said:
You are clearly a libtard. I can't believe you even can keep typing this crap without thinking. OH YES you are correct the victim is clearly responsible for ALL the wrongdoings of the criminals. Please turn in your balls, your firearms and join the ranks of the rest of the Mass libtards.
Click to expand...

OK, as a long-time libtard, here's my view: the perp is to blame, the victim is still a victim. I'd prefer not to be a victim, so I lock my doors and use an alarm system. The fact that I have sympathy for the poor doesn't mean I have any sympathy for burglars.
 
davemata said:
Yup, done, you don't get it.

It's a matter of personal responsibility.

Don't leave something of value unsecured and then get mad, you did it to yourself. You're an adult, and you know better.
Click to expand...

I agree, and that was the main point of what OfficerObie was stating in his first post. It never excuses the actions of a criminal, notr does it put the blame on the victim, but exorcizing reasonable common sense in protecting yourself is no different than developing situational awareness skills. You just increase your odds of something bad happening to YOU when you don't take precautions - period! Like OfficerObie also pointed out, most of these type of crimes are just random, opportunity type situations. If the perp encounters a locked door, he moves on to the next house that happens to have the welcome mat out by leaving the door open. Tim L, what's not to understand here? No one is really questioning your thinking that these guys are still scumbags, but rather that some risk can be mitigated by taking some personal responsibility - that's all!

Years ago, I installed a keypad entry system on our house, which turned out to be one of the best investments we ever made. Initially it was because we had 4 boys that were constantly misplacing, or outright losing keys to our home. Being one that was not liking that fact that several keys were just floating around town, I looked into solutions to the problem that didn't require the cliche' "key under the mat" thing. The good thing about the system that we have is that I was able to give them all individual codes, and can edit/change them at will without needing to change the entire thing if one kid compromises security by letting a friend see his code, or something silly like that. The key benefit, though is that it automatically locks when the door is closed, so no one can accidentally leave home, and forget to lock the door, or in the case of the story, forget to lock it when they are in the house! Obviously this lock wouldn't deter a hardcore criminal looking to really break in any more than any other conventional lock, but for crimes of opportunity it is certainly better than the alternative. We also have high security deadbolts for backup locks when in for the evening, or away for more than a short time.

Having the assurance of your doors always staying locked, but never being locked out yourself - priceless![smile]
 
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Coyote33 said:
My back door is unlocked right now. Come on over, we'll put on the coffee! "Davemata" must not have cats or kids. I cannot imagine living my life behind locked doors all the time.
Click to expand...

See my previous post #74 for an easy way around this. You just get a passive system like mine, that locks automatically, yet you don't need to carry your keys with you at all times.[wink]
 
davemata said:
It's a matter of personal responsibility.

Don't leave something of value unsecured and then get mad, you did it to yourself. You're an adult, and you know better.
Click to expand...

No, wrong, it's still not the victim's fault. Like Cekim says, shit happens. One night I accidentally hit the key fob on the trunk release to my car and the trunk popped open, and all the stuff in the back was taken (and realizing that most of it was just gas receipts, dunkins bags and trash, most of it was just left strewn all over my street... although they did get a box of ethernet cables I think. A bear did not come along and steal that stuff, a human being with malicious intent did.

Dumb idea in this time period, in most parts of the US- Sure. I'll buy that. I still wouldn't use the words "culpable" to describe someone who left their car or house unlocked and got robbed. The theft would not have occurred without someone else having a guilty mind to do it.

-Mike
 
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Jose said:
They don't bear any culpability. But they are dumbasses for not hardening their property.

To all of you who love to live with the doors unlocked: yep, you are a dumbass. Crime exists. Deal with it or pretend that it doesn't.
Click to expand...

This, and exactly this.

-Mike
 
This reminds me of the thread where we got mad about the police going down the street, locking people's car doors, and leaving a note on their car telling them that they FAILed. If someone leaves their doors unlocked, that's their problem. I won't ever say it's the smart way to do things. But to say that they're now responsible when something bad happens is as bad as saying that the cops were right in going down the street and locking the car doors for them. Just because someone is an idiot does not excuse someone for being bad, nor does it alleviate the blame that should be placed on the criminal - no matter how prevent-able the crime was by using common sense.

