WASHINGTON — Parking your car outside your house can help burglars get into your home — if you keep a garage door opener in your vehicle.
It’s been happening in the Cleveland Park area of Northwest D.C.
The D.C. police describe a number of recent incidents in which crooks get into cars, find the remote control garage door opener and use it to get into the garage, then the house.
In a letter to residents, 2nd District Police Lt. Jerome M. Merrill recommended residents take garage door openers with them when leaving their vehicles. He also advised against programming the function into the car’s command system.
Burglaryprevention.org recommends homeowners use deadbolt locks, install metal doors at all entry points and secure sliding glass doors by putting a stick in the door’s guide track.
Owners can also put up decals indicating the home has video surveillance or an alarm system to scare crooks off the property.
