Are Your Bumper Stickers Telling Criminals Too Much About Your Life?
Bumper stickers are a fun way to accessorize your ride to match your personality, but are you inviting criminals into your lives by slapping them on your vehicle?
Next time your walk through Downtown Boise or through the parking lot at The Village at Meridian, take a look at the back windows and bumpers of the cars you walk past. Chances are you're bound to see one of those cute stick figure family decals, a school spirit sticker or some sort of parking pass.
A public service post from an Alabama sheriff's department is going viral, explaining why having those types of stickers on your vehicle isn't such a great idea.
Let's start with your stick figure family, shall we? If you buy decals that show off your family's occupations or hobbies, it could tip off who's home and who's not at what hours of the day. In the example they shared in their infographic, Dad was represented as carrying an American Flag and wearing a soldier's uniform. While most of us consider it a sign of bravery and a reason to say "thank you for your service" if you saw him get out of the vehicles, less than honorable criminals read that as a sign that the head of the household might be gone a lot because of deployments or other assignments. The son wears a soccer jersey and the daughter is in a cheerleading uniform, indicating that both the kids could easily be approached at an after school practice. The decal also included their names, so a stranger could easily know who to ask for.
That leads to a school spirit sticker. Maybe it's one supporting an athletic team or one bragging that your kiddos made honor roll. Either way, it tells a potential criminal exactly where to find your kids.
Finally, the parking pass could tell a criminal where you work or live.
It's sad to think that there are people out there who'd take advantage of something meant to be so innocent and fun, but it's another way of thinking about what you stick on your vehicle.