What to look out for when a thief smashes your car window - FOX 8 Live WVUE

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NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Car break-ins have unfortunately become somewhat synonymous with living in the city, so many already know to never keep valuables in the car.

Even still, there’s something everyone keeps in their car that you might not think is important, but to a thief, it can be more valuable than your cash.

“I was like, wow, y’all really wanted the registration,” a victim of a recent rash of car break-ins said.

Despite a locked glove box, the thieves pried it open with a crowbar to get to her registration.

It left her to wonder why anyone would care about a piece of paper after scoring a hefty haul of stolen goods from over 15 other cars like guns, a profitable prescription and a guitar.

“They [detectives] say that’s one of the most valuable things they can get out of your car,” she said.

Well, it turns out, that’s true.

“Vehicle registration has some very important and very personal information,” Michael Boudreaux with the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles said. “It has your address, it has your name, it has some title information, it has all the information about your vehicle and just a lot of different things that you don’t just give to anyone on the street.”

That information can be used in a few different ways.

Sometimes a thief can use it to commit other vehicle related crimes, but the OMV says that can be involved and tricky.

The most common uses are a bit more simplistic.

“Our identities get stolen every day,” Dr. Ashraf Esmail said. “It’s things like this that people utilize, they get money and get access to accounts, all these kinds of things, just by basic information.”

Esmail, A Dillard University Criminologist, says he’s personally dealing with FEMA fraud that happened with far less information even than what’s on a vehicle’s registration.

Even simpler than identity theft, Esmail says there’s another key piece of info that he’s seen a wave of criminals use a few years back.

“People were breaking into cars, getting car registrations while people were sitting at dinner at restaurants or in a movie theater, etc. because they figured they could be gone two to three hours, let me get their address and go rob them,” Esmail said.

So what do you do if someone does steal your registration?

“You do file a police report, because your vehicle registration was stolen, bring it with you to your appointment at the Office of Motor Vehicles when you come to get a duplicate, we’ll waive the fees that are associated with the duplicate vehicle registration, and we’ll get you a new one,” Boudreaux said.

NOPD recommends keeping copies of your important documents at home so that way if the car is stolen or your paperwork is stolen, you can assist detectives in the investigation.

In your car, Esmail recommends keeping the paperwork in an unusual place that you can still access if pulled over by law enforcement.

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