I wrote about the need to come out of the Lamorinda Bubble months ago. People seem to need this feeling that they live in a very safe area and don't need to protect themselves. It's just life in the real world. We can't escape the realities of crime and potentially traumatic events because we refuse to acknowledge their existence. Now I need to go lock my car sitting in the driveway.

At some point this becomes Darwinian. Those smart enough to figure it out stand a better chance of not losing their hard-earned things while those willing to donate to a tweaker from Vallejo can console themselves with the knowledge that they have just made a thief very happy. The rest of us will have to live with the fact that the person donating has just left the thief with the impression that we're easy marks --- and virtually guaranteed the tweaker's return.

Good Lord, Lamorindans, lock your s*** up! There will be criminals who come here and break into our cars, homes with force, even when nothing much valuable is in plain sight. (Heck, our beater 1989 sedan that was street-parked in our Park Slope, Brooklyn, NYC neighborhood saw its locks popped on more than one occasion by folks hoping we'd stashed some coins (we hadn't) in the console.) It's hard to fight that, especially given the state of our economy.

But to give them such easy accesss, with unlocked doors, etc., to me, is foolish. And, to Danielle's point, perhaps welcomes them back unnecessarily.

We have lived in areas like Long Beach, CA and Miami, FL where an unlocked car lasts 2.5 seconds on the street. When we moved here, we installed a house alarm 3 weeks are moving in. We lock everything and turn on all alarms all the time. One week after we installed the house alarm, our house was burglarized. If it weren't for our alarm, our neighbor would have never called the cops after hearing our house alarm go off and the bad guys would have taken a lot more. Yes, it is safe here. Yes, we love it here; but we always lock up because of where we lived and grew up. I hear of people keeping their doors unlocked here. Makes me cringe. It isn't our reality. I hope people lock up before something really bad happens.

My cars are always locked, especially when we're in them. My driveway is gated. My doors and windows are always locked - even when I'm at home. And my alarm is on - even when I'm at home. I may become the victim of a crime but it won't be because I made an easy target.

until we had to move over the last summer, we immensely enjoyed living in Lafayette. One of the joys was the feeling of safety, and leaving our cars unlocked almost every night and definetly by the day. Our homes could or could not be locked..we felt safe and grateful for the feeling. Locking every window, every door every day and every night, and arming and disarming the alarm with codes and such is a terrible way to live in one own home. Dont leave car keys or valuable in plain sight in your vehicle.

I personally think everyone should own a security camera system with the hard drive locked up so that when crime does occur law enforcement and You Tube can catch the ones responsible

people are really that naive to think that leaving your house or your car unlocked is ever an ok thing to do? maybe it is because i grew up in new jersey, but we always lock everything up and have had an alarm in the house for several years, plus try to leave a couple of lights on when we aren't at home (cfls of course) which helps as well. using a little bit of every day common sense doesn't destroy any sense of peace and calm in one's life (imo), but will go a long way towards making everyone a lot safer. the vast majority of thieves are looking for the easy score--the unlocked car or house--not one where they have to break something to get in, making noise and possibly setting off an alarm. in fact our little neighborhood is exploring forming a neighborhood watch to add another layer of comfort in rural lafayette...so please do the easy stuff that makes a big difference to most theives...we all benefit.

We need to chip in for a couple of "Bait cars" around here.

http://www.trutv.com/shows/bait_car/index.html

The biggest difference I have found living in Piedmont vs Lafayette is that in Piedmont the citizens called the police on everyone "suspicious", strangers in the neighborhood, door to door solicitors, cars parked they did not recognize, etc. The fortress mentality was one reason we moved. Lafayette is the polar opposite, folks here seem to want "proof" before calling in the cavalry. Is it really possible that no one in the neighborhood with these burgularies saw anything? I suspect they took the kind hearted approach of "innocent until proven quilty." I suggest we all start calling the police EVERY time a solicitor/magazine salesman/gardener/cleaner comes to your door or a neighbors door, or a car that just looks wrong is parked on your street. In the past I always gave solicitors the benefit of the doubt, but no more. I had one last week and when I asked to see his license he literally ran out of my court. He was clearly casing for unoccupied houses to rob. Call LPD, keep them busy patroling the neighborhoods and crime will go down. Oh no, that might decrease the revenue to the county for traffic stops!

Totally agree with Love Lafayette. I am an ex-oaklander who was aware of lots of crime over the years. I was happy to leave that city. We do need to band together and keep these criminals away. Call on anything suspicious. And do not leave doors unlocked!

LOL - wow - unlocked cars with items of value in them - and keys to both the car and houses! Hey lets hang signs out on 24 starting down in Oakland that say Criminals welcome come to Lafayette to do your Christmas shopping shoot take BART for easy access....

Come on people time to develop some common sense here. Lock your cars - put your items of value out of pain view - and do not leave your keys to your house in unlocked cars! This is just inviting the criminal element to Lafayette with open arms and just short of a big bright and huge jumbo tron TV on 24 telling them all to just come on over and help them selves. Dang

Here's a potentially novel suggestion: If you have a garage, clean it out and put your vehicle(s) in there! I can virtually guarantee that if a potential thief can't see or access your car, he (most likely) will look for an easier target.