Keeping your RV secure
The holiday season brings out a host of suggestions on how to keep the bad guys away from your cache of presents at home. We may not think much about that situation when RVing, but those same bad guys know that the modern RV often has nice, spendy techno-goodies that can be harvested.
In two recent incidents, RVers have been hit by burglars: One couple, sleeping over in a Cracker Barrel Restaurant parking lot awoke the next morning to find thieves had broken into their tow vehicle and ripped off a few things. In a more dramatic experience, an RVer returned to his rig, parked at a service facility lot, only to encounter a gun-toting thief coming out the door of the RV. Fortunately, the RVer came off physically unharmed, but the crook made an exit with some expensive loot, and damaged the rig to boot.
Once again, the specter of having harm come to you in your RV lifestyle raises its ugly head. Here are a couple of things to bear in mind: Burglary is often a crime of opportunity. Most desperatos like working close to home, and in a place with an easy escape route. We’ve never heard of an experience where thieves “hit” an RV that was boondocking somewhere out in the brush. It’s a long way to go to sack a flat screen TV. In both the incidents we cite, the RVs were in an urban area, on traveled roads. “Ok,” you say, “I overnight on Walmart lots, and those are in urban areas, on traveled roads!”
From our perspective, hitting a tow vehicle when someone is likely to be snoozing in the attached RV is pretty brazen. In the second case, the rig’s owner feels that the burglars had reasoned the RV was at a service lot, hence it was unlikely anybody was home. Making your RV less attractive to burglars is much like making a sticks and bricks home less attractive.
If you are away from your rig, make it look like you’re home. Put the slide-outs in the “out” position. Don’t leave the lights off 24-hours a day. If you can, put a timer on a light or two in the rig so it switches off and on, simulating the presence of occupants.
Don’t park off in the farthest, most isolated corner of the urban parking lot. Closer to a building is far less attractive situation to a potential thief than back in the shadows.
Consider adding a burglar alarm system–both to your tow vehicle–and your RV. Ones that have a flashing red light to indicate “armed” and a sticker on the windows of the tow rig and next to the door of the RV can go a long way to making the thief look for easier pickings.
NEVER leave anything of value in the tow rig when you’re not in it. Cameras, GPS units, credit cards are big bait. If you use a window mounted GPS unit, remove the mount from the window too. If a bad guy sees that suction cup mount hanging there, he may easily reason the GPS unit is still in the rig, too.
The thief who gained access to the RV had done so by punching a hole in the door glass and apparently reaching inside and unlocking the door. What can you do to prevent a similar entry issue? Equip your door windows and any glass close enough to reach through and unlock the door with window security film. Somewhat like window tinting film, the stuff sticks to the inside of the glass and provides another layer of protection. The glass can be broken, but the film holds it together and in place, preventing an easy reach inside to unlock the door. To make an entry possible, your burglar would have to do more than just one quick smash–it would take repeated blows–making plenty of noise, and taking time–something thieves find indigestible.
Yes, bad guys will take on an RV, if they think the payoff will exceed the risk. By taking a few simple precautions, and by spending a few bucks on enhanced security, you’ll dramatically reduce the chances that a burglar will find your RV worth the risk.
photo courtesy diywindowsecurity.com
