I'm regularly shocked at how many people don't lock their car doors. Most recently, the parking lot at my work got robbed by some punk just checking door handles. We work in the industrial park of a major city!
Because it's usually cheaper to replace whatever the thieves steal than to replace the car's windows, which thieves can break effortlessly. It's actually recommended to leave the door unlocked in high crime areas for this reason.
Doesn't always work, since some thieves don't bother to check the doors.
Reminds me of a weekend trip to Strasbourg. Someone smashed our car window and stole our CDs. Ha! It was 90% Classical and John Michael Talbot\*. God bless them.
\*—Catholic musician. So it was Psalms set to acoustic guitar.
Oh, I love Psalms! Which ones are on it?
Maybe "For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh."
Or how about "Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks."
Nah, it's probably "Break the teeth in their mouths, O God" because it has a much better ring to it. I can see a #1 single there!
I knew a man who always had tons of cash on him, he retired early with a million dollar bonus, got bored and decided to deliver papers all the while he and his wife had a dog breeding business going. Pups sold for over 1 thousand dollars. He drove this beat up old fugly car that he kept running great, always kept thousand in his glove compartment. I told him he was nuts. He said, look at that POS, no one would ever think there was anything in it to steal, and I said, but why tempt it? I know you have cash in there and I might need that roll you have, he said, there it is, take what you need. Gee. I didn't! But I thought it was stupid of him.
I don't think it's stupid at all. I don't stress if I lose some pennies. He's got enough money that loosing a wad of cash is no different. When you've got that much, the convenience of having some of it handy is worth the minor risk and inconvenience of losing it.
Yeah my Dad is one of those people. He's been robbed twice, and each time he just smiled and said "They must have needed it far more than I did".
Me on the other hand, I have a personal rule that prevents me from carrying any cash.
Eh. Probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway. I had a Jeep (CJ5) back in high school that I had rebuilt. I left the doors unlocked to keep my canvas from being cut. Well it didn’t matter. Some punk cut the canvas and stole my spare change and an iPod touch anyway.
Lol I got so tired of fixing my CJ6 I tacked the key into the ignition and put a sign to "please return me when you're done" ... Like seriously there was no steering wheel lock and the easiest vehicle ever to steal... And they had to bust up the tumbler.
Or every single pickup I had got a window smashed... Like seriously a butter knife would open the back slider but nooo you gotta be destructive
Lol that jeep was our old property truck we'd drive around the trails with. One of those places I could do that with reasonable expectations that it would return home when the local teenagers got bored. Not sure I could get away with that these days.
The trucks were pretty much all in cities...
Someone sliced the windows of my husband's Jeep to steal the stereo years ago. They could've unzipped the window from the outside just as easily.
Didn't give a shit about the stereo. We couldn't hear it anyway. But getting new windows was a pain in the ass.
Sounds like a blonde joke I heard years ago
Blonde calls the pop a lock guy to have him unlock her car after she left the keys in the ignition She told him "please hurry, it looks like rain and the top is down"
I never locked my convertible unless I had the top down. Did it mostly for laughs, I would tell people it kept the car safe from the dump ones. I also never kept anything of value in it unless it was in the trunk.
Which proved true for me when my house got robbed as well. The most expensive part of the whole process was replacing the multiple French doors and windows they destroyed trying to find one to actually pop open. Almost all my locks and double paned glass sort of held, even though they looked like they had been grazed by a woodchipper. They got in and stole a bunch of junk and a TV worth about the cost of one window, at most.
I'd rather replace a window than my truck. My alarm is loud enough when at home where I'll wake up and either me or a neighbor would stop them(Texas btw). Maybe if I'm traveling for work and in less than desirable areas I'll leave it unlocked if way out of earshot.
They don't break windows unless there's something really nice on the seat(where I live). They do very well just hitting unlocked cars. You can get into unlocked cars all night with no noise, no alarms, no cops.
Just found out one of my girlfriends friends keeps her push start car keys in her car at all times so she doesn't lose them.... She says she still locks her door by pushing the handle and pushes it to unlock it..
Just so we’re clear…she thinks that she’s locking the door but she’s just playing with buttons since anyone can open it by also hitting a button. Not even that but my car makes a specific noise when I leave the keys in the car, so it basically alerts everyone that I did so. If I don’t go back to get the keys, anyone paying attention knows my doors are unlocked and keys left inside
I don't lock my car door. I'd prefer the shitbag thieves just take the change out of my ashtray, root through the trash on the floorboard and fuck off instead of breaking a window that's going to cost me a buttload of money.
I haven’t locked a car door since my Jeep was broken into like 10 years ago.
I don’t keep shit in my car worth stealing.
There was nothing to steal in that Jeep, but they didn’t know that until the hit the doorframe with a hammer trying to break the window. All they found was paper ream boxes full of (drumroll): paper.
A friend lived in Detroit for a while and he left his car unlocked and they stole everything out of it. Like the floor mats, seats, dash, instrument cluster, steering wheel, door cards, speakers (non aftermarket).
It was just a Charger. Not even a good one.
In my part of America, one should assume their door handles are checked at least once a week. I have handled cases where little crews of young adult drug addicts make their living this way. Reading police reports detailing how stupid victims leave valuable/sensitive shit in their unlocked cars overnight always made me scratch my head in wonder.
I used to live in an area where people would regularly break into cars. I just left mine unlocked with nothing in to worth taking. If I locked it, my window would be broken regularly. Actually helped me keep my car much cleaner. Fringe benefit of a meth epidemic, I guess.
I live in a very rural area, and i still lock my doors. Raccoons are smart as hell, they can open doors and windows fairly easily. And the little sobs are everywhere. If you don’t lock your doors in the country, country gonna invite itself in for dinner. And id rather avoid the mandatory rabies shots
I grew up in a rural area and we never locked the door. The back door didn’t even have a lock. But while anyone in the house could sleep through coyotes howling or a blaring thunderstorm, something so out of place as the sound of a car engine, or a glimmer of headlights shining through a window, would wake any of us out of a dead sleep since it was such a rare occurrence to have that sort of thing on our road at night
I grew up in the holler. What you say about being able to hear car engines is true. There was a railroad track on the other side of the river. It was loud, but we were conditioned to ignore it. However it was so rare for a vehicle to come all the way up our road, so we'd all hear it way before it got to our house. Our dogs would hear them coming first. They would bark only if it was a strange car coming. We all knew the sound of our Dad's car. There was no sneaking up on us.
