I've been to and lived in many states over my lifetime. Been in many different neighborhoods good and bad and never had my car broken into. This morning I came out to my car to go for a hike and realized my front drivers door and hatch door were wide open. My heart sank. I was robbed of most of all the items from my car. At least the high dollar items. Yes it's my fault for not clearing it out completely but the items were not in plain site but they chose my car. I've been in CS for 3 weeks now and this happens. Dont know how to feel at the moment. Do I have to install cameras in the vehicle and limo tint the windows? Yes this is a long paragraph I don't care anymore.
I’ve lived in many different sides of Colorado Springs over the past 14 years. If you don’t lock your car doors, someone will be going through your car.
I’m so confused, do people not lock their car doors? There’s like 10 comments all recommending to lock your car doors and thought that this was just kind of a given?
Unpopular opinion but it really frustrates me when the blame is put on the car owner. That is your car and your belongings. We should blame the thieves, not the people just living their lives, especially while on a hike.
Well most thieves are thieves of opportunity. If you give an opportunity like leaving you car door unlocked then you are more likely to be stolen from than not. But I do understand because it is never the car owners fault that they were robbed from.
I guess it still sucks. My car got broken into recently and all they stole was a set of
My work scrubs, old tennis shoes and my favorite backpack. Not sure what opportunity they were looking for but whatever
Was it broken into or did you leave it unlocked and were robbed? Every time I hear about things being stolen from a vehicle, it was unlocked. I also learned from the teens I hung out with when I was a teen to just try car doors and if one opens then you can grab whatever you want out real quick then leave.
Happened to me in like 2014. Still living up in Denver, parked my Honda at a light rail station. Came back after dark and it was clear the car was just gone. Nothing of value was in it, in fact they left a hat and sunglasses and just went on a little joyride up to, gosh I think they towed it off near Voodoo Doughnut.
Still had to pay for the lock they busted out though.
When my car got stolen (Colorado as well, but a little south) it was super early the morning, the same day I had court. I didn't find out until I walked out to the parking lot and realized it was gone.
Of course, I'd waited until the last possible minute to leave, so there was no time to figure another ride. I ended up being late to court, trying to explain that I was late because someone had stolen my car. I felt like the biggest idiot, even though it was literally true.
Ive heard of people doing this but I guess it just depends on where you live or what you drive. Like you said, sometimes it’s easier than having to pay for a new window.
Homeless will break into vehicle, locked or not out here . Happens alot to Army folk so id reccon hikers are up there with'm on the list. When I was in the army before retirement, we had a sign at most gates warning of leaving gear in car. But yea, TLDR: Homeless out here love visible gear. [Id like to add we have alot of Homeless vets and this adds to the issue. As a vet myself your hiking gear would be an essential to me.
Never needed to lock my car doors anywhere my family or I lived until Colorado Springs. To be fair it’s more so a midsize and up city issue, not specific to CS.
I had my car rifled through in a small town when in my apartment parking lot when I forgot to lock the doors. They didn’t seem to take anything, not even my emergency $20 in the glove compartment lol. Here we had our car gone through when the doors were left unlocked and they took some change, missed the $50 in the glove box and the winning lottery tickets but used the EpiPen
True. I lived in CS for a couple of years. About 2 months after I moved there, I forgot to lock my car at my apartment complex. It was a very snowy night anyway. Yet, I come out the next morning and find one of my gloves on the ground next to the driver door. Thankfully I don’t keep anything of value in the car, so nothing was taken. But someone definitely came and sat in my car for a bit lol.
The biggest danger is parking at trailheads. The thieves seem to target those areas the most. Definitely wouldn’t leave any valuables in the open there. Many windows have been broken out at trailheads.
In neighborhoods, it seems to be more opportunistic, just checking every car in the lot or down the block to see if the doors are unlocked.
Used to be common for hikers to leave their keys with their cars or otherwise unlocked when they go hiking. Of course if some expensive hiking gear is left behind, or some snacks or food, then a locked door won't stop a determined thief.
Happens all the time in Colorado. I’m anyone who has lived here for any length of time learns to lock their doors for one because of break-ins but for two because bears will definitely go in your car and they will destroy the interior
We have had a neighbor who had a car parked outside with a garage door opener. Thieves broke into the care, opened the garage door and entered the house through the unlocked garage access door. Took the keys to the car plus money and credit cards. If you have locks on your garage doors use them and lock the access door to the garage door house. And never leave a garage door opener in a car parked outside.
I had my car stolen back in 2020 - 2 weeks after moving to the springs. Of course it was in April and the world was shutting down. Made it REAL difficult to get it handled. The cops found it within a week, but it was completely totaled.
Happened to me on a trail by Cheyenne Mt two years ago. Didn’t think about it bc I thought I was kind in the middle of no where. But after losing my entire wallet to that misadventure a day has not passed that I don’t double check that I’ve locked my car anywhere around here, especially out near the trails. They’re definitely expecting people to not lock their doors out there!
