It's never too cold to be vigilant.

It seems that some people in our area start their cars, leave them running in order to warm up the engine, and then go elsewhere (like inside the house) while the engine warms up. Not a good idea, people. This behavior has resulted in at least three incidents of auto theft over the past couple of days. ("This morning, our car was stolen in front of our house as my husband and children were approaching to get into it"; "A neighbor on Aspen had a car stolen from their drive a couple of days ago -- same situation, they'd left it to warm up", wrote neighbors on the Shepherd Park and Takoma listservs, respectively.) This in turn prompted Fourth District Commander Kimberly Chisley Missouri to send a notice to the 4D listserv reminding people of how not-a-good-idea this is. Which has in turn resulted in DCist's Aaron Morrissey making fun of us. That's pathetic, folks! We need to be more street smart than this. It's never too cold to be vigilant.