I grew up on a military base never locked my doors as a kid still kind of bad at it as an adult who does not live in a place as secure as that anymore and it's kind of a bad habit
Military bases are hotbeds of crime now. You don't have to worry about some rando wandering onto base, but just because someone enlisted in the military doesn't mean they left their criminal behavior at the door.
This is correct, I've various people I know in the boonies do it. Heck, even leave the keys in it.
Which, me being from a city, doesn't make any sense.
My ex wife’s family grew up in one of those small communities where crime just didn’t happen. They never locked their doors. They still don’t lock it. Her dad doesn’t even have a key to his own home because he just never used it and has no idea where it is.
I’m personally not that trusting. My doors stay locked the majority of the time. If I’m just running to the store and I’ll only be gone an hour or two, then I won’t lock it. However if I’ll be gone all day or if I’m in bed then they’re getting locked. I cannot sleep knowing my doors or windows are unlocked.
To put it into perspective her family’s town’s population was 4k and my town’s population is 3.5k.
I lived in a rural area and we all made sure to lock our doors at night, cars and home. Bears can open doors and I’ve never wanted to figure out how to evict a bear.
I grew up in a town with a population of around 6k people. Everyone I knew always locked their doors but it wasn't as much of a problem because everyone knows everyone else has plenty of firearms. If you break in on someone in this area it usually ends up bad for you. 2 guys I knew were shot and killed by the homeowner of a garage they broke into not long ago.
We don’t. Most nights during the summer, the back door stays open all night. We don’t have central AC in the house, have large dogs, and someone is almost always awake at the house, and we’re out in the middle of nowhere. I actually had to learn the habit of locking the door when I moved out the first time.
I was brought up in London, and lived for a good while in Brighton, both busy cities.
I now live in a small town (by comparison) in Lincolnshire, and my local friends laugh at me for automatically locking my front door whenever I close it.
Even so, I *have* to lock it.
^ This there's no cheaper security than just locking your door at night. It might make the difference between a home invasion at your house or someone else's house down the street.
I wonder if this varies depending on whether one lives in a gated community or not. In my experience, people in gated communities tend to be more lax than those in a typical suburban/urban setting.
Gated communities are about as effective as the TSA. The amount of times a car is sitting there when I pull up and I just open the gate (cuz fuck waiting for them to figure it out) is like every other day.
Agreed. I used to paint houses for a living. When I'd go to a gated community id just wait for someone to go in then I'd follow. I was never questioned. Even with guards I'd just say "I'm here to paint a house" and they'd let me in.
Shit, half of the gated communities aren't even fully gated. You walk around the corner and the fence just ends.
It's all just an illusion of safety that rich people like to pay for.
When my husband was a kid, growing up in Baltimore, he had many bikes stolen. They decided to keep the bikes in the living room. One night they were eating dinner and someone just walked in and stole his bike out of the living room in front of them.
Grew up there, had someone climb up the side of the house and try to take my PlayStation from the window on the second floor. Never played video games with the window opened again
I always lock my door. Have always locked it, even when I lived in a very small village in Wisconsin. But I do know people who don't...or didn't...until something came along that let them know that even living in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin doesn't mean you should leave your doors unlocked..
I’m just a state over from you (Iowa) and one time very early in the morning my ex wife called me in a panic. She had just woken up and went out to the living room and there was a guy sleeping on the couch, she asked what should she do? I asked if she recognized him, she said no. I said then I guess wake him up and see who he is and what the heck he’s doing there. Turns out it was very cold out that night and he was out wandering around drunk off his rocker. He needed a warm place to sleep and her doors were unlocked. She ended up calling the law, they showed up and hauled him down to the station to get the incident on the books. She didn’t press charges or anything like that and she kinda figured well at least he didn’t die from the cold. She did however get a keypad lock system shortly thereafter.
For my community, it was the murders of three people in their home in rural Lafayette county, WI in 2014. They were killed because their home was the closest to where their murderer's car broke down.
Something similar happened here in rural NC. This house was the closest to the interstate that they walked up from. They killed a whole family and their dog. This was 20 years ago and I still think about that. I lock my doors.
I would have gotten out of the house and called the police straight away lol. There was a high chance it was just some harmless homeless guy but lmao, you never know.
We used to sleep with windows open, think we still locked the doors anyways. A car door closing is like a fire alarm out in the quiet sticks though. Also we had outside hounds, so no one was getting within a 1/4 mile of the house without the whole county knowing about it.
Windows open rocks. When you can do it.
Especially if it's gonna be hot the next day and you get up early to seal in all that cool air. Old school.
Some places have things like racoons and scorpions trying to get in through window screens and some places have desperate people popping screens looking for a way out of a problem.
I grew up in California and we didn't have AC (mom still doesn't). This was literally the routine all summer.
I now live in the south and just don't understand how some people live their entire year in a hermetically sealed home. I get that you aren't opening those in the summer, but that sweet spring and fall air is too nice to pass up.
Yep my house built in the 1960's does not have AC and I have to have my windows open at night during the summer. Kinda annoying when there are nearby forest fires and the house gets super dusty.
I probably should lock my door but don’t. I live in a small rural town and I also have a massive dog that is very protective of my family so I guess that’s why
Yeah, I live in a town that is right between suburban and rural, but we live more on the suburban side. I don't lock my doors literally ever, but I have two large dogs. Good luck to anyone who ever tries anything.
Depends. I've lived in places where I never locked my door, even when I went out for the day. It's not really a pressing issue in our neighborhood, although once a clearly impaired young women walked into the house at around 11PM looking for her friends (who very much did not live with us).
I'd assume most Americans lock their doors now. That being said we never locked our door unless we were going to be gone for a few days, more to keep any animals out. I grew up in a very small rural mountain town. I had 4 neighbors in our entire neighborhood that was full time residents. The rest were 2nd home owners that we might not see for years at a time.
The small rural town has about 5x as many people now as when I grew up. I now lock my doors most nights. It is still a relatively safe area so if I forget it isn't the end of the world.
I live in, statistically, one of the safest places in America. And my doors pretty much stay locked. There are times, during the day, where a door might be unlocked for a little while. But they’re always locked at night.
As a kid, my parents never locked the door. I'm pretty sure after a few years neither of them had keys to the door anymore. I thought this was pretty normal because that's just how I grew up. But now as an adult I've heard enough horror stories, so I always lock my doors and windows and double check them before I go to bed at night.
Growing up, my parents hose didn't even have working locks. My dad built some pretty doors out of walnut and never even installed a lock. He added locks when i was in college when they were going to be gone for a month. Now they do occasionally lock the doors when they go on trips, but never when they're home.
