Everyone knows not to leave personal items in their car unattended, but we do it anyway, thinking “it won’t happen to me”
Personal item thefts from cars at gyms occur daily, even when these areas are otherwise safe. Sadly, this happens almost everywhere. We had this happen to us this week in Centennial. We spoke to the police who say there has been an increase in this sort of crime with the opening of new fitness facilities in the area.
In Centennial and surrounding areas, even the gym locker rooms of South Suburban areas have not been free of personal item theft. The police say this is a very common occurrence in areas where people are gone for awhile. Thieves see you go into the gym, movie theatre, or mall and know they have some time. Then, they smash your window, punch the lock out or get lucky and find an unlocked car. There goes your identification, address, cash and credit cards in seconds. Thieves will even brazenly go into gyms and yoga places, take keys from unlocked lockers and use them to get into cars.
What do thieves do with my credit cards?
Criminals go to surrounding stores and use your credit cards to buy gift cards they can use before your card gets flagged. If you are lucky, they won’t go to your home next. As a result, you spend hours reissuing your cards and personal items. Repairing a punched-out lock can be over $500, and may involve both your home and car insurance companies.
So, while while overall suburban areas are relatively safe, this is a known issue in most city and suburban areas today. Thank you to our attentive police force who work hard to deter thieves from committing personal item thefts from cars at gyms. To learn more about how you can prevent personal item thefts from cars at gyms, take a look at these tips from Parker Police and Esurance.
