if you witnessed a public parking lot thief, wwyd?

i have to admit, telling a cop (strictly about/pertaining to this particular situation only) made me feel super duper old, and like a wuss.

can't remember the last time i witnessed a thief in progress so i couldn't think of the best response. a tiny part of me was like, well, the owner of the car needs to learn this lesson. and since the punk didn't exactly force his way in, and/or break glass or anything, just took advantage of an unlocked car, i dunno....and had the cop not been there, i wonder if i would've went ahead and honked my horn at him.

and by the way, i've had my car broken into 2x. had stuff stolen--they broke my window in broad daylight in a relatively busy, well-manicured upscale neighborhood which shocked the hell outta me. it was a good lesson to not leave anything visible in my car seat no matter where i am....

i had one of those square black cases that could hold multiple dozens of music cds.

no idea how many cds i had in it at that time. it was full. and it was big enough, i realize now that it probably looked like a laptop bag. some passerby probably thought it was a laptop resting in my passenger seat and broke my back window to get into my car.

broad daylight. busy residential area. i knew it was only cds, so i didn't think that to anyone else it could appear as something else.

My opinion on what you should do. First off, YOUR SAFETY always comes first. You do not know if the perp has a weapon or not. Thus, unless there is immediate life/limb threatening actions taking place, then your best option is to be a GOOD WITNESS. Take mental notes, call the cops, let them do their job. Material stuff is NOT worth you risking your livelihood. Again, you do not know the intent of the perp and you do not know how mentally stable / unstable he/she is. If you spook them and they are armed, then you could become a lifeless victim.

two days ago I went to the Walmart in my little Arizona town. I thought I locked the fucking door when I left the car.

when I returned about an hour later I discovered that I had actually left the car totally unlocked. thankfully nobody had tested my doors on my car to see if it was unlocked.

@MisterWinderful: “thankfully nobody had tested my doors on my car to see if it was unlocked.”

How do you know that. Just because you found nothing missing doesn’t mean nobody looked. :)

As for what one should do in the above situation, aim for center mass, not the head or legs. Or let a cop know. If you’re a total wuss.

@GMD

As for what one should do in the above situation, aim for center mass,not the head or the legs<

That’s a surefire way to get yourself charged with intentional manslaughter, better to be a total wuss than incur the cost of defending yourself and the very real risk of prison time.

@twentyfive: Dude.

Unless you are willing and able to deal with a possible confrontation, best thing to do is call 911 and give a good description of the guy

I might take a pic or a video of the dude then let the cop know. Very brazen of the thief in this age of video surveillance.

As one that, in my working days, visited locations ALWAYS. Didn't even have an office for most of my career, I have been in that situation. What I did is very close to what was said above, attract attention to the incident. What I would do depended on the exact situation. Many times I would just ask if they locked themselves out of the car and needed help. Just drawing attention to them most always did the trick!

Nidan111 for the win . . .

I'd say there is a better than 50-50 chance the perp has a drug habit that their opportunistic petty theft is feeding. That makes them potentially very unstable and unpredictable.

I would say your safety comes first. Don't be a Bruce Willis. Be a good witness. Tell the cop in the parking lot what you saw. Let the professional handle the law enforcement.