Security check finds too many unlocked cars

By Mr. Jeff Crawley (IMCOM)November 25, 2009

FORT SILL, Okla. --About one in every eight privately-owned vehicles is left unlocked while parked at Fort Sill, according to an October survey by the Department of Fire and Emergency Services. Items found in unlocked vehicles ranged from wallets and purses to keys in the ignition.

People should lock their vehicles whether they are parked in downtown Lawton or at their post housing, said Janet McMurtrey, chief of the Physical Security Branch. Even though Fort Sill is a secure, gated federal community it still has a crime rate.

Branch security specialists perform the semiannual survey each spring and fall and check more than 2,200 vehicles over two days across the post, McMurtrey said.

"We just pull on the doors. If the vehicle is open we give it a cursory inspection to see what is left unsecured," she said. The surveyors do not enter vehicles.

"We find all kinds of things unsecured like prescription meds, DVD players and TA-50 (government equipment)," McMurtrey said. "We find at least one weapon every time we go out." She noted that many hunters use the fort's open spaces for authorized hunting.

Violaters found notices in their vehicles. The bright red half-sheet, is usually left on the driver's seat or on the dash, McMurtrey said.

Regulation 190-1, dated June 10, 2009, also has specific rules about the carrying of weapons in a POV, she said.

Keeping personal property locked up extends beyond just vehicles, she said. Soldiers living in barracks should lock their doors even when they are just making a quick trip to their cars or visiting a buddy next door.

"A lot of the crimes are crimes of opportunity," she said.

Post housing areas are no exception. Toys should not be left out in the yard at night and garage doors should be closed, she said.

"We're getting information from the police, who are driving past houses at two or three in morning and seeing garage doors wide open," McMurtrey said.