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Post by 950nancy on Aug 11, 2022 14:31:41 GMT
Kind of a spin off of the Rude thread... Many people mentioned that they lock their doors all of the time. I know we all live in different parts of the country and world. We moved from a high traffic area to one with little traffic. Last night I was out for a walk in the dusk/dark and not one car passed me in the 35 minute walk (1.5 miles-4 streets). That would never have happened at our old house. Because of this, my husband isn't as concerned about leaving the garage door open when he is out back working on the yard. We don't lock the door to the garage except when we go to bed.
So I am wondering if locking the doors at your place is because of high traffic or just something that you feel more comfortable with no matter where you live.
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Post by peasapie on Aug 11, 2022 14:36:05 GMT
I've lived in NYC, the suburbs, and rural upstate NY. My apartment was never robbed in NYC, but our house in rural upstate NY was robbed, despite being locked. I think some folks feel emboldened in rural areas because they know car doors are left unlocked, key fobs inside, and homes are not protected with locks and alarms. Be diligent -- and don't go walking alone at night.
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Post by lucyg on Aug 11, 2022 14:36:56 GMT
I was married to a cop, and I watch too much Forensic Files. My door is always locked.
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Dalai Mama
Drama Llama
La Pea Boheme
Posts: 6,985
Jun 26, 2014 0:31:31 GMT
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Post by Dalai Mama on Aug 11, 2022 14:37:21 GMT
I live in Toronto - it's because it's busy that I feel comfortable leaving the doors unlocked during the day. Of course, everyone is still working from home, so that helps.
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Post by myshelly on Aug 11, 2022 14:40:39 GMT
I think leaving your doors unlocked is like not wearing a seatbelt in the car.
You may feel like you don’t need it because there’s not much traffic or you aren’t going far or it’s still light outside or whatever, but it’s just kind of stupid not to.
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pinklady
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Nov 14, 2016 23:47:03 GMT
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Post by pinklady on Aug 11, 2022 14:44:33 GMT
I wouldn't say my neighborhood is busy/high traffic but I ALWAYS lock my doors. My front door has a security screen and I lock that as well as the wood door during the day. That being said, except for during a heat wave, every window in my house is open all day everyday.
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Post by padresfan619 on Aug 11, 2022 14:47:17 GMT
Our doors are only unlocked if someone is using the door. Otherwise it is always locked. We live off of a busy street near a popular tourist area in our city, there’s lots of foot traffic and random cars parking on our street. But even if I lived in a rural area with lots of acreage I would still lock my doors and windows, why make it easy for someone to just let themselves in to your home?
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Post by jeremysgirl on Aug 11, 2022 14:53:23 GMT
I live in a small city. My front door is always locked because only when we have guests does anyone ever use it. My back doors are open during daylight hours. You'd have to come into my backyard through my gate to access either of those doors. My neighborhood is relatively busy but close knit. I can't imagine someone daring to come into my home during daylight hours. I also have a very gentle but very intimidating looking dog too. So that makes me feel a bit safer.
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Post by librarylady on Aug 11, 2022 14:53:57 GMT
Suburb to Dallas, but our street is used as a cut through to a grocery store. DH often left the garage door open as he did xyz. One day a patrol officer stopped to tell him it was not a good idea to leave the door open. DH locks the front door almost 100% of the time. However, about the 5th time he locked me out when I was gardening in the back yard I ripped him a good one and made a huge threat to him if he.ever.locked.me.out.again.
I can't remember when our immediate neighborhood last had a crime incident.
For over 20 years I got up at 6 AM and walked 2 miles before going to work. Normally there was only 1 other person walking at that hour. A patrol officer scared the heck out of me one morning when he came around the corner with his lights out. He came up behind me....We had a chat and both went on our way.
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scrappinwithoutpeas
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,944
Location: Northern Virginia
Aug 7, 2014 22:09:44 GMT
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Post by scrappinwithoutpeas on Aug 11, 2022 14:58:37 GMT
Always locked even though we live on a dead-end street in a suburb. Our street is not a high-traffic area for cars, but other parts of our neighborhood (a few streets over) do get a little more traffic since some of them are used as cut-through streets, especially near the high school. We do get some foot traffic (lots of dog-walkers), and during the school year we get the occasional group of HS kids passing through our street on their way to the woods/creek, most likely to smoke. The security officers are well aware of this and are usually lurking somewhere to head them off. Twice (in 30 years) we've had our cars riffled through by these punks* - nothing of value was taken except for a bit of loose change and some tic-tacs (really??? my Tic-Tacs??? WTF? ) so we also always lock all vehicles, both on the street and in the driveway (houses in our neighborhood have no garages). *Geez, I sound old and crabby - "Hey, get off my lawn!!"
