Saw a car's window smashed in this morning on 4th and coles.

Saw this sign the other night... perhaps we have a new anti-theft parking Vigilante on the prowl? One can only hope.

Yes the 90's were very bad times to own a car in Jersey City, especially Downtown. JC was the car theft capitol at one time and was in the top 10 multiple times. Downtown itself was actually the capitol with in the capitol for car thefts and most of the car thieves were locals to the neighborhood at the time.

When I was a kid they used to say you learn two things in Ferris High School, how to fight and how to steal cars. The majority of the car thieves back then were kids and teens. Car theft was big money in this city back then. Juveniles made a big percentage of the ones doing these crimes because it was pretty much catch and release with them. They would be home before the officer was done with the paper work. It was similar to the movie "New Jersey Drive" back then. The movie about Newark car thieves and Newark being the car theft capitol. JC was the capitol the year it came out though.

Anybody that was around during those times remembers how bad it used to be. The area behind the Boys Club where the Jersey ave stop for the Light Rail is now used to be a grave yard for stripped cars (used to play in them as a kid).

I used to kind of find it kind of funny back when the police were giving out free auto clubs because car theft was so bad, because the car thieves were actually targeting cars with clubs for a little while to prove a point. It was common to see an empty parking spot with a club placed on top of pile of broken glass. The club actually does nothing but delay the thief a few seconds, literally.

Some of the tricks the car thieves would use was they would keep setting a car alarm off every 20 minutes until the owner would turn it off because they got annoyed it kept going off and did not see anyone breaking in.

Luckily many of the local chop shops got raided so car theft is only a fraction of what it was and is actually pretty low compared to other cities in NJ. One of the Downtown chop shops that was raided was on the dead end on 9th street by the park under the turnpike.

However don't believe the hype the JCPD puts out that most of the car thefts and break ins are actually from Newark they have been saying that for decades. Even though Newark thieves do come here they don't come as often as the JCPD would like you to believe.

The random car break ins where they seem to have no specific item to steal are usually older drug addicts and are usually local not from another neighborhood.

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By thinking like a cop or an insurance company, that's where !

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? (2) Your tow truck guy has "ne're do well buddies" who go car shopping in your neighborhood and you let that guy tow your car? Most disturbing.

(long post)

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Don?t worry about the fine citizens that were priced out of the neighborhood coming back. I think they made out pretty well selling their DTJC cribs to all of you ?affluent? types.

Like someone said it could and does happen anywhere in the city. New and old cars a like. It happens in the sleepy NJ burbs also, but doesn?t get much publicity. (Shhhh!) I am amazed at what people leave exposed in their cars. Cell phones, wires, and holders, GPS devices, wires, and holders (and yes that circle mark on the windshield is a dead give away), CD?s in the visor, pens (yes pens), coins in the center console or ash tray, custom seat covers, those nasty beaded seat thing?s (well maybe not them), and even the little stuffed animals and trinkets hanging off of the mirror. THEY WILL TAKE ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING YOU HAVE!!!! (remember the hanging ALF craze? Auto glass companies made a bundle off of him)

Like someone mentioned above about a few bucks being taken. Here?s a JC story..an Italian guy in the neighborhood got a new car. (yes a Caddy what else) For good luck he threw a handful of change on the passenger side floor map. (strange tradition) Two days later his 78 cents was gone along with his $200 side window. Talk about luck!

I go to the burbs a lot for meetings as I walk through the big corporate lots I spy so many things that are on a thug?s shopping list. The employees even get warnings about thugs driving in from the cities to rip off the cars/belongings yet they do NOTHING to protect their cars. (Obviously not from the hood, I bet they don?t even wire/nail down their front porch flower pots and planters) Could you believe they actually leave their car windows open in the hot weather? DING! DING! DING! JACKPOT!!!


If you live in JC this is what you do?.

- Don?t buy a new car?only kidding.

- Buy a steering wheel lock, even if you have an alarm.