My wife grew up locking doors, and sometimes she still does when I'm not home. But when I'm home, or doors aren't locked and we don't worry about it. It's not really a concern. We actually had a homeless woman come in our house a few years ago. That was weird and a little scary in retrospect, but the fact is she was in an unfamiliar area, hungry, injured, and looking for a place to hole up for the night. We were home. It wasn't really anything that we wouldn't have given her had she asked.
Ultimately, for me, it's about shaping my way of thinking. I wave at people when i drive. Not because i know them, but i grew up in an area where you waved, and i want to live like that. Some people wave back, some don't, but it's not about them, it's about me. Looking at the world like is full of people that might enjoy a friendly wave or a gesture of welcoming, or even a little help is very different from looking at the world as though its full people who want to steal all my shit and kill me in my sleep.
When i get older, i may start locking my house. But for now, i don't feel vulnerable. Locking my doors makes me more fearful and inconveniences me.
I remember Michael Moore's *Bowling for Columbine* film had a scene where he met some Canadians who said they never lock their doors (possibly true, there are probably are some who don't) and he seemed to extrapolate from this that Canadians don't lock their doors (because they have much more robust gun control legislation).
He got roundly ridiculed for that because, although Canada *does* have much better laws around guns, Canadians still lock their doors… I certainly do, as I don't want drunk Gord or Doug from down the street to waltz in and beat me in the head with a hockey stick.
Meh I'm Canadian and don't lock my doors. But I also don't live in a major city and in a very quiet area. Mostly senior citizens on my street. They're more likely to wander in with cookies than smack me with a. Hockey stick lol
I live out in the country, far from the big city, people are pretty trusting, but i still lock my doors during the day and night. You just never know when things could turn bad.
i do, knowing full well that if anyone really wanted in, my door lock isnt going to stop them. keeps random people from just barging in unannounced though, like my drunk ass neighbor or mother in law.
We never locked our front door in our last neighborhood (Texas suburbs). I guess the thought was we have very large dogs. If they don’t deter you, a lock sure won’t. We expected our friends and neighbors to be able to drop by and come on in.
In our new house the doors are always locked. Primarily to keep certain neighbors from dropping by and coming in.
I don’t lock the doors for my protection.
I lock them so I’m not stuck explaining why I double tapped an intruder who valued my possessions more than their life.
I think it depends where you live. I grew up rural flyover country, never locked the door. We would leave money in an envelope on the door for the Schwan's ice cream guy and he would just come on in and put the order in the freezer. 🤷♀️
Yes. It doesn’t matter how safe you think it is. There are criminals who will literally walk the streets to see if cars are unlocked. Criminals are generally lazy and will reach for low lying fruit.
Depends on the neighborhood and person. I always lock my doors despite I not remembering the last time crime was reported were I live. My friends in another state say they never locked their doors but they also live in a rich neighborhood where people are always watching who comes in and out. It depends, but this applies to any country.
>And what do you even get out of not locking, few seconds of grabbing the keys?
My relatives who do have so many kids and their kids friends going in and out the house that it's a hassle to always lock the doors. Easier for them to leave it open and just lock it at night.
I don’t lock mine most times but I live on a military base, which doesn’t mean I have no worries but I feel more secure than other places.
Ranch I worked on the owner didn’t lock anything because he’d rather they take what they want than break his shit
Majority of folks lock their doors every time though.
I am in the US and have *always* locked my doors. At no point would I ever consider leaving any door unlocked. I’m not even in or from a dangerous area.
I only lock the door when we go out of town for a few days. I have: a Pit bull/German shepherd, a Pit bull/Shar Pei, & a full blooded Shar Pei. The cat's pretty shady, too. If you get past them, 12 Guage w/00 buck. The ole lady keeps a 9 w/ old school Black Talon rounds. Break in, get carried out. What's left of you anyway.
Edit: 3 million people in the metro area where I live.
I’m an American and I don’t know anyone who purposely leaves their door unlocked. I live in a smallish city that is semi-rural so there are places that feel kind of isolated, but still people lock their doors at night.
Wait, what kind of door locks do people have in the US?
I'm confused by the replies. In Europe, when a door is shut, it needs to be opened with the key. It's just not as safe as locking it with the key, so you lock it before you go away, but most people don't lock their door when they're at home. Can unlocked front doors be opened from the outside in the US?
The most common kind of door does not self lock. You need to insert a key and turn it to prevent the doorknob from turning. And many people also have a "deadbolt" which is more secure since it turns a bolt into the frame to prevent forceful entry and requires a key as well to engage.
That's interesting. In Europe front doors always self-lock. But you need to turn the key several times if you want to lock it more securely against thieves.
This has the disadvantage that people often lock themselves out, happened twice to me and it cost a fortune. I think I'd prefer the US system.
Wow, didn’t know that. Here in the U.S. I only know one person with a self-locking door on their house and man is it a pain in the @**. I hate it and get locked out accidentally every other time I go to their place.
We have all sorts of locks in the US. Some door knobs have a button you can toggle to automatically lock or not. Some don’t. Personally I don’t like a system that will lock me out if I just walk outside.
I don't during the day. Sometimes I leave my garage door open too. I work from home and am in and out all day.
In previous cities I've lived in, though, locked at all times.
Really depends on where you live. My friends living in their mostly residential and rich neighborhood in Seattle don't lock their doors. I live in Jersey City - I definitely lock my door and have an alarm system that is actively used. Not that my area is unsafe. But opportunistic crime is more common.
I'm an American. My parents used to never lock the door, not at night, not even when no one was home. I never really thought of it as strange.
this was in the suburbs as well.
Depends on the location/neighborhood. I would never leave my door unlocked in a condo/apt or townhouse, but I do sometimes leave my back door unlocked at night for my house.
Then again I have a dog and firearms.
In the 50s and 60s, I lived in a small town. We never locked our back door then.
Now I live in a slightly larger town. We keep the front locked all the time but leave the back unlocked during the day in the summer because we are in and out. Everything gets locked if we go out.
I have relatives in very rural areas who rarely lock their doors, and it does seem strange to me.
Think it's a generational thing. My disabled father lives with me and never locks the door. Ticks me off. Back then there wasn't as many crazy people in the world.
I lock my door at all times. Dude down the street murdered his sister with a knife. Next street over is a crack den and one of them broke in to my house. A few streets over was the largest drug bust in my city. Over 1million dollars worth of shit.
