As everyone who lives in Hays knows, we are very fortunate to live in such a safe and friendly community.

Compared to most other cities our size and certainly compared to larger cities, our incidents of crime are rather low. As safe as it is to live in Hays, each of us still need to practice basic home and vehicle safety to avoid becoming a victim of crime.

You should lock the exterior doors to your home when you are away from home, asleep, and even when you are working in a different part of the house or in the back yard.

Unlocked doors are an invitation to a prospective burglar to unlawfully enter your home. Similarly, unlocked car doors are an invitation to a potential thief to steal valuables left in your vehicle or possibly even steal your car.

In 2009, there were 86 car burglaries and 26 reports of vehicle thefts in Hays. So far this year, we have experienced 48 car burglaries and nine car thefts. In 2009 and 2010 to date, almost every car stolen involved a car where the owner had left the keys in the car.

A person or persons with unlawful intentions and looking for a ride took advantage of the overly trusting car owner and used the owner's car key to steal the car.

Now, when you consider how many thousands of vehicles are in Hays, the chance of having your car burglarized or stolen is probably not very high, but do you really want to be victimized?

By simply locking your car doors, rolling up your windows and placing anything of value out of view, you might completely avoid ever having something unlawfully taken from your vehicle or someone stealing your car.

Removing the easy opportunity of an unlocked car with CDs, cash, a wallet or other items of value inside by simply storing items of value out of sight and locking your car is simply the smart and correct thing to do.

Always removing your car keys from your vehicle will all but guarantee that your vehicle will be where you left it when you return.

Home and vehicle security helps keep you safe. Taking a few seconds to lock your car and remove your valuables can go a long way toward preventing a vehicle burglary. Removing the bait makes the would-be burglar move on, away from your vehicle.

Philip Hartsfield is assistant chief of the Hays Police Department.