Heading Out to the Beach or Trails? Sheriff’s Office Warns of Rising Vehicle Break-Ins
Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:
Stock photo from Canstock photo
As temperatures rise and more residents and visitors head outdoors to enjoy Humboldt County’s beaches, trails, and parks, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office is reminding the public to take simple steps to prevent vehicle burglaries.
Spring and summer bring increased activity throughout the county, with more people exploring local recreation areas. Unfortunately, this seasonal uptick also brings a rise in vehicle burglaries, particularly in high-traffic tourism spots like beaches and trailheads.
Vehicle burglaries are typically crimes of opportunity. Offenders often decide to break into a vehicle based on the perception that valuables may be inside, making the potential reward worth the risk. These crimes can be carried out in under a minute, often leaving little evidence behind.
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office encourages everyone to practice burglary prevention every time they leave their vehicle.
Lock
Lock your car doors, even if you are home. In public places, it may be tempting to leave your vehicle windows down to avoid vandalism. However, this puts you at even more risk, leaving vehicle registration and insurance information accessible to anyone nearby and increasing your chances of falling victim to identity theft, burglaries at your home and vehicle theft.
Take
Take your valuables with you. This includes purses, wallets, cell phones, GPS units, computers, backpacks and more. Be sure to also remove garage door openers, key cards, and house, work or car keys from your vehicle.
Hide
Keep the interior of your vehicle “showroom” clean. Even if you do not believe the item is of value, remove it from plain site.
Be cautious when storing valuables in your trunk. If your vehicle is equipped with a trunk release button on the inside, car prowlers can easily access your vehicle’s trunk space. While “hiding” items in your trunk may reduce the chance for your vehicle to be a target, the action will not completely protect you from theft.
To report a vehicle burglary or related criminal activity, please contact the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at 707-445-7251.
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Lowlife junkies and tweakers are why we can’t have nice things.
Well…sometimes they actually catch them! And then they let them go on probation or time served with miniscule sentences or even plead out to pinky swears….so they can come back and steal some more! The other tweaker thieves know this and so it is a relentless onslaught of warning tourists and locals to basically not bother going there! And if YOU catch a thief and punch him in the head because he broke your car window- YOU go to jail and face serious charges while he runs free. That is what we have come to thanks to the “liberal everybody-is-a-victim” mentality.
Heed this warning especially in the redwood national Park trailheads or anywhere in the Orick areas where an abundance of meth head like maggots earn a living ripping off tourists.
Might as well add:
Samoa Beach, College Cove, Strawberry Rock, Arcata Sewage Ponds, Headwaters, Orick Beach, Mck Community Forest, Hammond trail, Mad River Beach.
After dark… you’re at risk most anywhere.
Keep voteing for democrats they promise they are on the right track the rest of us working folk just need to learn to have compassion and to be fair if someone destroys your stuff so they can buy things with the stuff they stole from you you really just parked in the wrong spot and did not clean your car good enough you see its really your fault this happened instead of building the stupid train they should be building prisons.
Wrong thread. The rail project is controversial, but it is not ‘funded and never built’ in the literal sense—construction is active in the Central Valley. This article is about preventing break-ins, which is the topic here.
Real Patriots never “hike” anyways. Time to round up those lazy naturalistas.
I don’t think the tweakers are too concerned about consequences…and I can tell you from experience that it’s more about man-power (lack of) that there is little to no repercussions for the perpetrators! But yes, keep the narrative of us vs. them – it seems to be working real well for US!
It’s not just a Humboldt problem. Parking your car in a dark, isolated spot anywhere in California is making your donation to the disadvantaged.
It used to be kinda ‘rare’ here… now… you are trained to expect it.
Heck- I used to leave my vehicle unlocked for the most part. Then came the liberals and their drug-addled thieves who they accommodated every step of the way. (Disclaimer- I was a liberal but never ever liked a thief!)
The simple fix is to allow an extra hour for your activities. After you park just leave for 5 minutes then go back and watch from behind a bush with a .45ACP for an hour.
So you’ve turned this scurge of humanity into a sporting event?
Are those the only rules? Would a paint ball gun work?
I would answer jury duty…and hope to be on such a jury. I would refuse to find guilty anybody shooting a thief.
Cousin and myself got hit at the Eel River Conservation area near Table Bluff. Neither of us had anything in our cars to steal, but they busted out our windows anyway.
Why does this seem to be happening more now than 50-60 years ago? I cannot recall trailhead break-ins occurring in the 60s and 70s to the degree that they occur now.
We didn’t have $1000 devices and equipment worth stealing in them. And generally took everything in and out from the trails. Now people bring all sorts of glamping goodies to pilfer.That and if one was caught, somebody was going to the hospital.
Because illegal camping was not tolerated. If you can pitch a tent anywhere and not pay rent, all you need to do is steal and you’ve got money for drugs.
Problem solved! Thanks bro…! 😂
Nothing says “Welcome to Humboldt” like “Lock your cars! It’s vehicle theft season!”
Smh
This is what soft on crime policies have brought us, our most valuable and beautiful assets in Humboldt, tarnished by crime.
How bout some prevention by law enforcement.
To report a vehicle burglary or related criminal activity, please contact the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at 707-445-7251.
Why dont the Sheriff have a bait car program or at least unmarked cars to patrol these areas?
Why are out shitty law makers in Sac, not writing laws to put these scumbags in prison?
They’d rather defund the police, and you have mayors and DAs that will not enforce the laws.
Hcso is lazy AF. Watch the “patrolled” feed, there are entire days when they do absolutely jack s***.
Rising? I don’t think that threat has really ever gone away. It doesn’t take much to smash out a window and disappear into the trees with your stuff. I highly recommend things like AirTags or even some tool tracker devices be hidden in things.
Nothing new here. It has been happening since man could walk upright and probably before. Theft that is. Doesn’t matter if it is a car or a backyard. Blaming Democrats for Human Nature is just silly.
Been here 40 years. The thieving has gotten progressively worse and now it’s very normal. So…that’s new. Hmm…who’s been running shit into the ground? Liberals.
I’ve often wondered if enough people left a booby trapped bag full of undesirable stuff that it may put a stop to this behavior. Isn’t that something that folks do with boxes delivered to their front porch?
I think decoy vehicles that are full of surprises would be fun.
Like electric shocks and rattlesnakes…a few deaths and word will get out and stealing will decline. I for one think it is a good investment…