At 07:41 AM 5/4/2011, Joy Hecht wrote:
>I'm not sure what I can conclude from this random data on break-ins.  Sounds
>like they aren't too frequent.  Of course that doesn't mean reasonable

Here's some more random data.  Best of my knowledge there have been
three car thefts in my neighborhood (quiet, detached houses set
closely together, city neighborhood) in the last twenty-some
years.  One was from the driveway across the street from me, years
before we came in '93.  The other two were in '07 or so, my driveway,
two weeks apart, same vehicle ('91 Camry), different thieves.  The
second theft happened to be eight hours after I got the car back from
impound from the first one.  The first one, in broad daylight, was
watched by the neighbor who had her car stolen before; she noticed
nothing wrong.  The second, I heard the engine start and watched it
drive around the corner.

FWIW '91-'95 Camrys are particularly easy to steal with a worn-out
Toyota key.  But I found the whole thing interesting all the same.

Aside from that someone (we strongly suspect a certain neighbor kid)
went through the garage in the night at one point and took a MIG
welder and some other items.  Went through the vehicles as
well.  Vehicle alarms would have certainly awakened us and the
neighbor.  Infrared-triggered lights might have made a difference as
well.  We have the lights now.

Yrs,
David