Beach Police Doing The Heavy Lifting For Car Thieves
Great news for thieves in Virginia Beach!
No longer will you have to go through the tedious process of testing door handles to find unlocked cars, or the hassle of peering into car windows to check for valuables.
Virginia Beach police are doing the hard work for you.
When they find an unlocked car or one with electronics or jewelry on the seats they’re slapping a bright orange “Report Card” on the vehicle. Best of all, they’re checking boxes to let you know exactly what’s available inside: electronics, GPS, Jewelry, CDs/DVDs, Cash/coins or tools.
Heck, they’ve even got a blank spot - “other” - where they’ll let you know if something is not on the list. A fur coat perhaps, or a pair of Jimmy Choos.
This eye-catching report card will shorten the time you spend nosing around to see whether it’s worth breaking a window on a car.
Just one more example of the city’s police chief’s misplaced priorities.
Remember, back in the spring he admitted that the cops couldn't control the gangbangers at the oceanfront who were shooting up the place and he urged the city council to essentially close down the resort area after dark on weekends. (A court put an end to such nonsense.)
We heard at the time that the police were shorthanded, with scores of vacancies.
Odd, then that with such a manpower crunch, there are officers who have time to go around issuing “report cards” to the owners of parked cars. Those with locked doors, closed windows and no valuables in sight will get an orange report card with a passing grade.
Yes, this is nuts. Even for Virginia Beach.
The city website explains that there has been a 15% increase in larcenies from cars over the past six years and that the report cards are not tickets, just part of an awareness campaign.
Don’t be alarmed, this isn’t a ticket. A failing report card doesn’t actually have any consequences, its purpose is just to inform you that your property could be better protected.
Police officers will inspect cars parked outside for red flags like unlocked doors, rolled-down windows and visible valuables. Officers disseminating the cards will do so without entering, searching, or otherwise opening the vehicle in any way. If everything is properly secured VBPD will also issue a “good” or passing report card and leave it on the windshield for the driver.
Hopefully, this program will encourage car owners to reevaluate the accessibility of their vehicles to those looking to take advantage of vulnerable vehicles or visible property.
If the city wants to raise awareness about the importance of locking cars, why not put a digital message on the interstate, buy a billboard, or get one of those planes dragging a banner behind it to remind folks to lock up?
Attorney Tim Anderson alerted the public to this nonsensical campaign on X this week.
When I talked with him yesterday, Anderson said he’d FOIA’d the city, asking for the total number of report cards issued and the locations.
“I want to see if they’re targeting certain neighborhoods,” Anderson told me.
Yes, that will be very interesting.
If officers are trying door handles to see if cars are locked, they’re violating the 4th Amendment according to Anderson. He’s hoping Tesla owners who get report cards will check their cameras to see if the police are actually touching their cars.
Anderson, who said he likes the police chief, is concerned that Paul Nuedigate sometimes “gravitates toward authoritarian overreach.”
You think?
Look, the last time I got a report card was my senior year in high school. It wasn’t a keeper.
I never want another.
Beyond that, I don’t want to find any nose prints on my car windows left by police officers trying to see if I left some loose change on the dash.
Oh, and someone needs to remind the police that unlocked cars are not illegal, neither is it against the law to leave valuables in your car.
While police offices are snooping around looking for stray CDs on car seats and slapping report cards on windshields, gangbangers are shooting each other.
We need a serious police chief in Virginia Beach. And an end to nonsense like vehicle report cards.