- Buy wheel/tire locks , even if you just have standard tires (the good locks from a dealer, cheap ones rust and you can?t get them off)

- Leave NOTHING exposed in your car not even a few pennies. (a few pennies will go far in buying that nice 40 of Colt)

- When you are stopped at a red light in a bad section of JC?err I mean at a red light in JC. Give yourself a half of a car length in front of your car. This way if there is trouble you have enough room to make a Bat-turn and get out of the situation. (isn?t it funny how the city now sets the traffic lights to blinking at night in certain sections of JC. They said it was a pro environment move to save gas. Yeah right!)

- Never leave anything on the passenger side seat or rear seats while driving, no bags, laptop cases, NOTHING!

- If your car gets a small tap from the car behind and the driver waves at you to pull over. Be very careful with your belongings. As you know it?s the old Bump and Rob routine. As the driver is talking to you and has your complete attention his buddy is in your car ripping your stuff off or just plain ripping your car off.

We all know that doing any of the above will not help if the thugs really want your car or a piece of it. I posted this once before, I guy I knew in the heights had his hood and front grill taken off of his car in the middle of the night. Of course no one heard or saw anything! (I SEE NOTHING, I HEAR NOTHING!!!) It wasn?t even a new car; I guess a local body shop had the parts on their shopping list.

Never judge an area of JC by the cars that are parked in it. If you do a drive by (no pun intended) the hood over by PS #14 (Union St) it is THE bad-ass school/area in the JC. You will see Bentley?s, high-end Mercedes-Benz, and Jaguars parked right on the street. Something tells me the owners will never walk out of their front doors and see any damage or anything missing in those rides.

**********
JC History?

Speaking of smash and grab?s ?.years ago when the Duncan projects were all still standing tall, S&G?s were plentiful. The thugs would target the cars stopped at the red lights on Rt 440(1&9) and Duncan Ave. (near the LP golf range) It wasn?t pretty either, bricks and hammers were used to smash the side passenger windows, a lot of drivers were injured. It was mostly women leaving their bags on the front passenger seat.


Hey new-comers we went big time in the (pre-affluent) 1990?s??we were the champions my friends??you guys missed all of the fun!! Check out this CNN piece from back in the day.

Cars have a way of disappearing in Jersey City

About a third of stolen vehicles are never recovered, and only 18 percent of those are driveable

No. 1 in auto thefts in the U.S.

April 6, 1998
Web posted at: 6:23 p.m. EDT (2223 GMT)

From Detroit Bureau Chief Ed Garsten
DETROIT (CNN) -- If you live in Jersey City, New Jersey, keep an eye on your car. According to the latest list of the top auto theft areas in the United States, Jersey City's metro area is No. 1 .

Roughly one out of every 36 vehicles there was reported stolen in 1996, the latest year for which figures are available. But Jersey City's police director argues that auto theft there is actually declining, and that the study is flawed.

"I mean, I'd be happy to single out Jersey City if we compare it to other cities," says Police Director Michael Moriarity. "But they're not doing that. They're comparing Jersey City with half the state of New Jersey, most of which is very rural or suburban."

Rounding out the National Insurance Crime Bureau's list of the 10 worst places to park your car are: Fresno, California; Miami; Memphis; New York City; Phoenix-Mesa, Arizona; New Orleans; Tucson, Arizona; Pine Bluff, Arkansas; and the Los Angeles-Long Beach area of California.

The NICB says many cars are taken to chop shops and sold for parts, or transported illegally to other countries to be sold either whole or in pieces.

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Wow...... So are you a joke poster? If so, well done. I really hope you are.

There was also evidence of one on Wayne between Grove and Barrow this morning on the north side of the block.

Also, I meant to mention it back in this thread, but just after New Year's there was another smash-n-grab on Barrow right across from Brick Haus Fitness between Columbus and Newark.

Saw another smash-and-grab this morning. Barrow St. between Wayne and Columbus. Green Jeep.

Yeah, you're clearly from around here. It's surely the property owners of the neighborhood responsible for these crimes.

