You've heard of dumb criminals, but is there such thing as dumb victims? No, because it's never your fault for being the victim of a crime, but sometimes victims make it much too easy for the criminal. That's a point that I hear from police all the time as I work on my Neighborhood Crime Alert stories.

The most common example of this is people who leave valuables in an unlocked car. Here are some examples. On October 10th in St. Peters, a thief stole a purse with $300 inside that was left in plain sight on the front passenger seat of an unlocked car. On October 15th in Chesterfield, a golf bag and contents, valued at $3,118, were stolen from the bed of a parked pickup truck. Cell phones, iPods and GPS devices are stolen everyday somewhere in the metro, from an unlocked vehicle. The solution's simple, keep valuables out of sight and lock your car, even if you live in a low-crime area and think it's unnecessary. Believe me, after reading police reports week in and week out, you'll see that it can happen anywhere.

Recently there's been a problem with thieves stealing from locked cars, but they didn't have to break a window to get inside the vehicle. Take a look at my News 4 Investigates blog to read about that.

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