They never seem to on Cops, they just pop out and run after the perp. I always imagine that there are parts of town where you just wouldn’t do that, or you’d return to your patrol car to find bits of the interior missing. Or poop on the driver’s seat, that sort of thing.
Joseph Wambaugh has written about this in some of his novels, detailing incidents where police cars were stolen.
I went into a restaurant a few days ago and parked next to a cop car which was running with no one in it. When I came out an hour later it was still there running. It was unlocked and the restaurant is fairly secluded and has no windows on the parking lot side. I really wanted to steal it, drive it to the police station and hand the keys to the chief.
This article tells of a recent big fight in my hometown. A policeman left his car to try to break things up, and it got stolen and eventually crashed in the neighboring town.
I get that some don’t, but what is proper procedure?
I’m thinking that though there may be procedures in place for cops to lock their doors anytime they leave the vehicle, more than likely (especially with the adrenaline rush from a pursuit/arrest) they leave them unlocked. I’ve read newspaper articles where cops have had shotguns and other weapons stolen from their untended cars, and personally know of an incident where a couple of guys I went to high school with (one was a very good friend) thought it would be a good idea to steal a radio and shotgun from an idling police car as the cops ran on foot after drug dealers.
They were soon caught, and each did a year in prison.
I think the standard procedure is actually to leave the engine running and doors unlocked at least for any high risk stop. If they need to run back to the car to make chase or duck for cover it makes it much faster, and if things go really wrong it allows other responding officers to use the car. I guess the benefit it provides is worth the small, but real, chance that someone will steal the car or take equipment from it.
Interesting, I guess they wouldn’t show such a theft on any Cops with cameras type shows that were attempting to be “educational”.
You are supposed to lock them. You are also not supposed to leave them running. But in reality sometimes you are in a hurry and it doesn’t get locked or shut off. And sometimes the battery sucks so it’s not possible to shut them down all the time. As for the shotgun, in ours they are locked in. Unless you know exact how to unlock it, it will probably take longer to figure out than a thief would want to hang out in a police car.
I’m surprised police cars aren’t equipped with RFID proximity locks for this very reason. Jump out of the car, it locks itself after a short time, like 30 seconds. Walk within 5 feet of the car, it unlocks itself. Problem solved, for 20 bucks.
We can’t get them to buy decent batteries so it won’t go dead with all that electronic equipment. $20 per car adds up.
Do you and Mr. Matata work for the same department? 
Both “his” car and the spare K9 car have something wonky with the electrical systems - which is sort of understandable, since the oldest units are used for the dogs (but honestly, the dogs are cleaner than some of the people who wind up in the back seats…) So Tony’s car runs for his entire shift for two reasons: a/c for the dog, and because it looks pretty ghetto when the nice deputy has to ask for a jump start before responding to the next call.
And no, he doesn’t lock the car if he and the dog are chasing someone, or doing road checks, etc. As mentioned, there’s a greater chance of him needing to get back in ASAP than of someone stealing the cruiser. Of course, assuming that the dog was safely recovered, I would be very amused imagining a thief’s reaction once he realized that his getaway ride included a completely insane trained attack dog… (I call the dog Ed, after the hyena in The Lion King. That’s what he looks like, and he is a-utterly fearless, and b-seriously Not Fond of people who don’t live in my house.)
insert witty username/post/thread title combo joke here …I’m here all night folks.