Ok, so it’s holiday shopping time, and people that drive cars might be leaving presents in their cars while they shop for something else. I get that. But on Friday a car prowler broke into an SUV parked in the parking lot at 5th and Harrison down by the EMP, and made off with $50,000 worth of stuff–cash, diamonds, a laptop, a passport, and a pilot’s license, all in a laptop bag and a briefcase [PI]. I bet that made him the most popular car thief at the car thief club that night.

The thief got to them by punching the driver’s side keyhole, so I assume that means that the things were sitting in view from the windows, and why would you leave your diamonds and passport just sitting around like that? Lots of people who drive will, at some point, have to deal with their car being stolen or their windows being smashed, but it seems like that’s just asking for trouble. (I had someone steal the broken stereo out of my car, back when I had one, and an ex boyfriend had his whole car taken only to find, upon its return by the police, that the thieves had replaced some of his parts for better ones and forgotten a small bag of marijuana under the driver’s side visor. So sometimes it works out better than others.)

Last year, car prowlers stole about $6.2 million worth of stuff, and about 5% of it was returned. The Seattle Police have offered a list of tips for safe holiday shopping [Times], and one of them is not to leave anything of value in your car, especially not in plain sight. And then there’s this one, which would sort of freak me out if I had a car: “When you leave your car, lock it the old-fashioned way, with the key in the lock; don’t use the remote. Thieves can use a scanner to pick up your remote’s frequency and then open your car with their own remote.”

Just…take your diamonds with you when you leave the car, ok?