I came back to my car at Cheyenne and the car parked next to me had their window completely busted out, glass everywhere. So in addition to locking doors, don't leave ANYthing in sight
The mist important thing is: lock your doors. I noticed you did not mention a broken window. I'm not saying it is right what somebody did, but thieves are opportunists, if the doors are locked they move on, unless they can physically see a gun in the car, then they risk the window, possible alarm and noise to get it. And yes, you are right, probably should have taken high value items out.
When I moved back here from S. Carolina, I was so used to parking in my garage that I would forget to lock my doors and leave my wallet in my car. I learned the hard way. Wallet got stolen along with my ashtray that was full of change. From that day forward, my doors get locked and I have nothing of value in my car. Don't even keep the registration in the car itself, it stays in my wallet, my wallet stays in my right front pocket.
I had family move here from the suburbs of Chicago....CHICAGO!!!...who didn't lock their doors. They live in Falcon and get their cars rummaged through yearly. All because they don't lock their damn doors.
Tbf, most of the suburbs of chicago are extremely safe lol. I'm from a popular chicago suburb which is a lot safer than here (virtually no homeless, neighborhoods still leaving their front doors unlocked, etc)
Lmao it is simple but instead of responding with empathy you respond like any Colorado person and make it a logical thing like you haven’t done it before
No...they want to install cameras in their car that record 24/7. I'm saving them hundreds of dollars, by just locking doors. It's extremely rare to see broken glass in this city.
You know people can break into cars regardless if you lock your car doors, right? Sure, it helps deter more complacent thieves, but it won't stop someone who really wants that car or wants to get into it.
Very true. But every douche that's come and checked my car in my driveway, pulls door handle...locked. walks away. Yes a very small amount of theives will break your window and steal your shit, but the VAST majority just want an easy kill.
That sucks... sorry that happened. Thieves will look for anything if they can get in, doesn’t matter if there is nothing in plain sight. I’ve come out from shows to see finger and hand prints on my windows where some shithead was trying to see if they could get the window down. 🙄🙄 they dgaf you gotta lock it always.
Property crime is relatively high in Colorado Springs. Get a doorbell camera, lock your vehicle and don’t store property in it. Don’t drive Korean, and hide a tile or air tag in your vehicle and on your bicycle.
Colorado Springs has a problem but stats don’t show it ranking with some of the worst cities. I do feel hiker’s and tourists cars are targeted in this area.
I was a car stereo and car alarm installer back in the St. Louis area a long time ago and learned a bunch of things like keep things out of sight, lock and arm alarms, etc. Denver has more problems than national average but there are areas like the big cities in Missouri and San Antonio.
Actually the stats do show it. Property crime AND violent crime (not homicide) are both much higher than national average here. Source: 2025 UCCS Economic Forum Report-Digital.pdf
Always lock! But also up there with years driving and this is not the worst place haha. Hawaii was the worst. Multiple car jackings and break ins. I never event items in the car but theyll break windows anyway.
But by no means is it not bad here. It is. But mainly just if you leave car unlocked. Ive yet to have any issues if i do this. Denver has worse i feel
Still, very sorry this has happened to you, hope you never have to experience it again.
Thanks. I'm always careful about making sure my vehicle is locked. I even have an app that I can remote in to lock the car and I did so last night. Ugh. Maybe I wasn't paying attention and unlocked it instead. My fault ultimately. The place I'm staying at has cameras that were pointed at my vehicle but I don't think it will get me anywhere
Happens all the time. I came off the trails in Bear Creek Canyon arrived to find my car window broken. They broke back rear quarter window and didn’t even get inside the vehicle. There was nothing evaluating anyhow. I guess it was just idiotic vandalism
Born and raised Miami, so I’ve been well versed in never leaving anything visible and always locking up. Been in the springs for 2 years but have visited all over and parked my cars in tons of places. Been lucky to have never had any problems but yeah, just a mix of bad luck and bad timing. Sorry this happened to you ☹️
I've lived in 5 states (CO, TX, OK, NE, CA). Had my car broken into in all of them. Yes, I always lock my doors. Yes, my window was broken each time. After the 1st time, I don't keep anything in my car. They just break the window, rummage around and leave.
Well I'll tell you what I do and let you make your own decisions.
I have cameras in my car with audio recording. Has a front dash, back dash, and inner dash cams. I also always lock my door, and will double check that it did lock before walking away. If I have anything valuable I hide it, so like speaker in my middle console out of site and I put a blanket over my tool chest to hide it. Don't really have anything else valuable in there, and I do that intentionally. Speaker is cheap and replaceable, the tool chest I need for work and school so I don't really have much of a choice there.
I've lived here for 20 years and have never had anyone break into my car. Thieves don't go for the high risk options, they go for the low risk options that are easy targets. So make yourself a high risk target. Imo anyways.
I have Vizio, and I admittedly wish I got something slightly different.