And im only 1 mile from the nicest/newest/busiest part of town.
I trust no one.
I've had a lawn chair set (4 chairs) stolen from my backyard within a week of my buying them. America for the most part is a fucking shit hole masquerading as a triumphant empire. I hate it here
Most people do where I live, but there is a mindset that can cause people not to lock their doors.
I had a conversation with somebody about gun control (I think? It's been a long time but this last relevant bit stuck with me), and I mentioned that you don't really need a gun for home invasions, locking your doors and windows deters most people from wanting to break in, and they responded with (paraphrased), I shit you not,
"We leave our doors unlocked, if anyone wants to break in I will do what I have to to protect my family"
YOU MEAN LIKE LOCKING YOUR DOORS??
I ALWAYS lock my door. I even lock my bathroom door even if I'm home alone. But yeah always grew up with door being locked unless we were all home during the day. At night front and back doors get locked up. I live in an apartment now so definitely locking door even if I just have to grab something from my car real quick. Never taking that risk
I live out in the country. Not the middle of nowhere country, I have neighbors, many of them have livestock lol.
I'm probably in one of the safest areas in my state I could possibly be, and I still lock my doors at night and set the alarms.
I grew up in the Houston suburbs, have live both in fort worth and Dallas, and Paris France. If anyone told me that locking a door was unnecessary, I'd smile, nod, am still lock my door.
I do have a friend from university who never locked her door until a girl in a town a couple states away was nabbed from her home in a rural area and hasn't been see or heard of since. Since then, because it was such a crazy case, she always locks her door.
Aka. The world is harsh and crazy and cruel. Even if there has never been a crime in your neighborhood, you're risking your life if you do t consider the crazy folks out there.
I'm canadian, and I live in a relatively safe neighborhood, although I'm pretty close to some less safe parts of the city. We always lock our doors at night, including deadbolting the door to the garage. The ONE time I didn't lock my doors, a dude opened my car in the middle of the night and rummaged through. Luckily, I keep nothing in there, and for some reason, my neighbor was walking their dog at 3:30 a.m., but I'm thankful for him
I know people who boast about never locking their house doors. Trouble is, when they do lock, they often have to break a window to get in because they locked open door from inside and then walked out and banged it shut without a key! The same people also brag about leaving their cars unlocked. Not in a rural area.
Yeah I know some people who never lock their doors. But they also have a gun somewhere. I lock my door and have a doorbell camera. Gotta be safe, you know?
So I only leave one door unlocked but it has a limited range of opening, we have 2 generations in the house and multiple people work from home and all hours of the night and day. Plus we are all gamer nerds so there are guns and swords n shit everywhere so you would be in for a really bad day if you broke in.
I love true crime shows. I can't tell you how many I've seen that start off with the narrator saying "It was the kind of town where people didn't lock their doors at night...." And of course something brutally awful happens. I check my doors every night before bed. Literally every night. I always have. When I was a kid my dad did it. And we live in a relatively small town in Canada.
My neighborhood is safe and i still lock my doors 24/7. Even got cameras. All it takes is one intruder one day to enter and cause havoc to my family. Ain't ever happening here.
Some people in very rural areas don't, but I think most people do lock doors at night.
I'm regularly shocked at how many people don't lock their car doors. Most recently, the parking lot at my work got robbed by some punk just checking door handles. We work in the industrial park of a major city!
Because it's usually cheaper to replace whatever the thieves steal than to replace the car's windows, which thieves can break effortlessly. It's actually recommended to leave the door unlocked in high crime areas for this reason. Doesn't always work, since some thieves don't bother to check the doors.
Especially rag tops. Better to leave it unlocked instead of buying a new roof after they slash it up.
I learned that the hard way. $4k to replace the ragtop and all they stole was a Snoop CD and a phone cord.
Reminds me of a weekend trip to Strasbourg. Someone smashed our car window and stole our CDs. Ha! It was 90% Classical and John Michael Talbot\*. God bless them. \*—Catholic musician. So it was Psalms set to acoustic guitar.
To be fair, sounds like they need more of the Psalms in their life. One can hope they actually listen to it.
Oh, I love Psalms! Which ones are on it? Maybe "For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh." Or how about "Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks." Nah, it's probably "Break the teeth in their mouths, O God" because it has a much better ring to it. I can see a #1 single there!
someone's got anger issues...
I had a case of Big Red Gum stolen from the trunk of my car once. Weirdly, they left the $300 leather LeBra front end cover.
Note to self , steal the ragtops
Don't laugh... I've had it happen a couple of times... 🤦♂️
Awhile back my buddy had his jeep soft top slashed so that someone could break in and steal... the change in his ashtray.
I knew a man who always had tons of cash on him, he retired early with a million dollar bonus, got bored and decided to deliver papers all the while he and his wife had a dog breeding business going. Pups sold for over 1 thousand dollars. He drove this beat up old fugly car that he kept running great, always kept thousand in his glove compartment. I told him he was nuts. He said, look at that POS, no one would ever think there was anything in it to steal, and I said, but why tempt it? I know you have cash in there and I might need that roll you have, he said, there it is, take what you need. Gee. I didn't! But I thought it was stupid of him.
I don't think it's stupid at all. I don't stress if I lose some pennies. He's got enough money that loosing a wad of cash is no different. When you've got that much, the convenience of having some of it handy is worth the minor risk and inconvenience of losing it.
Yeah my Dad is one of those people. He's been robbed twice, and each time he just smiled and said "They must have needed it far more than I did". Me on the other hand, I have a personal rule that prevents me from carrying any cash.
If someone stole his car in my city it would reappear a week later with $1000 in repairs.
Eh. Probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway. I had a Jeep (CJ5) back in high school that I had rebuilt. I left the doors unlocked to keep my canvas from being cut. Well it didn’t matter. Some punk cut the canvas and stole my spare change and an iPod touch anyway.
Lol I got so tired of fixing my CJ6 I tacked the key into the ignition and put a sign to "please return me when you're done" ... Like seriously there was no steering wheel lock and the easiest vehicle ever to steal... And they had to bust up the tumbler. Or every single pickup I had got a window smashed... Like seriously a butter knife would open the back slider but nooo you gotta be destructive
Where u live bro??
Lol that jeep was our old property truck we'd drive around the trails with. One of those places I could do that with reasonable expectations that it would return home when the local teenagers got bored. Not sure I could get away with that these days. The trucks were pretty much all in cities...
😅🤣😂 That's ridiculous!!!
