# Your reaction to cops "helpfully" locking your car door? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 22, 2021, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reaction-to-cops-helpfully-locking-your-car-door/951133 "2021-09-22T19:55:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 61
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2021, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reaction-to-cops-helpfully-locking-your-car-door/951133/61 "2021-09-23T13:41:43Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > The switches on the driver’s door (with windows, mirror adjustment, etc.). On my car, in order to lock the doors, you’d have to lean over to the center console. No switches or levers on the door itself. You basically have to sit down in the seat to reach it. I leave my car unlocked pretty much all the time. Back before I bought everything on credit card, I’d have change in the center. Some mornings, I’d notice that the change had been riffled through, and there seemed to be less silver in there. Big deal, some teenager got a couple bucks in quarters. > [@Loach](#): > > I don’t know what’s happening where you all live but in my 20 plus years of experience when your window gets busted in it’s when you pissed someone off. Or they see something in your car that is more valuable to them than your window is. I used to lock my car at work, but stopped that after finding my window broken. Cost me a whole lot more to replace than the change that they got. > [@pkbites](#): > > Getting out and walking down the main street rattling doors was one of the duties of the third shift officer. But the department had agreements with those businesses to do that and we had keys to those buildings. That’s fine, and I’ve signed a form from the local PD that allows them to do so, and to even enter and investigate if they see something that they deem suspicious (and to call me). But that’s at my business. I would never sign up for something like that at my house. I see my car as being a whole lot closer to my house than my business in terms of my personal property. > [@Loach](#): > > I 100% guarantee that is not the case. The fishing expedition wouldn’t work because there is no way to pin anything on you. Just a waste of time. And the chances of finding anything worthwhile are negligible. So, if they see or smell something, you are claiming that they will just completely forget it? Or, will they make a note of your license plate, and pull you over the next chance they get? Some of us are not as keen as you on always assuming only the most noble of intentions of authority figures and giving them absolute trust in their motives. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised that some use it as a pretext to _plant_ contraband so they can follow it up with a bust. Believe it or not, there _are_ bad cops out there. There’s a [whole thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread-2/912531) if you need to see some examples. > [@Loach](#): > > I guarantee they are attempting to proactively stop wasting their time. Yeah, cops do a number of things to proactively stop wasting their time, they are often not in the best interest of the people they are supposed to protect, but only in the best interest of the officer wanting to get back to wasting their time on their own terms. > [@Loach](#): > > I know it’s hard to believe but most people are not as easy going about people rifling through their cars to steal things and actually make police reports. The only reason I would make a police report about such a break in to my car is I needed to do so for insurance purposes. I would only have to do that if they had broken my window in order to gain entry. Back when that happened before, I had a beater car with state minimum insurance, I didn’t bother anyone with it. Now I’ve got a better car with comprehensive insurance, so I’d have to waste an officer’s time to come out and take a police report. They sell devices, meant as a survival tool in case your car goes into the water, that very easily, and fairly quietly, break a window. I’m not going to link to it here, but a simple search finds one for about $6. A locked door does very little to deter someone who wants to get into your car. > [@Loach](#): > > When I have heard of similar things happening it’s because the police are being slammed with calls of car burglaries and car thefts that could easily be prevented by just locking their doors. I don’t leave my keys or valuables in my car. I’m not exactly how hard it is to hotwire it, but it’s a whole lot harder than breaking the window. If someone is willing and able to defeat the ignition lock, then I don’t see a window being as big a deterrent as you may think. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-reaction-to-cops-helpfully-locking-your-car-door/951133)._