Where does one begin? How about (1) the JCPD saying so, and (2) my tow truck guy saying this wasn't the first new car he'd had to carry off in this neighborhood, and telling me how his ne'er do well buddies go "car shopping" here in the dead of night.

"I think certain of those fine citizens who were priced out of this neighborhood in the last decade (this area used to be undesirable in the 80s and 90s) now come back regularly to "do business" in their old neighborhood."

What?! Where does one begin with such an odd, hateful, ignorant bit of conjecture?

My car had two rims/wheels stolen last month; one month after I had just leased the damn thing. 2nd Street off Jersey Ave. I'm now inconvenienced b/c I keep the car hidden elsewhere.

I think certain of those fine citizens who were priced out of this neighborhood in the last decade (this area used to be undesirable in the 80s and 90s) now come back regularly to "do business" in their old neighborhood.

For anyone else in a similar situation, I highly recommend Pro Unit Auto Glass.

Just had my window fixed by these guys are they did a great job. Cleaned up, even came directly to me; didn't have to take the car out with the window busted. Very reasonably priced as well.

Pro Unit Auto Glass

There was a car parked behind mine on Second St. and Jersey Ave. (between Jersey and Erie) that had its driver side window smashed out this morning. Looks like the GPS was grabbed as the power cord was still lying across the console.

These break-ins are likely one or two man crime waves. That's what I've gleaned from attending the Captain's meeting over the past years. Once they get caught, the wave stops. The break-ins happen whether employment is high or low.

to this day my dad always leaves his car doors unlocked. he said he once had all his windows smashed in for only $2 in change, and from then on if anyone wanted anything in his car, he'd rather them just take it. don't know if i'd suggest that to anyone else though.

Once again, this isn't an army of people doing this. It's usually 1 or 2 guys working together and hitting an area till they move on or get caught. Much more common nowadays for guys coming from Newark and cruising around in a car and hitting multiple targets in one general area. The guys I caught back a few years ago were either on foot or on bikes and this pre-dated GPS. Was a few year gap when there was nothing worth stealing. Now they treat cars like oysters, looking for the ones with a pearl aka GPS.

I've seen folks with cars leave a sign in their windows to the effect of...

NOTHING VALUABLE INSIDE. Both on passenger and driver side.

But you have to empty your car, glove box, the arm rest box, etc.

No CD's on the visor, etc.

Unfortunately we're in the Great Recession.

The jobs report came out today and was crappy. Being unemployed myself, I was listening to CNBC today and they were doing some profiling...

Like half of all teens are unemployed. And with no after school programs this is bad.

And unemployment for minority men in urban areas is like at 70% or something crazy like that.

So...

Desperate times.... suggests don't leave stuff in the car.

FG

Thanks, Tommy. Would love to know how much your lot costs per month. I may have to bite the bullet and forego street parking.

And Thomas, nothing was visible and no valuables were in the car. All they got away with was 4 bucks out of my glove box, some car maps, and my cloth grocery bags were torn up. Sorry to disappoint them!

That's why you don't leave ANYTHING in your car....they usually don't break into cars that have nothing visible to "loot"

Sucks, I had it done to me a few years ago. It happens, even in nice neighborhoods like Van Vorst Park. It's a part of city life. In fact, it's probably more common in affluent neighborhoods, because the creeps have reason to believe that many of the cars have GPS's locked in there somewhere.

I don't use my vehicle much, so now I keep my car under 24-hour surveillance a few blocks away. I don't even have to worry about alternate side. I wanted to rip someone's head off the day I saw my car broken into. I don't need that type of aggrivation in my life.

As to an increase in these types of crimes...yes, past few weeks there have been a bunch. It'll subside.

Just discovered my passenger window smashed at Jersey Ave and Mercer St. Car was completely looted. Have noticed evidence of similar break-ins walking to and from PATH lately as well; more now than in recent years.

Does anyone else think car burglaries are on the rise downtown?