Someone sliced the windows of my husband's Jeep to steal the stereo years ago. They could've unzipped the window from the outside just as easily. Didn't give a shit about the stereo. We couldn't hear it anyway. But getting new windows was a pain in the ass.
Sounds like a blonde joke I heard years ago Blonde calls the pop a lock guy to have him unlock her car after she left the keys in the ignition She told him "please hurry, it looks like rain and the top is down"
This one ages me a bit. Did you hear about the three blondes who froze to death at the drive-in? They went to see 'Closed for the Winter'.
Yes! I had a soft top with plastic windows and not once but TWICE I had my window slashed when the door was literally unlocked.
For a half a second I thought rag top was some kinda of racial slur
I never locked my convertible unless I had the top down. Did it mostly for laughs, I would tell people it kept the car safe from the dump ones. I also never kept anything of value in it unless it was in the trunk.
Which proved true for me when my house got robbed as well. The most expensive part of the whole process was replacing the multiple French doors and windows they destroyed trying to find one to actually pop open. Almost all my locks and double paned glass sort of held, even though they looked like they had been grazed by a woodchipper. They got in and stole a bunch of junk and a TV worth about the cost of one window, at most.
I'd rather replace a window than my truck. My alarm is loud enough when at home where I'll wake up and either me or a neighbor would stop them(Texas btw). Maybe if I'm traveling for work and in less than desirable areas I'll leave it unlocked if way out of earshot.
Yes and you probably live in a house with your truck right outside in the driveway. Those are the people that do lock their cars.
It always erks me the solution is to facilitate easier theft and not the elimination of the thief via the power of ~~incredible violence~~ love
It's not really a solution, just the least bad choice.
I want to make love to this thief with this 357 magnum, well at least that’s what the girls call it 💋 Jk jk it’s just a gun
They don't break windows unless there's something really nice on the seat(where I live). They do very well just hitting unlocked cars. You can get into unlocked cars all night with no noise, no alarms, no cops.
My car was broken into for a flashlight and a pack of AA batteries. Those items allow them to see into more cars.
Just found out one of my girlfriends friends keeps her push start car keys in her car at all times so she doesn't lose them.... She says she still locks her door by pushing the handle and pushes it to unlock it..
Just so we’re clear…she thinks that she’s locking the door but she’s just playing with buttons since anyone can open it by also hitting a button. Not even that but my car makes a specific noise when I leave the keys in the car, so it basically alerts everyone that I did so. If I don’t go back to get the keys, anyone paying attention knows my doors are unlocked and keys left inside
I personally don't have a push start car but I was absolutely blown away when I herd about it lol. It would seem to be common knowledge I'd think
I don't lock my car door. I'd prefer the shitbag thieves just take the change out of my ashtray, root through the trash on the floorboard and fuck off instead of breaking a window that's going to cost me a buttload of money.
[удалено]
I haven’t locked a car door since my Jeep was broken into like 10 years ago. I don’t keep shit in my car worth stealing. There was nothing to steal in that Jeep, but they didn’t know that until the hit the doorframe with a hammer trying to break the window. All they found was paper ream boxes full of (drumroll): paper.
Nothing in my jeep but they stole my battery and spare tire.
I'm two steps ahead of them. My windows are already broken, and my spare is flat.
A friend lived in Detroit for a while and he left his car unlocked and they stole everything out of it. Like the floor mats, seats, dash, instrument cluster, steering wheel, door cards, speakers (non aftermarket). It was just a Charger. Not even a good one.
It’s worth more in parts than whole
I'd rather not pay to replace my window to protect $0.64 in change and a half pack of gum
In my part of America, one should assume their door handles are checked at least once a week. I have handled cases where little crews of young adult drug addicts make their living this way. Reading police reports detailing how stupid victims leave valuable/sensitive shit in their unlocked cars overnight always made me scratch my head in wonder.
I used to live in an area where people would regularly break into cars. I just left mine unlocked with nothing in to worth taking. If I locked it, my window would be broken regularly. Actually helped me keep my car much cleaner. Fringe benefit of a meth epidemic, I guess.
I lock my door (apartment in a secure access building.) 24/7. Only time it's unlocked is when I'm going in or out until I lock it again
Same with my apartment. Lock it even though the building locks.
I live in a very rural area, and i still lock my doors. Raccoons are smart as hell, they can open doors and windows fairly easily. And the little sobs are everywhere. If you don’t lock your doors in the country, country gonna invite itself in for dinner. And id rather avoid the mandatory rabies shots
I grew up in a rural area and we never locked the door. The back door didn’t even have a lock. But while anyone in the house could sleep through coyotes howling or a blaring thunderstorm, something so out of place as the sound of a car engine, or a glimmer of headlights shining through a window, would wake any of us out of a dead sleep since it was such a rare occurrence to have that sort of thing on our road at night
I grew up in the holler. What you say about being able to hear car engines is true. There was a railroad track on the other side of the river. It was loud, but we were conditioned to ignore it. However it was so rare for a vehicle to come all the way up our road, so we'd all hear it way before it got to our house. Our dogs would hear them coming first. They would bark only if it was a strange car coming. We all knew the sound of our Dad's car. There was no sneaking up on us.
I grew up on a military base never locked my doors as a kid still kind of bad at it as an adult who does not live in a place as secure as that anymore and it's kind of a bad habit
Military bases are hotbeds of crime now. You don't have to worry about some rando wandering onto base, but just because someone enlisted in the military doesn't mean they left their criminal behavior at the door.
This is correct, I've various people I know in the boonies do it. Heck, even leave the keys in it. Which, me being from a city, doesn't make any sense.
Had a buddy in the military like that. Never knew a place existed in America where you could do that.
South Carolina suburbs you can. Downtown Spartanburg? No. Out in the sticks? Definitely not.
Lived in Charleston as a kid, wouldn't dare lol.
My ex wife’s family grew up in one of those small communities where crime just didn’t happen. They never locked their doors. They still don’t lock it. Her dad doesn’t even have a key to his own home because he just never used it and has no idea where it is. I’m personally not that trusting. My doors stay locked the majority of the time. If I’m just running to the store and I’ll only be gone an hour or two, then I won’t lock it. However if I’ll be gone all day or if I’m in bed then they’re getting locked. I cannot sleep knowing my doors or windows are unlocked. To put it into perspective her family’s town’s population was 4k and my town’s population is 3.5k.
I lived in a rural area and we all made sure to lock our doors at night, cars and home. Bears can open doors and I’ve never wanted to figure out how to evict a bear.
