Every minute a car is stolen in the United States. Actually, more than one vehicle is stolen per minute in the United States, which points to the alarming fact that car theft is one crime which is on the rise even as nearly every other criminal statistic is on a downward trend.

Why are car thefts and thefts of possessions from cars on the rise? Well, that is a topic for another day. But for right now, people should focus on what they can do to limit their likelihood of becoming a victim of car theft.

The base knowledge that people must know in order to avoid becoming a victim of car theft is that most crimes, especially crimes of theft and car theft in particular, are committed according to opportunity. In other words, if the risk of being caught and prosecuted is high, then the likelihood of a criminal choosing to commit the crime is lessened.

If, however, a criminal sees a target with limited risk to themselves then they will be more likely to commit a crime against that target. When this theme is applied towards car theft, the outcome is that an easy car to burglarize will be more likely to be burglarized than one that is not.

It sounds simple, right? That’s because it is simple to protect yourself and your car from theft if you will work to secure the car with a few of the following suggestions:

• Always keep the car doors locked

• Avoid keeping the spare keys for the car in the car itself

• Park in well-lit and high-traffic areas

• Install a reliable car alarm

• Avoid leaving property in plain view within the car photo credit: Bekathwia via photopin cc