Petty theft deterrants

Slashdot posted to Home Defense, Geek Style? |
as Petty theft deterrants:
l0ungeb0y writes:

Sorry for being so blunt, but unless she's able to park the car in a secure area such as a garage, there's basically nothing that you can do beyond a car alarm to deter a break in.

Too true. Crooks are deterred by well-lighted areas and cameras, anything that can get them caught (by cops or a car owner with a baseball bat). A very obvious, sensitive, and loud car alarm might help, until they realize that nobody responds to car alarms anymore.

You can get a car alarm which will page you, but I don't see what a grandma is likely to do when her car pages her at 3AM...

This is a primary reason why auto insurance costs less in areas with lower crime rates -- there's not much you can do to deter a petty theif doing a simple smash and grab on a car.

I agree. So the solution is to move to an area with lower crime rates, and park her car in a secure area (garage) with surveillance.