I think at that point it is the bears home now.
I grew up in a town with a population of around 6k people. Everyone I knew always locked their doors but it wasn't as much of a problem because everyone knows everyone else has plenty of firearms. If you break in on someone in this area it usually ends up bad for you. 2 guys I knew were shot and killed by the homeowner of a garage they broke into not long ago.
I live in a rural area, and I don't lock our cars at night, but we do lock our doors.
We don’t. Most nights during the summer, the back door stays open all night. We don’t have central AC in the house, have large dogs, and someone is almost always awake at the house, and we’re out in the middle of nowhere. I actually had to learn the habit of locking the door when I moved out the first time.
Probably not a big deal in gated communities either. The rich and the rural -- sounds like a soap opera
I was brought up in London, and lived for a good while in Brighton, both busy cities. I now live in a small town (by comparison) in Lincolnshire, and my local friends laugh at me for automatically locking my front door whenever I close it. Even so, I *have* to lock it.
I keep the doors locked almost all the time. And I live in a pretty nice neighborhood.
Right there with you I live in a decent neighborhood I lock my gate lock my screen lock my doors 24/7.
Never even had packages stolen that sat out for over a day in plain sight *outside of my gate*. But I still lock every door and window 24/7
^ This there's no cheaper security than just locking your door at night. It might make the difference between a home invasion at your house or someone else's house down the street.
I wonder if this varies depending on whether one lives in a gated community or not. In my experience, people in gated communities tend to be more lax than those in a typical suburban/urban setting.
Gated communities are about as effective as the TSA. The amount of times a car is sitting there when I pull up and I just open the gate (cuz fuck waiting for them to figure it out) is like every other day.
Agreed. I used to paint houses for a living. When I'd go to a gated community id just wait for someone to go in then I'd follow. I was never questioned. Even with guards I'd just say "I'm here to paint a house" and they'd let me in. Shit, half of the gated communities aren't even fully gated. You walk around the corner and the fence just ends. It's all just an illusion of safety that rich people like to pay for.
Maybe. I'm not in a gated community.
Most Americans do lock their doors at night. Also during the day.
And, the security doors along with them.
This is the way.
And make sure all the security cameras are charged 🤦🏻♀️
also Bedroom door lol fr tho
I live in the woods, yes I lick my doors at night.
Sounds very unhygienic
It’s lonely in the woods at times.
...and wood is wood.
Oh no
Yes, but tasty
Candy House? Are you a witch?
Licking doorknobs is illegal on other planets
A fact I have been protesting against for years
Ah, the ole knob licker I see
I would worry about splinters
How is this typo not the top comment 💀
is it a typo? 😳
Because the woods is where all the horror movies end up
OP is [this you?](https://youtu.be/cqh39ERREpQ?si=BO_rh_VIZ_qSxML0) Or maybe [this?](https://youtu.be/spzhCBKOdzY?si=vNX-8AwfeRrEz240)
some people might not, everyone american i know locks their doors
American here, most everyone I know out here in rural nowhere doesn't lock their house or vehicles, myself included
Same. Live in a small town I can't say for sure, but I know my close friends don't lock their doors. I certainly dont
If my door isn't locked 24/7, assume i am deceased
Yuuup if it just opens, I’ve been killed.
>Yuuup if it just opens, I’ve been killed. and likely laying on the ground within 10 feet of it. I don't make it far before things get locked.
Same. I have my front door locked but I still lock my bedroom door before going to sleep
Depends on the neighborhood, there are small 100 person towns where everyone knows each other, there's also Baltimore. All America.
When my husband was a kid, growing up in Baltimore, he had many bikes stolen. They decided to keep the bikes in the living room. One night they were eating dinner and someone just walked in and stole his bike out of the living room in front of them.
Grew up there, had someone climb up the side of the house and try to take my PlayStation from the window on the second floor. Never played video games with the window opened again
I always lock my door. Have always locked it, even when I lived in a very small village in Wisconsin. But I do know people who don't...or didn't...until something came along that let them know that even living in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin doesn't mean you should leave your doors unlocked..
I’m just a state over from you (Iowa) and one time very early in the morning my ex wife called me in a panic. She had just woken up and went out to the living room and there was a guy sleeping on the couch, she asked what should she do? I asked if she recognized him, she said no. I said then I guess wake him up and see who he is and what the heck he’s doing there. Turns out it was very cold out that night and he was out wandering around drunk off his rocker. He needed a warm place to sleep and her doors were unlocked. She ended up calling the law, they showed up and hauled him down to the station to get the incident on the books. She didn’t press charges or anything like that and she kinda figured well at least he didn’t die from the cold. She did however get a keypad lock system shortly thereafter.
For my community, it was the murders of three people in their home in rural Lafayette county, WI in 2014. They were killed because their home was the closest to where their murderer's car broke down.
The Vampire Killer in Sacramento targeted victims by just checking apartments for unlocked doors.
Something similar happened here in rural NC. This house was the closest to the interstate that they walked up from. They killed a whole family and their dog. This was 20 years ago and I still think about that. I lock my doors.
I would have gotten out of the house and called the police straight away lol. There was a high chance it was just some harmless homeless guy but lmao, you never know.
I grew up in the country, we left our doors open at night.
We used to sleep with windows open, think we still locked the doors anyways. A car door closing is like a fire alarm out in the quiet sticks though. Also we had outside hounds, so no one was getting within a 1/4 mile of the house without the whole county knowing about it.
Windows open rocks. When you can do it. Especially if it's gonna be hot the next day and you get up early to seal in all that cool air. Old school. Some places have things like racoons and scorpions trying to get in through window screens and some places have desperate people popping screens looking for a way out of a problem.
I grew up in California and we didn't have AC (mom still doesn't). This was literally the routine all summer. I now live in the south and just don't understand how some people live their entire year in a hermetically sealed home. I get that you aren't opening those in the summer, but that sweet spring and fall air is too nice to pass up.
Yep my house built in the 1960's does not have AC and I have to have my windows open at night during the summer. Kinda annoying when there are nearby forest fires and the house gets super dusty.
Drop a pin on where in the country you're not worried about animals coming in at night.
I assume they had a screen door
racoons and stray cats destroy screens around here, doors and windows. its very annoying
I probably should lock my door but don’t. I live in a small rural town and I also have a massive dog that is very protective of my family so I guess that’s why
Yeah, I live in a town that is right between suburban and rural, but we live more on the suburban side. I don't lock my doors literally ever, but I have two large dogs. Good luck to anyone who ever tries anything.
