Open invite to window shoppers

DON'T get me wrong, I'm not a nosy person, but while out on my evening "gotta lose a gram or two" walks I can't help but look inside parked cars.

It's not aimless prying or being inquisitive for the sake of it - it is more a curiosity drawn from covering the police beat where all too often I hear a now extremely familiar phrase.

Theft ex-car.

Cars being broken into by the sort of people who were not brought up by their parents - rather, they were brought down.

The regularity of such thefts is alarming.

Basically, it comes down to about 60 a month in Napier and Hastings.

Two a day, or rather, a night - as the cover of darkness is the car thief's favoured companion, although some do occur during the day, particularly in areas where cars are parked en masse and where by virtue of the fact there are so many in one place it is not unusual to see people walking in their midst.

Nine times out of 10 it will be an owner returning to a car - but the 10th one is likely to be the light-fingered window shopper.

On some occasions two thieves have been collared for a string of such incidents.

One case a couple of years back involved two teenagers, aged 15 and 16, who were nabbed breaking into a car (well done the owner who heard a noise and got on to 111 without delay) and who later coughed up to about 45 cases of such thefts.

Some time ago I went for a wander through the main parking area on Marine Parade with a couple of police (so I didn't get reported).

We spotted a camera in the back of one car and what appeared to be a compact briefcase in another. One had a good pile of coins by the dash (probably for parking meters) and another an impressive CD collection. A pile of clothing was in another.

But taking the cake was a ute that was clearly unlocked.

I see the same sort of "lures" while out walking.

One I spotted had two obviously full backpacks in the back seat - I hoped for the owners' sakes they hadn't parked up for the night.

I've also seen a laptop and the odd GPS system - the latter are removable but many owners don't bother.

Maybe it's the "she'll be right, it won't happen to me" thing but a desperate thief will always hit a car where they've spotted something in preference to an empty car which might only have something tucked away somewhere.

As regularly as I hear those words "theft ex-car", I hear three more familiar words from police.

Take everything out.