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Post by scrapmaven on Aug 11, 2022 15:02:50 GMT
I lived in a major city and had cars broken into, apartment broken into and I was used to police helicopters overhead. It was a decent part of the city, too. Now I live in a smaller city and it's relatively safe, but I always lock my doors. You can live in the safest place in the universe, but that doesn't mean that you won't have any crime.
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snyder
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Apr 26, 2017 6:14:47 GMT
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Post by snyder on Aug 11, 2022 15:11:45 GMT
I live where the OP lives and there is crime all over our large city no matter the area, therefore, I keep my doors locked and the garage door is down unless we are in there.
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Post by myshelly on Aug 11, 2022 15:14:22 GMT
Have you heard of the serial killer who only killed people who left their doors unlocked? He said an unlocked door was an invitation to come into the house - en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Chase
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Post by Susie_Homemaker on Aug 11, 2022 15:15:20 GMT
We don't have the doors locked at all times. We live in a small town suburb with low crime. I don't feel like there are robbers just roaming around waiting on a house to sneak into. If our cars aren't in the garage, then they're locked at night, the house is locked and the alarm is set every night. I will lock the doors if I'm home alone. We have fire arms to defend ourselves if necessary. We're cautious but not locked up tight 100% of the time.
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basketdiva
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Jun 26, 2014 11:45:09 GMT
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Post by basketdiva on Aug 11, 2022 15:15:52 GMT
I grew up in a small town in the Bay area in the 60's and even then my Dad taught us to always keep the doors locked. Well actually the screen door was always locked. It became a habit for me through the years. Still keep doors locked as well as keeping cars in garage with nothing of value in them.
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Post by ntsf on Aug 11, 2022 15:17:16 GMT
I live on the residential side of a big city with the highest rate of property crime in us. we always have doors locked. never had a break in ever. our car is parked on the street. we basically never leave anything in the car. it is safe enough to walk around at night.. we just keep our eyes open.
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pilcas
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Aug 14, 2015 21:47:17 GMT
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Post by pilcas on Aug 11, 2022 15:18:40 GMT
I live in NYC, have never been robed. I always lock my front door. My back door is usually open in the summer to let air in when we are around. I get more spooked when there are less people around so being in a rural area would not inspire me to leave my doors unlocked. So many times a crime is really a matter of opportunity.
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Post by paulao on Aug 11, 2022 15:23:46 GMT
I live in a townhouse in a village about 40 miles west of Chicago. My front door is always locked. The back door leads to the garage. The back door is unlocked but someone would have to bust down the garage door. Very little crime in my neighborhood.
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Post by katlady on Aug 11, 2022 15:26:43 GMT
I grew up in Los Angeles, in the city not a suburb. Keeping doors locked is second nature to me. I also make sure I leave nothing visible in my car when I park it somewhere. Where we live now is fairly quiet. It is a gated community, so cars can’t use our streets as a short-cut, unless they follow someone in. Depending on the time of day, I can walk the entire community without a car driving by. I still keep my doors locked. When we are in the backyard, all the front and garage doors are locked. Front windows closed too. Like I mentioned, cars can still follow other cars into our community, so there is a false sense of security here. Thankfully not much has happened, but it can.
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paigepea
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Jun 26, 2014 4:28:55 GMT
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Post by paigepea on Aug 11, 2022 15:28:13 GMT
We live right in Vancouver. Our neighbourhood is high traffic as we live close to a shopping village. If I go out for a 30 min walk I’m saying hi to multiple people as I walk. We usually put our alarm on but don’t always worry about locking the door. Our garage is usually closed but if it’s open all night we haven’t had a problem. We leave our garage access door unlocked.
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Aug 11, 2022 15:28:54 GMT
we live in the country on a private gravel road... we're about 1/3 of the way in along the road, so the only 'busyness' in front of our property is other people who live farther along the road. Early morning and late afternoon, maybe 2-4 cars total in an hour, maybe 2-3 in a half hour is a lot.
The gate is always locked unless one of us got home and knows the other one will be along in an hour or so, in which case we will leave it open... I wouldn't lock the actual door to the house unless I was going to be in the shower or out in the backyard. My DH locks the door pretty much all the time. We don't have a spare house key anywhere outside, but we should-- I got locked out of our previous house twice and had to call a locksmith- from the neighbor's house- because I was wearing my pajamas & bathrobe and did NOT have my phone. ugh.
eta: I grew up in a small town where the front door to the house was never locked except when we went to bed at night. Even then, if the front door was locked, the back door typically wasn't, lol.
