Your reaction to cops "helpfully" locking your car door?

In My Humble Opinion
41

In my location, we call that “car prowling.” If you leave your car unlocked, especially overnight in your driveway, you may open it up the next day to find your glove compartment open, your centre console open, and stuff missing. Unless you have nothing worth taking, in which case, nothing will be missing, just mixed up a little.

But it’s still an unwelcome intrusion. I’ve got nothing worth taking in my car (who the heck would want a bunch of old Racing Forms that I’ve thrown into the back after a day at the track, some golf scorecards, or the small stuffed moose who has ridden with me in every car I’ve owned for decades?). Regardless, I always lock my car doors, everywhere.

42

I wouldn’t lock someones car and would be pissed if someone locked mine unless I asked them to. Even if that someone was another cop.

A zillion years ago I had a part-time patrol gig for a small village and we did building and door checks for local businesses on the main drag. 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. We didn’t touch any that were not signed up for the voluntary program.

43

You do get that snooping is wrong, right?

Maybe, but unlikely. That was a long time ago.

44

I think you are wrong on the law. What could you possibly expect to accomplish with a “tongue lashing” of the police?

45

They stopped their foolishness and went away. If we could get back on topic now, that would be awesome.

46

You brought up the lights shining in your car. I’m merely responding to your posts. That’s how message boards work.

47

I always lock my car, but I still wouldn’t appreciate it if a cop checked to make sure. I would strongly suspect that the security of my property was not their primary motive but rather a fishing expedition to catch me in some wrongdoing.

48

The Big Island Revealed, the best guidebook to the Big Island of Hawai’i (where I happen to be vacationing right now) says

Theft can be a problem when visiting beaches. Visitors like to lock their cars at all beaches, but piles of glass on the ground usually dissuade island residents from doing that at secluded beaches. We usually remove anything we can’t bear to have stolen and leave the car with the windows rolled up but unlocked. That way, we’re less likely to get our windows broken by a curious thief.

I’ve been following that advice for many years when I visit the island. I’d certainly be pissed if someone locked my car after I deliberately left it unlocked.

49

That story doesn’t sound particularly believable. In fact the whole tenor of your posts doesn’t suggest that you’re that interested in opinions on the weird policy of cops going around locking doors, it more suggests you were just wanting to brag about supposedly “giving the cops a tongue lashing” years ago, or bragging about how you “made them think” about their behavior in the OP (which I regard as satire.)

50

Years ago I read that if a police car (possibly unmarked, cherry on the dash) tries to pull you over in a rural area, you don’t have to stop there.

A quick google shows this for Texas.

If you feel the area is unsafe to stop immediately or if you have concerns the vehicle is not a real police vehicle, you can take the following steps to minimize the risk of being arrested or charges being filed against you: turn on your hazard lights and drive slowly and carefully below the posted speed limit; you may call 9-1-1 and remain on the phone with the operator while you stop and verify the officer’s identity; you may drive to a nearby well-lighted, populated place to stop.

Hmm. And I’ve heard it’s possible to buy uniforms, etc. to look that part. Maybe they aren’t perfect copies of what the real guys wear but I’m no expert on every locale or jurisdiction I drive through. Here’s

I vote leave my vehicle alone.

51

If I also forgot to take my keys with me, I wouldn’t find locking my car very “helpful” at all. LOL

52

In the suburbs, they just ticket the crap out of you for stuff. There is no parking anywhere other than your driveway, or the offender gets a ticket. If your grass is too long, the offender gets a ticket. Personally, I’d rather they come around and mow it, but it ain’t gonna’ happen. :smiling_imp:

53

I am curious as to how, without a key or fob, the cops could lock the cars.

In the UK, if you leave a car unlocked and it gets stolen, you will not get any recompense from insurance. They all expect owners to take reasonable care of their property.

As I remember it, they were hoping to find an unlocked door so they could help themselves to any small items not actually nailed down.

