Last June, we blogged about the potential danger of bumper stickers and car decals that provide detailed information on your family and kids.
Recently, law enforcement professionals began weighing in on the issue.
From firstcoastnews.com:
Local law enforcement agencies are warning motorists about the dangers of their bumper stickers.
Allan Harnage is a huge Gator fan, but besides showing his whole family bleeds blue and orange, he’s also letting people know how many family members he has and what kind of pets, through his family car decal.
“I haven’t really thought about it,” said Harnage. “With the stickers of the dogs there I’m hoping it might tell them to stay away.”
Law enforcement says it invites criminals. The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office posted a photo of how bumper stickers could be dangerous on Facebook, soon, other law enforcement agencies began to share it. They say family car stickers can tell people – Dad is in the military and is gone a lot, mom is alone with the kids, and there’s a pet but it’s not a guard dog.
“It’s maybe got me thinking, maybe I should take them off,” said Kathleen Wiggins.
Wiggins has a bumper sticker on her car letting everyone know there’s a Marine in her family and is probably not home a lot.
“That does really worry me, I never thought about anything like that,” added Wiggins.
Police say having bumper stickers about where your kid goes to school is another way to inform people of where you’ll be dropping your child off. If your kids are involved in sports, it will tell them you’re probably not home in the afternoons. That’s the case for Julie Maddox who has a sticker of her little football player # 10.
“My mother in law has brought that up to me and I actually bought her one and she stuck it on the inside of her car for fear of that,” said Maddox.
The FBI reports that in 2012 there were over two million burglaries in the US , almost 75 percent were residential burglaries. It’s something to think about, but others say they are not too worried about a little sticker pride.
“Criminals can always find out stuff about us, we have to be careful, but not too careful to the point where we let our lives be inhibited by criminals,” added Harnage.
