Prevent thieves from stealing your GPS navigation unit

Police nation wide are reporting an increased incidence of stolen portable navigation systems. Would be thieves have discovered that the GPS units which retail anywhere from $200 to $1000, bring a quick hundred bucks or more at most larger city pawn shops.

In an effort to curb "smash and grab" type thefts of GPS units, which involve punching through your car's side window to liberate the unit, police and security personnel are informing vehicle owners that simply removing electronic devices from view may not be enough deterrent to wily thieves.

You see, thieves are self trained on-the-job, and some of them are very good at what they do. A smart thief knows the signs to look for which will give away your electronic gadget's presence even if it's stashed away in the glove box while you're not in the car. There are some easy things however, that you can do to help send those thieves looking for some other car to assault instead of yours.

• Keep the inside of your windshield clean. Police have recognized that thieves look for the tell tale suction cup marks which many GPS mounts and other gadget mounts leave on your windshield. Keep a supply of any kind of pre-packed handy wipe, such as the kind used for quickly cleaning eyeglasses or the kind you get in restaurants. They come in sealed foil packets and are easy to store in your glove box or console. Clean the suction cup marks off your windshield when you remove the unit.
  

• Clean the top of your dashboard at least once a week. Thieves look for obvious patterns of disturbance in the dust coat on top of dashboards. If you know what to look for, the dust patterns on the dash will all too easily give away the presence of your mobile electronics. Clean off that dust regularly and completely. You'll frustrate any thief who is looking for an easy find.

• As much as possible, remove or camouflage leads and wires. It does no good to put your GPS unit in the glove box when your power lead is dangling out of your vehicle's power socket. Additionally, if your unit has a fixed mount on top of the dashboard, try to cover it up completely. You could try using one of those bean weighted stuffed animals or a box of facial tissues with a recess cut in the bottom.

The whole idea here is to make your mobile electronics as invisible as possible when you're not around to protect them. With a little attention to detail and some due diligence, you should find the task is really quite simple. Take a good look at your equipment, how it's situated and how things appear when looking in from outside your vehicle. By making a few changes in your situation and routine, you just might make that thief decide to leave your car alone and to attack the car parked next to yours instead.