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Post by cmpeter on Aug 11, 2022 15:30:47 GMT
We live in a non-busy area and lock our garage and doors because of that. If someone wanted to break in, there really wouldn’t be folks to notice.
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Post by Jamie on Aug 11, 2022 15:31:44 GMT
Our screen doors are always locked. Only time the back door isn't is if someone is out there, but even that hasn't stopped hubby from locking me out a couple times. I know a locked screen door isn't going to stop someone from entering if they want, but it's just an extra security step when I have the front door open when it's nice out. If I'm leaving the LR for an extended amt of time, both doors get closed and locked. Yet, when I go to my moms 4 miles away, they have no problem leaving just the screen door locked with the other door open and they are in the backyard. Nope, couldn't do it.
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Post by 950nancy on Aug 11, 2022 15:36:43 GMT
I've lived in NYC, the suburbs, and rural upstate NY. My apartment was never robbed in NYC, but our house in rural upstate NY was robbed, despite being locked. I think some folks feel emboldened in rural areas because they know car doors are left unlocked, key fobs inside, and homes are not protected with locks and alarms. Be diligent -- and don't go walking alone at night. I always walk when it is cooler. I have an older pup who can't do the heat. My husband and I usually go, and we live in a city where lots of people are out walking in the evening.
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milocat
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Location: 55 degrees north in Alberta, Canada
Mar 18, 2015 4:10:31 GMT
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Post by milocat on Aug 11, 2022 15:40:34 GMT
Not busy at all. It could be an hour or more between people going down my street. I've been on the highway before, going 100 km away, and thought I could have countrd the number of vechiles I saw. I lock my door when I'm out and when I go to bed. I know people who don't ever lock their doors. There has been one murder that I know of here, happened 25 years ago. Probably was the first one ever. It's a safe place here. People will occasional steal things from vehicles- unlocked vehicles.
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Post by Scrapper100 on Aug 11, 2022 15:42:27 GMT
We live in Southern California our house isn't in a busy area and doesn't get much traffic but I still wouldn't leave my front door unlocked. Our gate has a lock on it garage door is closed side door is locked unless we are right there. Outside cars are always locked. It's not a bad area and our neighborhood has little crime but there is always the possibility of someone trying to get in or get into your car and there is no reason to make it easier for them.
ETA: we live right next to our community park and early mornings if I drive someplace I will see probably 10 people on a walk or walking their dogs - most of which are headed to the park. We live in the back of the neighborhood that backs up to a canyon and don't get much car traffic accept those that live on our street which is a cul-de-sac.
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Post by 950nancy on Aug 11, 2022 15:43:31 GMT
I do shut the garage doors, but the door to the garage is open all day. You'd have to get in the garage to get into the house. I also keep my vehicle inside of the garage. I grew up in Omaha and locking the doors was the norm.
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Post by monklady123 on Aug 11, 2022 15:44:24 GMT
I live in Northern Virginia in the DC area so yeah, it's busy. My neighborhood is pretty quiet, not much cut-through traffic because the streets are narrow. But I watch "Criminal Minds" so yes my doors are always locked!
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smartypants71
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Posts: 5,741
Location: Houston, TX
Jun 25, 2014 22:47:49 GMT
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Post by smartypants71 on Aug 11, 2022 15:45:00 GMT
I live in a very busy area, but my street is not a through street so I don't have too much traffic coming through. I'm also far enough away from the major street, so I don't typically have issues with the "door checkers" like the streets do a couple blocks from me. I never leave my car on the street, nor do I leave my doors unlocked. You would be a complete idiot to do that here.
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Post by gar on Aug 11, 2022 15:47:37 GMT
You can live in the safest place in the universe, but that doesn't mean that you won't have any crime. No, but it does mean it's statistically much less likely and that's enough for some people. I live in a dead end street in a small village, 10 min walk from a market town, 20 mins drive from a bigger town. I could leave my house more unlocked than we do probably but I think I got into the habit of locking it when the kids were small. I will go to a neighbour without locking it and we have been out without closing windows unintentionally and it wasn't a worry. I could tell myself that it could happen but I protect my enjoyment of living here with it's safe vibe and that's valuable to me. Have you heard of the serial killer who only killed people who left their doors unlocked? He said an unlocked door was an invitation to come into the house - That is so incredibly unlikely and rare that it wouldn't have any impact on how I live. I think I read that the stats are 4 people in a million worldwide will be murdered by a serial killer - it's not even a factor for me.
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