I'm not trying to argue against locking your shit up, but anyone arguing that the idiot shares the blame with the criminal is an idiot themselves. This is why we can't have nice things.
 
I think I'll go get drunk tonight, rear end someone at 40 mph, then blame them for being at least partially culpable for not taking the precaution of getting out of my way when they heard the tires start screeching. [hmmm]
 
If my wife leaves her Louis Vuitton purse on the front seat of her car and she finds her car with the window broken and her purse gone, the first thing I think isn't "What kind of dastardly villain would do such a thing!?!?!" ... I think "WOW, my wife is a ****ing idiot, and I need to smarten this dumb ass up somehow". I think that when you don't take simple precautions to prevent things from happening to you, you ARE partly responsible. I'm not talking about expensive security items, and spending a ton of cash on cameras or dogs or robots with machine guns. I'm talking about Lock your ****ing doors, don't leave purses/wallets behind, don't leave car doors unlocked, and don't tempt scumbags. I'm speaking about burglars and thieves. They are usually a different creature altogether from rapists and sexual deviants (I said usually, not always), drunk drivers etc. If I have a one night stand and don't use a condom and contract a STD....is it the girls fault for not telling me she has the germ, or mine for being a dumb ass. You live in a world that you KNOW is full of scumbags and degenerates waiting for a weak link to show itself...act accordingly and cover your ass. Maybe I'm just an a**h***.
 
Boston_Shooter said:
If my wife leaves her Louis Vuitton purse on the front seat of her car and she finds her car with the window broken and her purse gone, the first thing I think isn't "What kind of dastardly villain would do such a thing!?!?!" ... I think "WOW, my wife is a ****ing idiot, and I need to smarten this dumb ass up somehow". I think that when you don't take simple precautions to prevent things from happening to you, you ARE partly responsible. I'm not talking about expensive security items, and spending a ton of cash on cameras or dogs or robots with machine guns. I'm talking about Lock your ****ing doors, don't leave purses/wallets behind, don't leave car doors unlocked, and don't tempt scumbags. I'm speaking about burglars and thieves. They are usually a different creature altogether from rapists and sexual deviants (I said usually, not always), drunk drivers etc. If I have a one night stand and don't use a condom and contract a STD....is it the girls fault for not telling me she has the germ, or mine for being a dumb ass. You live in a world that you KNOW is full of scumbags and degenerates waiting for a weak link to show itself...act accordingly and cover your ass. Maybe I'm just an a**h***.
Click to expand...

No, you're not an a**h*** for thinking that way, it makes perfect sense to me, but maybe I'm just an a**h*** too? [laugh]Very well said, inmo.[smile]
 
s4mt3k said:
My friends don't understand why, and I don't bother explaining anymore (tried a couple times) but every single door & window in my house is locked & secured. Garage door, side door, back door, front door, upstairs windows? I don't care. All is always locked. My truck? Inside my garage? is locked. Wife won't lock her car, but I do it for her when I remember.

I always try explaining this to computer illiterate people when they ask me about security risks; the basic stuff such as passwords/hiding ssid and such will weed out 90% of the possible perpetrators. These are the not so determined ones. I apply the same concept when securing my house.
Click to expand...

I continue to try and hammer this into my roommates. We have had neighbors houses broken into, so this hits close to home. I tell them about every instance I read or hear about and explain how it possibly could have been prevented by such a simple thing like locking a door. Not to say it can not still happen but at least I know they did not help facilitate it happening.
 
I think anyone who gets their housebroken into repeatedly and still leaves their door unlocked is either full blown retarded or careless to the point of needing to wear a helmet 24/7. That said, the only thing this behavior deserves is my nearly complete lack of sympathy, not blame. They share no responsibility for the crime.

The mentality that says the share some responsibility in the crime is the same mentality that blames bars for drunk drivers and Dunkin Donuts for spilled coffee.
 

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