# Do you leave your car doors unlocked? Cops will lock 'em for you. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 19, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-leave-your-car-doors-unlocked-cops-will-lock-em-for-you/600151 "2011-10-19T15:29:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-leave-your-car-doors-unlocked-cops-will-lock-em-for-you/600151/41 "2015-11-28T11:43:36Z")
Zombie cars! ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-leave-your-car-doors-unlocked-cops-will-lock-em-for-you/600151/42 "2015-11-28T16:53:09Z")
Are they going to come by and check my front door, too? > [@](#): > > “Hey, the front door was unlocked, so we came in to make sure you were OK!” ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-leave-your-car-doors-unlocked-cops-will-lock-em-for-you/600151/43 "2015-11-28T17:01:59Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > If you were to report something as stolen on your insurance but were known to have left your car door unlocked, would that mean that you aren’t covered for the theft (assuming you have this coverage on your insurance in the first place)? That’s not really a law, but it is a potential consequence, depending on the situation. No insurance policy I’ve ever seen (and I read them almost every day) has an exclusion for items stolen from unlocked cars (or unlocked homes, for that matter). Theft is theft, regardless of whether the door is locked or unlocked. For example: > [@](#): > > RCW 9A.52.100 > Vehicle prowling in the second degree. > (1) A person is guilty of vehicle prowling in the second degree if, with intent to commit a crime against a person or property therein, he or she enters or remains unlawfully in a vehicle other than a motor home, as defined in RCW 46.04.305, or a vessel equipped for propulsion by mechanical means or by sail which has a cabin equipped with permanently installed sleeping quarters or cooking facilities. Nothing about locked or unlocked there. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-leave-your-car-doors-unlocked-cops-will-lock-em-for-you/600151/44 "2015-11-28T17:02:29Z")
Threads like this make me think that, if the police started handing out free ice cream to pedestrians, people would rage at them for encouraging obesity and discriminating against the lactose-intolerant. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-leave-your-car-doors-unlocked-cops-will-lock-em-for-you/600151/45 "2015-11-29T00:18:50Z")
I’d be pissed off, since I never take the keys out of it. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-leave-your-car-doors-unlocked-cops-will-lock-em-for-you/600151/46 "2015-11-29T00:38:07Z")
Wish they did that for me last night. Found my truck and wife’s car had been gone through some time during the night. Took a garage door opener for the house we just moved from, left the opener for our new house. Also took the vehicle registrations from both vehicles, figured they would use them for the address which is our old house. Won’t they be surprised to find an empty house. We also lost some small stuff like sunglasses and my store loyalty cards. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-leave-your-car-doors-unlocked-cops-will-lock-em-for-you/600151.md?page=2)