Are You a Potential Car Burglary Victim?

He sees it again and again: car after car, parked on public streets and in lots, left unlocked, all the while brimming with purses, iPods and briefcases.

"You wouldn't leave a $100 bill on your dashboard, right? So why leave valuables in your car?'' Capt. Dave Silversparre of the said recently, addressing .

During his public safety briefing, Silversparre pointed out that station volunteers are going to be on the lookout for pricey possessions left in plain sight on car seats and floor boards.

If they spot something that seems like it would be easy pickin's for a thief, they'll leave a parking ticket-sized card on the car's windshield warning that it has been identified as "a potential target for theft.''

The card is written in English on one side and Spanish on the other. It offers suggestions for reducing vehicle thefts and provides a phone number and website for folks who spot suspicious activity.

But won't the card be an invitation to thieves to, in fact, burglarize this car?

Silversparre doesn't think so. The card, complete with Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department badge logo, would probably dissuade a would-be thief from approaching, he said.

Car Phishing

Deputies take multiple reports every week of , so the station came up with this program to try to tamp down the incidents of "car phishing,'' when thieves walk from car to car pulling handles and plucking items from unlocked cars. Residents reported five incidents of this on Sept. 2 alone, all along Ocean View Boulevard.

The 10 or so volunteers from the station will peruse parking lots and other public places looking for cars that have wallets, GPS systems, cameras and other valuables visible through the windows. They'll also be looking for partially unrolled windows when pricey possessions are visible.

August and September saw an average of 23 incidents of burglary, a spike from the 16-per-month average from January to July of this year, and many of these were due to "car phishing,'' Silversparre said.