<p>We work from home, so there is usually always someone around. If one of us thinks of it, we lock the doors at night, but we don’t worry about it. I don’t think I could tell you where a house key is right now.</p>
<p>"There are sick mind out there, "</p>
<p>I am aware! </p>
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<p>Considering, you know, google exists and it’s super easy to get the names/addresses of pretty much everyone, I think the odds of this happening to someone are infinitely small. </p>
<p>Just as a general reminder, crime rates are down considerably since the 90s and you’re much, much more likely to be a victim to someone you know than a random stranger. In fact, most crime statistics are about the same as they were in the late 60s, early 70s. Heck, burglary rates are about on par with what they were in the 60s- a time when people “left their doors unlocked” Murder rates are actually down from that time. </p>
<p>I don’t disagree to what you wrote, but the murderer could get any address of the yellow book back in the 80s and 90s too.</p>
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<p>Although I think it is stupid to leave something with your name and address in plain view in the car, I don’t really get the rationale for the crime here unless it was a stalking case where the murderer was after this particular person and was only lacking the information on where he/she lived. Maybe a domestic violence situation? Otherwise, someone who is depraved enough to kill just anyone could easily find other targets.</p>
<p>Romani-</p>
<p>To this day, behaviorists who work with the autistic population routinely use “elopement” to mean “running away.” A behaviorist working with my S would write “developing a plan to reduce or eliminate elopement”, for instance, although it has been years since he has actually wandered away. </p>
<p>However, in the past year or two I saw “elopement” in a report since apparently my S figured out he could get immediate attention by walking out of his day program in the middle of the day, although he never went very far. And elopement also comes up in checklists that evaluate S’s need for services. Drowning is a big concern if an autistic child frequently elopes and is attracted to water.</p>
<p>The big question in many of our families is whether a child prone to elopement should be locked in their room at night, or within a house that they cannot leave from the inside in case of fire. (CPS sometimes gets involvd in these cases.) Right behind the pros and cons of installing a refrigerator lock if there is a concern the child could go down to the kitchen in the middle of the night and trash all the perishable food on hand. If there is a lock, a large and strong child could unknowingly pull the refrigerator down on top of themselves in an attempt to get the fridge open, if it is not bolted to a wall.</p>
<p>Many of our houses are locked up like Fort Knox, since we need to maintain “child proofing” all the way into adulthood with a low-functioning child. Iow, it is not just a case of keeping intruders out. Parents sometimes sleep in shifts, even after their autistic children have entered their teens. </p>
<p>"I don’t disagree to what you wrote, but the murderer could get any address of the yellow book back in the 80s and 90s "</p>
<p>No, they couldn’t. I was never listed in a phone book. Nowadays with the Internet, my home address is likely discoverable, but in phone book days? Unlisted, always. </p>
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<p>Maybe some crimes are just random, there might not be any rationale. It was not stalking or domestic violence. It’s just want of these things I picked up while reading these books. It was completely random. IRRC, this female ex-cop wrote about the Seattle Green serial killer(I don’t thing the crime is from this book that I’ve read) but from another book from her series of real investigations of crime.</p>
<p>I leave my door unlocked when I am in my building. No one is allowed to roam around in our building, delivery people are always accompanied by someone. I actually feel safer in my NYC apartment than in my old house at a very safe town.</p>
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<p>Having an address on checked baggage on airline flights can allow dishonest baggage handlers to pass tips to their thieving friends about which houses are unoccupied by vacationing people.</p>
<p>However, in the age of social media, people posting about their vacations in real time may be letting potential thieves know who is not home.</p>
<p>They say to just put your cell phone on the luggage tags instead of your address. </p>
<p>Or use your business card as your identifier on your luggage. </p>
<p>We have an attached garage with an exterior keypad. The interior garage door is open during the day but the last thing done each night is to take out the garbage and lock that door before heading up to bed. Crime-wise nothing notable has happened in our immediate neighborhood for some time but I keep the front door locked. We have a security system that I turn on when I go out. Anyone who truly wanted to break in would find our house pretty easy but our local police department has said that having even faux security system stickers will give pause to a certain type of burglar. </p>
<p>I know a family that never locks their house…even when they travel. One of these days (after a glass of wine at a party) I will probably ask what the heck they are thinking. A couple of years ago, through a DIY project, they built a really nice wine cellar. Last week they came home to find that someone had walked in and cleared the whole thing out. No other damage. They have a bunch of teenagers so I assume that friends of the kids knew the place was unlocked.</p>
<p>I lock my door for two reasons. The least compelling reason is because we’ve had our car broken into in our driveway a couple of times and it’s only a few steps to the door. The most compelling reason is to make sure that our dog can’t get out and no one does the knock and walk in thing without our having the dog prepared because he would take a leg off and did actually bite our old newspaper lady when she walked in without knocking.</p>
<p>When we first moved into our suburbia house, we never locked the door from house to garage. Someone broke glass in garage window, took a few inexpensive things from the car and then came into our home. Once inside, it seems that they didn’t take anything. We awoke to find the sliding glass door open, (very close to the door with access to the garage) Police said it was probably just kids playing a dare game to go inside to houses and take stuff. I felt very violated, but we were lucky that no one woke us or our three little ones. It was tough to fall asleep for a couple of days, but then I just made sure everything was locked up, and assumed that our turn was over.</p>
<p>I have an attached garage with 2 windows and one exterior door to backyard (and 2 sliding garage doors). Car is unlocked in garage with garage doors always closed. Windows are always locked. The door from garage into house is almost always unlocked. Now that I’ve read about people getting into garages without forcing entry (and I’ve got fairly old automatic garage doors), I’ll be changing my habits.</p>
<p>I do have a security system that is almost always on, which is why I’ve been able to sleep at night with just that one door unlocked. </p>
<p>For those of you who leave doors unlocked in “safe” neighborhoods: I live in the boonies. In an even boonier (is that a word?) nearby town, a horrendously brutal murder took place. The family had locked their doors, so that didn’t actually prevent the crime, but the brutes cased the area deliberately seeking remote homes with no dogs and no indications of automatic alarm systems. The local newspaper carried lots of stories about townspeople who had never locked their doors. It was a tiny town – population < 2000. I don’t believe in safe neighborhoods.</p>
<p>Always locked my doors whether I’m home or not from the time I had my first apartment keys at 6 to walk to/from school to college dorm, to every residence I’ve occupied to the presence. </p>
<p>Old habit from growing up in NYC in the 80’s at the tail end of the high crime era and reinforced when my HS friend and I walked into a burglary in progress with two burglars pointing pistols at our heads one afternoon when I was around 14. </p>
<p>One thing we did years ago was not to put any windows in our garage. There are windows way up at the top of the garage door to admit light but no other windows. </p>
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<p>Really? I’m impressed.</p>
<p>^ ^</p>
<p>It wasn’t anything special back in the '80s as I was part of the “latchkey kid” generation back then. </p>
<p>Most of the kids in my old NYC neighborhood were also expected to lock the apt door behind them before leaving for school or to let themselves in after school while parents were still busy at work. If anything, we’d find it a bit odd if a kid around 7+ was still being escorted to/from school by a parent. </p>