The holidays should be a time for giving, but the Havre Police Department has noticed a lot of taking lately.
Havre Police Chief Kirk Fitch sent out a press release Friday announcing “a string of thefts from vehicle (gun) cases, with suspects targeting unlocked vehicles. ”
The thefts have mostly been firearms during this recent spat, though other valuable items like tools and iPods have been popular among thieves who just check car doors and take what they find.
Fitch also said that the thefts are not isolated to any particular area. They happen wherever owners leave valuables in their unlocked vehicles.
“The department is aggressively conducting follow-up investigations to find the suspects and recover the weapons, ” Fitch said in the release. “We are asking the public to help in two ways. Please contact us with any information relating to these crimes and remember to keep your vehicle locked, especially at night (we advise people to remove valuables, like firearms, from your vehicle if it is not garaged). ”
People can call in information anonymously to Crimestoppers at 265-4444.
PROFOUND words! It goes without saying that in this day and age we need to lock our car doors at night. You likely should lock your house doors and any other dynamic points of entry to your home. Bad guys are pretty resourceful these days. They can compromise your garage doors, cut chains off your bikes and pick locks, too! The world is not so safe anymore. If you value your home and possessions, might want to take some proactive steps to safeguarding them.
Some common sense: For the record - thieves don't care about glass or locks. Those are simply in place to keep honest people honest. The plan that makes the most logical sense is simple. DON'T leave anything of VALUE in your CAR. Out of SIGHT, out of MIND. You have NO right complaining about someone breaking into your car and "stealing your gun" if you are STUPID enough to leave one IN IT. This gives gun owners a BAD NAME. Even IF the car is LOCKED...IMHO, you leave a gun in your car - YOU should be equally charged for any crime committed with it.
Now, on to personal security. That is YOUR job. The safety of you, your family and your material possessions is NOT the job of police to safeguard. They are there to react to crimes in progress, and to pursue issues of the city's commerce and crime prevention/deterrent. Don't think so, ask a cop. Protecting you is NOT in their mandate. They are the enforcement arm of a city's government.
People really need to pull their heads out and wake back up. This nanny state BS that makes them think Big Brother is somehow their savior is just plain dumb. And it's that mentality that has lead us to where we are now...