Just picked up a copy of the Chron and Echo
Front page artical advising owners of high performance/prestige car owners to take their car keys to bed with then. This advice is from Sharon Henley, Community Saftey Officer - can you believe it?

IMHO this has got to be a stupid thing to do and i cannot believe the Police would advise this.

Perhaps they should be out there knicking these scumbag theives instead on concentrating of Speeding motorists!

Annoyed of Northampton!





[Edited by Paul Habgood - 7/11/2002 12:42:05 PM]

I sleep naked. Where the hell am I supposed to keep my keys??!

Ass*oles

:eek:

Um, you could always wear your watch to bed and attach your keys to the watch? ;)

Katana

you could put...........

No, i'm not gonna rise to this ;)

i'd rather keep my keys on a hook by front door with a big neon arrow pointing at them....better that than them coming upstairs to find them

rich

Leave mine by the front door - rather car than family.

Ps.

Ditto thoughts on Northants investments in stopping crime [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

But under a technicality, I'm still a virgin and I'm scared that it might hurt.

It's not that daft. OK, I'd rather they took the car than came after me, but it's good defense against the casual thief. A friend of mie had his car nicked the other week by someone putting a fishing rod thru his letter box and lifting his keys. This is very common.

The type of people who are goign to be violent towards you to get the keys will probably come after you anyway if they get in the house, they'll probably want to make sure all the phones are disabled etc to prevent you calling the cops too quickly.

It's sound advice.

Geezer

I'd rather leave the keys downstairs and lose the car than end up doing time/funeral when they come up stairs.... :(

as Vincent Vega in pulp fiction said: " It would have been worth him doing it just so I could catch him doing it"

Agreed. CRAP advice from the CSO. Wonder if she follows her own advice? ... i bet not... mind you she probably takes the bus or owns a micra :D

I must be in a minority - I think it's sound advice. Front door double locked, and downstairs zone alarmed every night. And I've ALWAYS taken the keys upstairs with me - that's where the guns live;)

I've heard that Northants Police sleep with much more dubious things than their keys!
That's what they need all the revenue from the speed camera vans to pay for.
This is from a reliable source so is not technically libellous :D
Hope this helps :)

I always keep mine in my room. Besides crims have got 2 bedrooms to check before they hit mine which gives me plenty of advance warning (light sleeper) to arm myself (or more likley hide under the bed or in the cupboard).

Simon.

My keys sleep six inches from my head. With doors and windows all v secure and downstairs and garage alarmed, I'd be reachin fer my big stick at first peep of the alarm anyway, regardless of where I keep my keys...

Will the police ever take action against car related crime?

I mean, car tax dodgers, those that have no insurance or MOT etc.

Or will they continue to rape the tax paying law abiding citizen? (or semi gangsta such as myself :))

Really when do we start to get something back?

[img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

Isn't that the only thing that they ever do anyway? But car thieves and carjackers are not really criminals you see, they're actually helping the police by reducing the numbers of cars on the roads...

i think it's sound advice as well... think the police are trying to cut down on crime - stop the inevitable car chase etc. before it starts.

My wife would probably tell me my first priority would be to guard *her* STI7 :D

> well thats the diff between a single man and a family man..
> if i was single then yeah, te car would be a priority..
> but as it is my wife and daughter might disagree

Well I am a family man which is why I'd be headin downstairs with a big stick anyway if the alarm went off, so may as well sleep easy....

(how'd yer do that quote thang ?)

I keep the keys by the bed and bloody great big iron bar next to them, if they come up my stairs they will get the bar round the head before my keys or anything else in my house

Christ, not again:(

Agreed the Police/Government should be actively fighting car crime not continually shifting the responsibility to owners.

[rant]

BUT and speaking as someone who has:

Had items taken from the garden (including a full six place patio set & parasol)
Chest Freezer Emptied (by some worthless scums kids)
Been burgled (3 times now)
Garage broken into(twice)
Car broken into (once)
Car stolen/recovered once
Attempted car theft (prevented by me after they had already "done" the steering lock)

Nine out of ten of these so called hardened criminals are the same chancers, opportunists or druggies that were yesterday grabbing pensioners handbags! Sure as hell they will try to imitate the gangsters to improve their success rate. (I won't illustrate this by trotting out the same old stories again)

AND the greater their success the greater the numbers who will try it. The more prevelant this type of crime becomes presumably there'll be increased numbers of car owners that will leave their keys beside the door AND the great..........!!!!!!!!!!

Ever stopped to think why the fishing rod coathanger style thefts have increased recently?

So sadly I find myself agreeing with the honourable member for Essex Mr Dave T-S.

Otherwise why not leave the leave the keys in the ignition or simply hang them on a hook with a note saying for use by anyone short of a few bob or needing a fix. Don't worry that's why I have insurance, (and the reason why the home and motor premiums of others escalate a such a rate).

Yes,... I think that covers it!

[rant/]

For the record Chrome, I am neither young, single, hard or macho. I do value my families and my own safety but I'll need to be taken by surprise or "persuaded" that someone is serious about depriving me of my posessions before I hand em over :(

I have to agree what is said is scary.

God forbid I ever caught someone in my house. Like Paul H I known my Empi from my Keage and train with weights (16s 4ib!). Can you imagine the implications of popping the elbow of some 'innocent' housebreaker. Fred Barras again.

It only takes some doped up chancer.

You can go to jail for that. Violence is not the answer..

LoL Dave, in a similar vein. I would be likely to become rapidly single courtesy of the divorce court if I suggested leaving the keys downstairs

I concur and am receptive to any other effective solutions you care to suggest

Riftzone .....simply top n tail with quote in brackets as "rant" in my earlier post;) or click on edit to see an example.

At last I contributed something positive :)

Call the police. They should arrive at your house in less than 2 minutes..

U serious ? I know for a fact in Durham City there is one panda to cover the whole of Durham and surrounds during the night. Call the police then take whatever necessary action to protect your loved one (and the wife and kids :D)

Understand both sides of this. I think taking keys upstairs is a Good Idea. How many people neatly hang their keys up on a key-rack that's in plain view of a window?

Burglars/scum aren't completely stupid. Aggravated burglary and crimes against a person are dealt with a lot more seriously than crimes against property.

Doors double locked, alarm set, keys upstairs. I'm happy.

Garden shed providing house for big nasty dogs. Then they wouldn't even get down the drive.

I personally keep them downstairs, but hidden which is probably the same as keeping them upstairs - I don't want to let some casual tennage scumbag have it away unplanned by advertising them.

However, it's a personal choice thing and I think that the Police should be advising people to keep them downstairs, out of sight from outside, but in an obvious place once you're inside. They should not be encouraging the scum to go upstairs and confront people.... :rolleyes:

Matt :)

I keep my key's upstairs with me as well, but the house and garage have a monitored alarm and panic buttons linked to the police station.
Assuming they get passed that, they have to get past 45Kgs of German Shepard sleeping outside my doorfirst who's grumpy in the morning let alone in the middle of the night.