The cops in the OP, would have done better to leave a note on the car if they wanted to encourage drivers to be more responsible.

54

Even if it’s not a cop, hard charging into a stranger fooling around with your property may not be the wisest move. You don’t know what he’s got tucked in his pocket. I would assess the situation and, from a distance, just simply say “Excuse me, but that’s my car.” That usually solves the problem.

Regarding the OP, I don’t particularly like the idea of cops taking it upon themselves to lock doors. That just seems like a pretext to unwarranted searches

55

The switches on the driver’s door (with windows, mirror adjustment, etc.).

It’s surprising how many fake cop attempts are you youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=fake+cop

56

Moderating: as you know, anyone can answer any question on a message board. That hostility is not appropriate. Tone it down.

57

I never have. I used to live in NYC, and that wasn’t a problem. I did read a funny story about a guy who became aware that a homeless person was sleeping in his car – the radio was turned to a different station and some small things had been moved. He realized he’d acquired a night watchman for his car, so he put a blanket on the back seat. The blanket was neatly folded every morning.

Why would anyone use the inside of a car as a latrine when that requires physically contorting yourself? Homeless people pee against walls, and poop and pee in the bushes and corners, in my urban experience.

58

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. I guarantee they are attempting to proactively stop wasting their time. 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 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.

59

My dad did that few times. Now, we have cops use our lot as a speed trap. Back in the day, they did it on such a regular basis (bottom of a hill and a good hiding spot) that, to this day, you’ll still see people hitting their brakes as they come down the hill. That, we’ve never had any issue with. From our POV, the more often people see police cars in our lot, the less likely we are to get broken into.
However, for a while a cop, in an unmarked car, had set up a speed trap on a freeway on ramp. If you were coming from the West and making a left onto the ramp, it was hard to see him, but not a big deal. If you were coming from the East and making a right onto the ramp, it was hard to see him AND he was in your lane so cars had to swerve around him putting them into the other lane very quickly. It almost caused quite a few accidents just from what I saw personally. My dad started calling the police (non-emergency) to report a broken down Crown Vic on the on ramp, in traffic. After two or three times, they stopped doing that. He really was in the way there.

The cops in my area do that as well. On the one hand, we don’t mind getting the call and running back to the store to lock up. On the other hand, it means they set off the alarm, so the neighbors have to listen to it until someone can get there (and it’s really loud).

Getting back to the OP. Here’s my question. What happens if they open a car door and find something they wouldn’t have been able to see from the outside? Maybe they get hit with the pungent odor of freshly smoked marijuana? Maybe they see a gun or guns in the door pocket?
They just walk away, right? They certainly wouldn’t confiscate it or confront the car owner about it. That would be illegal search and seizure.
I have a funny feeling they’d watch for the person to drive away and find a reason to pull them over and then ‘notice’ the contraband.

My gut says it’s a bad idea. Even if their intentions are pure and wholesome, it can only end poorly. They might save a car or two from getting broken into. But how many people are going to have problems with their now locked cars? How many people are going to get in trouble for something cops saw in their car? How bad will it look for the PD when people start sharing doorbell camera footage of police opening car doors, or worse, we see the police rifling through a car because they saw (or smelled) something illegal. The funny thing is, the video will look no different then the videos we see of actual car thieves walking up and down the road checking cars and rifling through the unlocked ones.

How about this…a voluntary program. If you want the police to check your car door at night you tell them and if they happen across your car and have time, they’ll check it. All the other cars are left alone.
Similar to a program we had around here about 30 years ago. If you voluntarily joined this program, the police would note your license plate. If they saw your car on the road between some specific hours of the night (like 2am and 5am), they’d pull it over and verify that it’s you driving it. Never really went anywhere though. I presume a lot of people were less concerned that their cars would be stolen and more concerned they’d end up with a DUI.

60

I’ll send a card at Xmas if you can find a way to post your inmate #.