Go Modesto, go Modesto ...

I read in the paper this morning that the Modesto area is the "car theft capital of the United States."

There are many factors involved here, but the one that caught my eye was this one:

"If people would stop leaving their keys in their cars, we would not be No. 1," said officer Rick Applegate, Police Department spokesman. "We'd drop off the radar. But, still, every day vehicles are being stolen (because the owners) left the car running or unattended."

As soon as I read that, this line from the 1987 Dan Aykroyd-Tom Hanks comedy "Dragnet" immediately came to mind.

Joe Friday (Aykroyd): With the exception of you and canned cling peaches, I'd find it hard to find anyone or anything that doesn't know you should never leave your car keys in the ignition.

To be fair, the next line is:

Pep Streebek (Hanks): It's called a mistake, Friday. But I guess you never make any of those, do you?

But still.

I've lived in places where you could leave your door unlocked and not worry about it, but I've never thought to leave my keys in the car.

And if I did, having my stereo stolen from my car (parked in front of my house) because I left the window open would've cured me.

Yeah, it's a drag that you can't leave your car window open on a hot day, but is it really surprising that these things happen anymore?

Complain about the decline of society all you want (I'm likely to agree), but unless leaving your keys in your car and having it stolen is your form of protest against criminals, you might want to just hold on to those keys.