Former car burglar, police warn of holiday break-ins


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Police are warning people to watch out for who is watching them, with car burglars lurking during the holiday shopping season.

Bags full of gifts for loved ones left inside cars make shopping center parking lots fertile ground for break-ins this time of year.

In Colorado, the Denver Police Department is circulating this video as a wake-up call.

In it, a former car burglar named "David," who claims to have thousands of break-ins to his credit, explains how he would case parking lots from the comfort of his own car, pretending to talk on the phone while watching people walk in and out of stores.

"I'm here, sitting here, watching, looking, at people that will come by, come back, and leave their stuff in their car and then go back to the stores," he said.

Once the burglar had identified target vehicles, he would blend in with the crowd as he approached them.

"I'm going to act like I'm going to that store, but I'm not," he explained. "First thing I do is I look in [to the car]. Like right here? There's a purse right there. That's already one victim right there."

In Utah, car burglars are every bit as adept at recognizing opportunity.

"The crooks are looking for something that they can see and easily get," Sandy Police Lt. Jon Arnold explained, as he peered inside cars outside City Hall.

In a few short minutes, Arnold spotted a toolbox, documents and even cords to electronic devices that he said would perk interest within burglars.

> [](https://www.facebook.com/denverpolice/videos/754226234682362/)SUNDAY MATINEE: TIPS FROM A THIEF PT. 1Holiday shopping is about to hit high gear, so we sat down with a known former thief who wants to share some tips with you on how to protect yourself from thievery... WATCH! > > Posted by [Denver Police Department](https://www.facebook.com/denverpolice/) on Sunday, November 22, 2015

Documents, he said, could be used after a burglary.

"If that's personal information, that personal information could hold stuff that could lead to identity theft," Arnold said.

Arnold said cords immediately spark thoughts about smartphones and GPS devices and are also sellable by themselves.

"Those are easily pawned, quickly taken," Arnold said. "Hide your cords."

Arnold said officers would be increasing patrols around shopping centers, but he pointed to ways shoppers can help themselves.

He said it's important to hide and lock up valuables and shopping bags, with car trunks being the single best place to store them.

"If they can't see it, they're not going to go and try to break into your car usually," Arnold said.

"David," the former car burglar, also recommended limiting trips to-and-from cars to drop off shopping bags, saying he paid attention to that in determining which vehicles he would try.

The heist, he said, is fast.

"Count to 5, I'm already gone," he said. "That's how fast it happens."

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