Full Notification

Auto burglaries are almost always crimes of opportunity. So, auto burglary prevention starts by taking some simple steps to limiting a criminal's opportunity to commit the crime. Criminals are looking for something to steal, don't supply the valuables. Leaving your valuables in plain sight inside of your vehicle instantly makes your car a target for thieves.

It only takes a few seconds for thieves to break into your vehicle and steal your valuables, but is also only takes a few seconds for you to remove your valuables and secure your vehicle, which means it takes a few seconds to help reduce the risk of your car being burglarized. 

We suggest taking these simple, but important, steps to help reduce your chance of falling victim to a thief looking for a crime of opportunity:

• Don't leave valuables in your car. That sounds like common sense, but drivers and passengers do leave items of value in plain view every day. If you leave valuable items visible in your car, your car is automatically a target.

• If you must leave valuable items in your car while out and about, place items out of sight before reaching your destination or move them inconspicuously. This includes packages, backpacks, gym bags, GPS units, MP3 players, and so forth. Someone may be watching when you put items under a seat or throw something over them. An opportunistic thief is on the lookout for trunk-packing, and can break into your car the minute you're out of sight.

• Leave no trace. Don't leave any sign that there might be valuables out of sight in your vehicle, such as docking stations or connector cables. Leave nothing in plain sight that might make your vehicle worth investigating by a thief. Just leaving an empty docking station in plain sight, even if you've taken the high dollar component with you, may end up costing you hundreds of dollars to replace a broken window because the thief wanted to check your car for hidden valuables. Very few auto break-ins are random, typically the thieves see something in plain sight that's valuable, or hints of possible hidden valuables. 

If you have an after-market stereo/CD-player with a removable faceplate, remove it. Without the faceplate, the unit is less attractive/useful to many thieves. If the unit can be pulled, pull it. Take it with you. Just covering a valuable radio, or ANY valuables in your car, with something, like a blanket or towel, to hide it will probably only draw thieves' attention.

• Try to park in busy, well-lighted areas. Try to park in well-traveled areas. Large anonymous lots are hit by thieves much more often than parking immediately adjacent to residential housing or other occupied buildings. Auto-burglars prefer breaking into cars where they will not be observed or attract notice, and they choose their targets accordingly. 


• Lock ALL your vehicle's doors even if you plan to be gone for only a brief time. So often, items are stolen from unlocked vehicles where the owner was only going to be gone "just for a second". It only takes seconds for a thief to steal your stuff! It's not at all uncommon for thieves to walk down a row of parked vehicles and check vehicle doors to see if they are unlocked. Don't leave any window open or even cracked open, including vent/wing windows and sunroofs. Don’t tempt a thief.

• Set any alarm or anti-theft device. If you have one, use it! Many people believe that car-alarms no longer make a difference, but they can be an effective deterrent to an auto-burglar, who most often chooses the easiest target. If they have two cars to choose from, one with an alarm and one without, they will likely burglarize the one without (unless you've left out valuables just too good to ignore!).

• Mark your valuables. As a last line of defense, not really to prevent theft as much as to aid in recovery, mark your valuables. Recording serial numbers is dandy, but nowadays many serial numbers are on removable labels, rather than engraved into valuable items. We suggest inscribing a personal identifier on all valuables.

• What to do if something is stolen out of your car. As soon as you notice something's stolen, or that your car has been broken into, do not touch or adjust anything in, on, or around the car. As soon as possible, call the police (Sunnyvale DPS’s Non-Emergency Dispatch Line is: 408-730-7180) to report the incident.

• Backpacks, gym bags, briefcases, day-planners
• Cash/coins, checkbooks and credit/debit cards
• Wallets and purses
• Laptops, iPods, and MP3 players
• Cell phones and chargers
• Portable GPS navigation systems
• Stereo/CD players, faceplates, amps, speakers (even when bolted down!)
• Jewelry, keys, mail (identity theft), tools     
• Anything of obvious value

•  Anyone walking up and down aisles of parking lots looking into cars or trying door handles, vehicles cruising parking lots at very slow speeds for extended periods while observing parked cars.
• Anyone sitting in running parked cars for protracted periods, and vehicles dropping one person off while continuing to cruise the same area.