All you have to do is lock

Oh boy, did I get an xxx-chewing from my neighbor who thought the open ignition ban (henceforth known as the Lock Your Car law) was a lousy idea. While I was mowing the lawn on Sunday -- if you want to catch me off-guard, try when I’m unshaven, wearing a rescued-from-from-the-Goodwill pile- T-shirt, ears buried in headphones and covered in grass clippings -- he waved me over to the back fence (as often as we’ve discussed city business over that fence, I ought to be able to deduct it as a home office) and he let me have it: “…it’s a terrible idea…you’re inconveniencing hundreds to prevent an insignificant number of crimes…there is a disparate impact on those who have single car garages…. There’s also been a over-reacting Letter to the Editor in the Star Neighborhood section last weekend and an e-mail sent to the City Council by a disgruntled resident. Most of the sentiment is similar – it’s all very anti-Big Brother, which I completely understand. However, this is not Big Brother.

On the Very Same Morning that we got the e-mail from the resident, this came right off the police blotter: “…two…males stopped in from of a home on 7800 block of Norwood and approached a truck warming-up in the driveway…. when the homeowner came out of his house to confront the men, they got back into their car and sped off, the WRONG WAY down one-way Norwood. This is another perfect example of how this law is NOT about protecting individuals from losing their property. It’s about protecting the community at large. What if either the homeowner or the would-be thieves had been more aggressive in their confrontation? This is not an innocuous encounter after all, this is someone who is 10 seconds from walking into the commission of a crime and someone could get hurt. Once a car is stolen, there will be a criminal in a big hurry to leave Prairie Village; someone could get hurt by a speeding car. For pete’s sake, they even drove their own car the wrong way down a one way street trying to get away. And when they get away, that PV car will probably be used in the commission of another crime. It’s certainly not about a couple of kids looking for a joy ride; the criminals already have a car -- they needed it to get to our neighborhoods in the first place.

The point is that in the commission of a crime, it is not just the auto owner who is the victim. Anyone who is likely to be hurt (kids walking or riding bikes to school, joggers, dog-walkers) is a victim too. We are all victims if we enable a situation that attracts criminals to Prairie Village.

Because of the poor reporting and inflammatory headline of the Star, people are overlooking the fact that all they have to do is lock the car. As a matter of fact, if you want to start your car, leave it UNLOCKED and watch it closely enough from your toasty living room that you can beat the crooks or the cops to your car before they get out of their cars, I’m sure that that would be enough to ward off the law and maybe even the outlaw.