{"id":8449,"date":"2011-09-09T15:45:52","date_gmt":"2011-09-09T22:45:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lewiscountysirens.com\/?p=8449"},"modified":"2011-09-10T10:46:43","modified_gmt":"2011-09-10T17:46:43","slug":"deputies-on-the-prowl-for-locked-unlocked-cars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/?p=8449","title":{"rendered":"Deputies on the prowl for locked, unlocked cars"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"2011.0909.stacy.brown.prowls_2\"<\/a>

Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown looks in a car at the Toledo park and ride to see if any valuables are laying in plain view.<\/p><\/div>\n

By Sharyn\u00a0 L. Decker
\nLewis County Sirens news reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n

CHEHALIS – When you take advantage of the sunshine this weekend to leave your car behind and put the boat in the water or go for a walk on a public trail, you might return to find you’ve been the victim of a vehicle prowl.<\/p>\n

Or not.<\/p>\n

It’s also possible you’ll discover a green postcard-sized note on your windshield indicating someone has checked to see if your doors were locked.<\/p>\n

Lewis County sheriff’s deputies and volunteers will be providing extra patrolling around places where most car break-ins have been reported.<\/p>\n

Trail heads and boat launches as well park and rides are among those locations targeted.<\/p>\n

Sheriff Steve Mansfield’s new program which began this week involves leaving a card either congratulating the driver for locking up, or reminding them they’ve left themselves vulnerable to a theft.<\/p>\n

The idea is to encourage folks to lock their doors every time they park. A lot of this kind of crime is easily preventable, according to the sheriff’s office.<\/p>\n

Today, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown was out and about, trying to get a sense of what’s out there.<\/p>\n

At the Blue Creek Boat Launch parking lot off Spencer Road south of Ethel, she peered into nine vehicles and checked their doors.<\/p>\n

All but one were locked, although a fishing pole lay visible on the back seat of one of them.<\/p>\n

Thieves will go to the trouble of breaking a window even for something like a fishing pole, Brown said.<\/p>\n

More and more, they’re seeing people leave devices like iPods, GPS units and cell phones in plain view inside their cars, she said.<\/p>\n

“I think my biggest hope is thieves will come in the area and see these (green cards) and know we’re actually working the area,” she said.<\/p>\n

One location with more problems than most is the\u00a0 Rails to Trails parking area off Highway 603, south of state Route 6, according to Brown.<\/p>\n

“Almost all the car prowls we’ve had (there) have been unlocked,” Brown said. “Only a couple of them we had windows broken.”<\/p>\n

\"2011.0909.stacy.prowls.close\"<\/a>

Chief Brown leaves a card on a vehicle at the Blue Creek Boat Launch notifying the driver the area was checked and congratulating them for locking their doors.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sharyn\u00a0 L. Decker Lewis County Sirens news reporter CHEHALIS – When you take advantage of the sunshine this weekend to leave your car behind and put the boat in the water or go for a walk on a public trail, you might return to find you’ve been the victim of a vehicle prowl. Or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10],"class_list":["post-8449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-story","tag-by-sharyn-l-decker","tag-news-reporter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8449"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8462,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8449\/revisions\/8462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}