A Warning to Those of You with GPS Devices

Unfortunately I didn't get one for Christmas, so I don't have to worry about this.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/12/22/theft_of_gps_devices_on_rise_across_the_city/

By Maria Cramer
Globe Staff / December 22, 2007

Tedros McCrary believes he is protecting his 2000 Chrysler against thieves each time he parks the convertible near his home in Dudley Square. He removes his iPod, unplugs the transponder he uses to connect it to his sound system, and hides his global positioning system device inside his glove box.
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But McCrary's strategy has a flaw. He leaves the GPS mount on the windshield, a giveaway to thieves that a pricey GPS is somewhere in the car and an oversight that Boston police said has caused the number of the devices stolen to more than quadruple from 2006 to 2007.

"I usually don't leave anything out," said McCrary, a 27-year-old barista who works in the South End. "I should know better than that."

Police said they are trying to develop new strategies to curb the thefts, which have gone from being a nuisance in the South End and the Back Bay to a problem plaguing the city.

"It's spreading all over the place like the chickenpox," one officer said at a meeting of police commanders Thursday.

In the first 11 months of 2006, police reported 217 GPS devices stolen in Boston. During the same time period in 2007, the number skyrocketed to 1,009 - an increase so dramatic it skewed Boston crime statistics that would have shown greater improvement, Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis lamented at the com manders meeting.

"Our crime rate would be down 7 percent, instead of being down 4 percent," he said.

Several factors have contributed to the increase, police said. The devices are valuable (they can cost between $200 and $1,000, according to police) and sell easily on the street or the Internet. They are also easy to steal.

Even when someone hides the device and the cradle in a glove compartment, thieves will know there is one inside from the ring left on the windshield by the GPS suction cup.

 

I was just in South Florida and rented a car.
I brought my own GPS with a new mount which does not use a suction cup.
Of course, the rental car had the suction cup mark from a previous renter.
I brought that baby in everywhere I went.

 

I got one and mounted it -- yes, I mounted that bitch -- on my dash yesterday. Here's to seeing it when I walk outside today.

 

In Minnesota, it's illegal to mount anything on the windshield.

Mine stays in my purse unless I need it.

 

I never use the suction cups for GPS or my radar detector for that very reason. I had a friend who had his radar detector stolen some years ago, and it tought me a lesson. Besides, the GPS screen looks too small for me to quickly focus on it that far away, so I just keep it between the seats until I need to see it. When I use it, the radar detector rides on my dash, peering through the hole in a ballcap, but maybe that's because I do most of my driving in the Communistwealth of Virginia.

 

WB, thanks for posting this. I received one from my in-laws for Christmas, and I'm in the process of figuring out how to set it up so it's not so conspicuous.