Guys....I work with a former repo guy and believe me....these people (and their criminal counterparts) can get into ANY vehicle in a matter of seconds. There really isn't anything you can do about a determined (or even remotely smart/experienced) thief getting into your vehicle. Locks are basically a sham, a false 'feel-good' element.
As others have said, the only way to keep a thief out is to make him not want to get in.

Same for your house, when you come right down to it, unless you have steel door casings. ANY normal house door caves in by having the strike plate easily ripped out thru the jamb.

 

I work in law enforcement and 100% agree with the above statement. Cars are easly broken into and your best bet is to lock away valuables. Most criminals won't spend much time in the car out of fear of being seen so they take what is left laying around.

 

I make it a practice to leave mine un-locked and leave nothing of value inside. Would rather they just open the door and find nothing instead of break in and find nothing

 

The survielance cameras are in place for their own protection not yours.

 

A later poster is right, cameras are in the parking lot for risk control (for them), not you.
In most instances, you will have to file a police report before surveillance footage will be released, and it wont be released to YOU, it will only be released to the police dept. So, don't expect to walk into their security room and ask to watch video coverage of your break in.

It does suck though that they damaged your lock :-(

 

100% true.

Case in point....I always park out in toolies when I am in a public parking area like a mall or Wally World, etc, just so I don't have to worry about door dings and things like that.
A few months ago I took my RX7 out for drive, decided to stop and get a Subway at a local Wal-Mart. I parked out in the extreme edge of the parking lot, literally 50 feet away from any other vehicle. So imagine how pissed I was when I came out and found a shopping cart that had been SLAMMED into my car, denting the rear quarter panel. And no...the cart didn't wander there in the wind, it was pushed there.
Enraged, I go inside the store and 'demand' to see the surveillance.
Yeah, right. I was basically told to go pound sand.

Interestingly....a friend of mine works at a Wally World in another town and he says that only a fraction of the surveillance cams are real, both in the store and outside. Wal-Mart management doesn't want the public to know how minimal the coverage really is, according to my friend. Hence, the reason I was denied access.

Plausible, I guess.

 

That sucks dude, I carry this in the backseat, she is friendly, but thieves dont know that!

 

Speaking of WalMart "security":

At my local Walmart they periodically play a recording "Enabling Security Cameras at Rows blah blah blah". A store employee once told me that they only had a handful of cameras, and no one was even monitoring them (to save costs).

 

If you leave it unlocked, aren't you worried that you'll come back to an empty parking space instead of just a break in?

 

He has a point, and it's probably a lot easier of an insurance claim for a stolen vehicle than for stolen contents...