Carjacking involves robbing someone of their vehicle by force. Quite often, other crimes are also involved, such as battery. It’s a violent crime that can be brutal to the victim.
How to Prevent a Carjacking
Carjackings typically occur in urban areas where there is a high number of occupied vehicles, including parking lots, gas stations, and convenience stores. While avoiding such areas is a great first step in avoiding being carjacked, that’s not always feasible.
Fortunately, there are some other approaches you can take.
Head Up, Eyes Open
We talk a lot about situational awareness, and for good reason. It’s one of the best ways to avoid becoming a crime victim. If you keep your eyes off your phone and instead pay attention to the world around you, you’ll be better able to see potential trouble coming and take the appropriate action.
In this case, this means watching for people lingering in the area as you approach your vehicle. Does it seem like anyone is paying close attention to you? Listen to your gut. If anything seems amiss, turn around and go back to the store or duck into another nearby business. Don’t be reluctant to call the police and ask for an officer to come to your location. No, they might not be available to respond immediately, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.
When you get to your vehicle, look in the back seat before you get inside. Make sure nobody is hiding there. If anything looks awry at all, don’t get into the vehicle. Call for assistance and find somewhere safe to hang out until they arrive.
Get Moving
Once you get into your vehicle, don’t spend time adjusting the radio, checking your appearance in the mirror, scrolling through your phone, or doing a half-dozen other things people love to do while sitting behind the wheel. What you might not realize is that you’re giving a carjacker all kinds of time to approach your door and introduce themselves.
Get in the car, buckle up, and leave the area. If need be, you can pull over in a different area of the parking lot for a minute to do all that other stuff.
If It Happens
Despite your best efforts, you could still become a carjacking victim. I know it will be a pain, but it’s truly a good idea to just let them have the vehicle. There’ll be some paperwork to handle, including a police report as well as an insurance claim. But those are far less painful than being shot.
Get your children out of the vehicle first. Older kids can exit on their own. Younger ones might need help. Don’t get out of the vehicle yourself until the kids are out. You want there to be zero chance of the carjacker taking the vehicle with any of your children still inside. Tell the carjacker they can have the car, but you need to get the kids out first.
On the other hand, if the carjacker demands you stay with the vehicle, fight back with everything you have. Your life might depend upon it. Most carjackers just want the vehicle, either to sell to a chop shop, take for a joyride, or use in a different crime. If they want you with the vehicle, that means they have more on their mind than just the car theft. They want to take you to a second crime scene where you will probably be assaulted, raped, and likely murdered.
Drawing and firing a weapon in a confined space like a vehicle can be difficult at best. If you routinely carry a firearm, practice this scenario on a regular basis. Remember that there may be other passengers in the vehicle at the time, and you need to control your fire with that in mind.
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