A good way to beat a criminal is to think like one — especially when it comes to deterring vehicle prowls.

It’s a no-duh statement, but car break-ins can be easily avoided by not leaving valuables — or anything that might be perceived as valuable by potential prowlers — inside your parked vehicle.

“I love to tell people to think like a criminal, don’t act like one,” said Jim Bove, community outreach facilitator for the Redmond Police Department (RPD). “When we get out of our vehicle, we should look inside and view things as a criminal might see it.”

Even if that computer bag is empty, don’t leave it sitting on the backseat. Criminals don’t know what’s inside the bag until they break into your car. They are just hoping to hit the jackpot when they see a computer bag inside of a car.

And often times, criminals do hit the jackpot because we are too lazy to hide our valuables or carry them with us.

Car prowls are one of the most frequent crimes in Redmond, but also one of the easiest to avoid, by taking careful measures to protect your valuables.

It’s really easy: value your possessions and don’t leave your expensive personal items in plain sight, carry them with you or lock them in your vehicle trunk or home.

“We’d never leave cash sitting out on the seats, so we shouldn’t leave anything that is worth that cash sitting out either,” Bove said. “Hide all electronics, power cords, paperwork, anything that is of value. Don’t make it an easy target.”

And there are way too many “easy targets” in Redmond — and it’s time to change that.

Earlier this month, there were 10 car prowls reported to RPD in one day. While that is a large amount for one day, Redmond continually gets hammered with vehicle break-ins because it is known as affluent community with lots of expensive stuff.

It’s time to protect our stuff and stop the vehicle prowlers.

There have been more than 250 reported car prowls so far this year, keeping pace with 2010’s total of 612, according to Bove.

Unfortunately it is a crime that may go unreported because a person feels the odds of getting that stolen GPS, computer or MP3 player back is remote.

But police do make arrests in these cases and often recover a large stash of stolen property. Obviously if you have not told the police what was stolen, you’re not going to get your stuff back.

Bove reiterated to report all vehicle prowls. In addition, Bove said to keep a log of your valuables by taking pictures and writing down serial numbers.

Another way to combat vehicle prowls is by being aware and connecting with your neighbors.

It’s easy for thieves to scope out vehicles and run away if they sense a police car is near. That’s why it’s important for the community to be alert to this crime and create a neighborhood watch for break-ins.

But the best — and easiest — way to stop a vehicle prowler is to eliminate the dangling carrot — don’t leave your possessions in plain sight.

Bill Christianson is the editor of the Redmond Reporter. He can be reached at bchristianson@redmond-reporter.com.