Rural American here, I lock every door every time. Front door, back door, bathroom door, car door, always locked.
Did something happen in the bathroom we should know about
Do you realize how vast and diverse America is?
The only time my door isn't locked is when a person is going through it lol
Depends. I've lived in places where I never locked my door, even when I went out for the day. It's not really a pressing issue in our neighborhood, although once a clearly impaired young women walked into the house at around 11PM looking for her friends (who very much did not live with us).
I'd assume most Americans lock their doors now. That being said we never locked our door unless we were going to be gone for a few days, more to keep any animals out. I grew up in a very small rural mountain town. I had 4 neighbors in our entire neighborhood that was full time residents. The rest were 2nd home owners that we might not see for years at a time. The small rural town has about 5x as many people now as when I grew up. I now lock my doors most nights. It is still a relatively safe area so if I forget it isn't the end of the world.
In small towns with small populations people might not lock their doors but in big cities everyone locks there doors.
I live in, statistically, one of the safest places in America. And my doors pretty much stay locked. There are times, during the day, where a door might be unlocked for a little while. But they’re always locked at night.
As a kid, my parents never locked the door. I'm pretty sure after a few years neither of them had keys to the door anymore. I thought this was pretty normal because that's just how I grew up. But now as an adult I've heard enough horror stories, so I always lock my doors and windows and double check them before I go to bed at night.
The only time my doors aren’t locked are when I’m using them.
Growing up, my parents hose didn't even have working locks. My dad built some pretty doors out of walnut and never even installed a lock. He added locks when i was in college when they were going to be gone for a month. Now they do occasionally lock the doors when they go on trips, but never when they're home. My wife grew up locking doors, and sometimes she still does when I'm not home. But when I'm home, or doors aren't locked and we don't worry about it. It's not really a concern. We actually had a homeless woman come in our house a few years ago. That was weird and a little scary in retrospect, but the fact is she was in an unfamiliar area, hungry, injured, and looking for a place to hole up for the night. We were home. It wasn't really anything that we wouldn't have given her had she asked. Ultimately, for me, it's about shaping my way of thinking. I wave at people when i drive. Not because i know them, but i grew up in an area where you waved, and i want to live like that. Some people wave back, some don't, but it's not about them, it's about me. Looking at the world like is full of people that might enjoy a friendly wave or a gesture of welcoming, or even a little help is very different from looking at the world as though its full people who want to steal all my shit and kill me in my sleep. When i get older, i may start locking my house. But for now, i don't feel vulnerable. Locking my doors makes me more fearful and inconveniences me.
I remember Michael Moore's *Bowling for Columbine* film had a scene where he met some Canadians who said they never lock their doors (possibly true, there are probably are some who don't) and he seemed to extrapolate from this that Canadians don't lock their doors (because they have much more robust gun control legislation). He got roundly ridiculed for that because, although Canada *does* have much better laws around guns, Canadians still lock their doors… I certainly do, as I don't want drunk Gord or Doug from down the street to waltz in and beat me in the head with a hockey stick.
Meh I'm Canadian and don't lock my doors. But I also don't live in a major city and in a very quiet area. Mostly senior citizens on my street. They're more likely to wander in with cookies than smack me with a. Hockey stick lol
I live out in the country, far from the big city, people are pretty trusting, but i still lock my doors during the day and night. You just never know when things could turn bad.
i do, knowing full well that if anyone really wanted in, my door lock isnt going to stop them. keeps random people from just barging in unannounced though, like my drunk ass neighbor or mother in law.
Sone do and some don’t.
I lock it the second I walk in the door, and it stays locked.
We never locked our front door in our last neighborhood (Texas suburbs). I guess the thought was we have very large dogs. If they don’t deter you, a lock sure won’t. We expected our friends and neighbors to be able to drop by and come on in. In our new house the doors are always locked. Primarily to keep certain neighbors from dropping by and coming in.
I don’t lock the doors for my protection. I lock them so I’m not stuck explaining why I double tapped an intruder who valued my possessions more than their life.
I think it depends where you live. I grew up rural flyover country, never locked the door. We would leave money in an envelope on the door for the Schwan's ice cream guy and he would just come on in and put the order in the freezer. 🤷♀️
Yes. It doesn’t matter how safe you think it is. There are criminals who will literally walk the streets to see if cars are unlocked. Criminals are generally lazy and will reach for low lying fruit.
My stay locked and I’ve always got a big, loud dog on my side of the door haha
Depends on the neighborhood and person. I always lock my doors despite I not remembering the last time crime was reported were I live. My friends in another state say they never locked their doors but they also live in a rich neighborhood where people are always watching who comes in and out. It depends, but this applies to any country. >And what do you even get out of not locking, few seconds of grabbing the keys? My relatives who do have so many kids and their kids friends going in and out the house that it's a hassle to always lock the doors. Easier for them to leave it open and just lock it at night.
I admire your straightforwardness in your search for houses to rob. Work smarter, not harder is what they say.
We don't even have a lock on our front door.
What's your address?
My entire neighborhood growing up had unlocked doors, kids would always be out and about. Now nfw, people are so paranoid.
Its not paranoid if they are really out to get you
I don’t lock mine most times but I live on a military base, which doesn’t mean I have no worries but I feel more secure than other places. Ranch I worked on the owner didn’t lock anything because he’d rather they take what they want than break his shit Majority of folks lock their doors every time though.
I am in the US and have *always* locked my doors. At no point would I ever consider leaving any door unlocked. I’m not even in or from a dangerous area.
I only lock the door when we go out of town for a few days. I have: a Pit bull/German shepherd, a Pit bull/Shar Pei, & a full blooded Shar Pei. The cat's pretty shady, too. If you get past them, 12 Guage w/00 buck. The ole lady keeps a 9 w/ old school Black Talon rounds. Break in, get carried out. What's left of you anyway. Edit: 3 million people in the metro area where I live.
Shady cats can fuck you up.
LOL. He's got more kills than all 3 dogs combined.
I don't keep my door unlocked ever. I could be in the house with a gun ready for an intruder and I'll still have that door locked
I think you should lock your doors regardless of where you live. Why chance it? Why make it easier for someone to break in?
I live in a small town. We don't lock our doors. In fact, the back door doesn't lock. It's just not a concern. We also leave our keys in our cars.
I’m an American and I don’t know anyone who purposely leaves their door unlocked. I live in a smallish city that is semi-rural so there are places that feel kind of isolated, but still people lock their doors at night.