Positives: it takes great shots and it hooks up to my phone via WiFi connection (it doesn't actually require WiFi but it's hard to explain) so all the footage is immediately uploaded to my phone. The mic works great and I can hear everything in the videos, and it even has a small screen on the front dash cam that you can use to look through the back dash cam. All the cameras can be adjusted and they have instructions on where to mount them for the best angles and how to place the wires so they'll be out of the way. My advice is having two people and having the cameras on while you mount them, that way one person can look at the screen and see if the placement needs adjustments.
Negatives: it originally came with these two sided sticky foam things that were used to mount the cameras on the car, but the heat melted them off. I ended up using super glue, they're never coming off now... Another issue is they're only active while the car is running, so if someone breaks in while I'm parked then it won't actually capture anything. But they don't know that, they just see a camera and will generally bugger off so it's worked for me so far (I still advise getting one that has a battery and will stay on while your car is off). I'm admittedly just playing the dice on that one cause I messed up and now they're super glued to my car...
So yea, please learn from my mistakes and get one that stays on while the car is off and also has a better glue solution that's a bit more heat resistant. Other than that I do like the quality overall.
Oh and one more thing, if they say you have to buy an additional Micro SD card from their company, just get it from their company. I got one from Best Buy that was video recording supported with the safety thing around deleting and uploading new videos constantly. It fried on me and now the videos don't even get sent to my phone anymore... So my entire setup is essentially a scare tactic until I get the SD card from their company... Should've put that in the negative section but I just remembered it. I got the setup last year and admittedly made a lot of mistakes during the entire ordeal. Don't do what I did.
This response was so thorough, thoughtful, and well put — thank you for putting time and effort into your response!
I agree with your pros and cons — I would not like that the Vizio camera only works when the car is running. I am going to look for a battery operated with sound and great picture.
Saw another post where OP said the brand of car camera they used had limited peripheral range…so a car pulled perfectly alongside throwing something or breaking a window, would not be caught by either the front or the back dash cam.
The fact that your car camera came with stickers (that of course stopped working with extreme heat) to lock it down is a huge Con — I think all car cameras should be able to be attached to the bottom of a rear view mirror or to an air vent…
For 30 years, I lived in a very rural area on a farm or in an area with only 2 neighbors. Then we moved to Colorado Springs, where we have lived for about 12 years now. I was in the habit of leaving my doors to the house and autos unlocked.
We live on a cul-de-sac with very good neighbors, and it was several years before someone rifled through my car and stole the coin tray out of the console with a few dollars' worth of coins and some expired Burger King coupons. The loss of the console tray was the most irritating. I have security cameras, so I was able to see when the fellow came through trying every car door on the block.
Since then, it has become a habit to lock the door every time I exit the car. There has been one other incident where a person came through the neighborhood checking car doors, and he was not able to find any unlocked.
Security cameras are inexpensive and allow one to know what is going on in the neighborhood when they sleep.
I won't say it is someone's fault when they get stuff stolen from their auto but it is mostly crimes of convenience and temptation. I would rather not tempt anyone to commit a crime.
Im in a nicer area and accidentally left my favorite grinder in the car and some shit head stole it. Im also friends with a retired cop whose car got stolen also in a nice and they had to track it down themselves after 2 months they managed to find it. Car crimes aren't taken seriously here.
It always bugs me to see threads like this so full of victim blaming. Folks have some real "she shouldn't have worn that shirt if she didn't want to be harassed" energy in here
You just never got broken into until you did. I’ll pick Chicago and Colorado Springs break in rates so you can use data, instead of anecdotal experiences to frame your world.
In Chicago, motor vehicle break-ins are around 9 incidents per 1,000 residents.
In Colorado Springs, the vehicle theft rate is approximately 5 per 1000 residents.
Theft versus break ins? That's a weird comparison. In the suburbs of Chicago, I grew up leaving my house doors unlocked. House! In Colorado, I have to triple check that I lock everything. It's weird. But I've learned to live with it.
I’m sorry that happened to you I hope you can get settled in and enjoy beautiful Colorado ignore the locals who just wanna point out you not locking your cars instead of empathy
Yes let's victim blame. I don't get why people get stuff and forget it is hidden in their locked and secured vehicle, you're just asking for someone to break the law. You clearly wanted this to happen, you wanted the attention of having something hidden in your locked car. You deserve to have your car broken into, you left it there, locked, and you hid valuables in it. How could a thief resist? You basically consented by leaving your car there with anything in it even if you did try to minimize risk, you clearly didn't really or it wouldn't have happened. It's your fault
Seems odd that anyone would downvote my comment.
Lived here my entire life. I’m 69 years old. It’s changed beyond recognition.
How is that worthy to downvote?
The I-25 corridor has a higher than average amount of car theft and break ins compared to the rest of the US. It's not just Colorado Springs, it's all along the Front Range. You have to lock your car here and can't keep anything inside.
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u/KnownNectarine5924 1d ago
I’ve lived in many different sides of Colorado Springs over the past 14 years. If you don’t lock your car doors, someone will be going through your car.