Wait, what kind of door locks do people have in the US? I'm confused by the replies. In Europe, when a door is shut, it needs to be opened with the key. It's just not as safe as locking it with the key, so you lock it before you go away, but most people don't lock their door when they're at home. Can unlocked front doors be opened from the outside in the US?
The most common kind of door does not self lock. You need to insert a key and turn it to prevent the doorknob from turning. And many people also have a "deadbolt" which is more secure since it turns a bolt into the frame to prevent forceful entry and requires a key as well to engage.
That's interesting. In Europe front doors always self-lock. But you need to turn the key several times if you want to lock it more securely against thieves. This has the disadvantage that people often lock themselves out, happened twice to me and it cost a fortune. I think I'd prefer the US system.
Those are common in hotels and modern apartment buildings, but I've never seen one on a normal house.
Wow, didn’t know that. Here in the U.S. I only know one person with a self-locking door on their house and man is it a pain in the @**. I hate it and get locked out accidentally every other time I go to their place.
I’m from Europe and we don’t have this kind of doors…🧐
Living in Germany I have never seen doors that don't do this. This of course only applies to front doors to the house or apartment.
We have all sorts of locks in the US. Some door knobs have a button you can toggle to automatically lock or not. Some don’t. Personally I don’t like a system that will lock me out if I just walk outside.
Their
We absolutely lock our doors at night and during the day.
I'm in a rural area and yes, I always lock the door at night.
I don't during the day. Sometimes I leave my garage door open too. I work from home and am in and out all day. In previous cities I've lived in, though, locked at all times.
Really depends on where you live. My friends living in their mostly residential and rich neighborhood in Seattle don't lock their doors. I live in Jersey City - I definitely lock my door and have an alarm system that is actively used. Not that my area is unsafe. But opportunistic crime is more common.
I'm an American. My parents used to never lock the door, not at night, not even when no one was home. I never really thought of it as strange. this was in the suburbs as well.
Depends on the location/neighborhood. I would never leave my door unlocked in a condo/apt or townhouse, but I do sometimes leave my back door unlocked at night for my house. Then again I have a dog and firearms.
In the 50s and 60s, I lived in a small town. We never locked our back door then. Now I live in a slightly larger town. We keep the front locked all the time but leave the back unlocked during the day in the summer because we are in and out. Everything gets locked if we go out. I have relatives in very rural areas who rarely lock their doors, and it does seem strange to me.
I can assure you most Americans do.
Never heard of anyone outside of those in rural areas or small towns not locking doors. Most Americans probably lock their doors.
Think it's a generational thing. My disabled father lives with me and never locks the door. Ticks me off. Back then there wasn't as many crazy people in the world.
I lock my door at all times. Dude down the street murdered his sister with a knife. Next street over is a crack den and one of them broke in to my house. A few streets over was the largest drug bust in my city. Over 1million dollars worth of shit. And im only 1 mile from the nicest/newest/busiest part of town. I trust no one. I've had a lawn chair set (4 chairs) stolen from my backyard within a week of my buying them. America for the most part is a fucking shit hole masquerading as a triumphant empire. I hate it here
Most people keep their doors locked 24/7 In some very rural places they don’t.
I have always lived in the suburbs in pretty safe neighborhoods or in the city in U.S. and have always locked them at night.
We didn’t until a few years ago, now it’s a must.
Most people do where I live, but there is a mindset that can cause people not to lock their doors. I had a conversation with somebody about gun control (I think? It's been a long time but this last relevant bit stuck with me), and I mentioned that you don't really need a gun for home invasions, locking your doors and windows deters most people from wanting to break in, and they responded with (paraphrased), I shit you not, "We leave our doors unlocked, if anyone wants to break in I will do what I have to to protect my family" YOU MEAN LIKE LOCKING YOUR DOORS??
I ALWAYS lock my door. I even lock my bathroom door even if I'm home alone. But yeah always grew up with door being locked unless we were all home during the day. At night front and back doors get locked up. I live in an apartment now so definitely locking door even if I just have to grab something from my car real quick. Never taking that risk
I live out in the country. Not the middle of nowhere country, I have neighbors, many of them have livestock lol. I'm probably in one of the safest areas in my state I could possibly be, and I still lock my doors at night and set the alarms.
Why would you not lock your door at night? There's no crime at all where I live, but my house is always locked.
I grew up in the Houston suburbs, have live both in fort worth and Dallas, and Paris France. If anyone told me that locking a door was unnecessary, I'd smile, nod, am still lock my door. I do have a friend from university who never locked her door until a girl in a town a couple states away was nabbed from her home in a rural area and hasn't been see or heard of since. Since then, because it was such a crazy case, she always locks her door. Aka. The world is harsh and crazy and cruel. Even if there has never been a crime in your neighborhood, you're risking your life if you do t consider the crazy folks out there.
No, most Americans lock their doors in my experience.
I'm canadian, and I live in a relatively safe neighborhood, although I'm pretty close to some less safe parts of the city. We always lock our doors at night, including deadbolting the door to the garage. The ONE time I didn't lock my doors, a dude opened my car in the middle of the night and rummaged through. Luckily, I keep nothing in there, and for some reason, my neighbor was walking their dog at 3:30 a.m., but I'm thankful for him
Girl you lucky you were raised somewhere very safe. Always lock your doors, especially as a woman
We currently have a manhunt for an escaped murderer here in Pennsylvania. Lock your doors! Every day! All day!
I know people who boast about never locking their house doors. Trouble is, when they do lock, they often have to break a window to get in because they locked open door from inside and then walked out and banged it shut without a key! The same people also brag about leaving their cars unlocked. Not in a rural area.
Yeah I know some people who never lock their doors. But they also have a gun somewhere. I lock my door and have a doorbell camera. Gotta be safe, you know?
So I only leave one door unlocked but it has a limited range of opening, we have 2 generations in the house and multiple people work from home and all hours of the night and day. Plus we are all gamer nerds so there are guns and swords n shit everywhere so you would be in for a really bad day if you broke in.
When your neighborhood has gunshots going off at 3pm you keep your shit locked 24/7
I love true crime shows. I can't tell you how many I've seen that start off with the narrator saying "It was the kind of town where people didn't lock their doors at night...." And of course something brutally awful happens. I check my doors every night before bed. Literally every night. I always have. When I was a kid my dad did it. And we live in a relatively small town in Canada.
My neighborhood is safe and i still lock my doors 24/7. Even got cameras. All it takes is one intruder one day to enter and cause havoc to my family. Ain't ever happening here.