SFGAd: $3000 In Items Alleged Taken From Car

[The Interpreter]

JACKSON — A South Carolina family had personal items valued at more than $3,000 stolen from inside their car Thursday after they made a last minute decision to stop at Six Flags Great Adventure before returning home from vacation, township police said.

After a five-hour visit at the amusement park, the family returned to their 2006 Dodge Charger to discover a door had been pried open and found several items taken including Nintendo DSi, DS and Wii computer video gaming systems, 28 video games, laptop computer, digital camera, cell phone and cash, according to the family.

This is the ninth burglary reported at the theme park since Memorial Day weekend, a total typical for this time of the year, according to Capt. David Newman of the Jackson police.

The burglars are targeting iPods, digital cameras, cell phones, laptops, portable gaming systems and other valuable personal items left in full view inside cars, Newman said....

More at:

http://www.app.com/a...ar-at-Six-Flags

[vortexfan]

What's the point of going on vacation if you bring all that crap with you? Might as well stay home.

[CedarPointer]

They brought a Wii? Wow.

[Guest Millennium]

Thats scary considering I was there just two weeks ago.

And if you thinks that bad...On my trip I brought an iPad, iPod, iPhone, LOL, laptop w/ broadband, etc.

Are you saying all you bring are your bags? Ya gotta have some entertainment on that drive..

[The Interpreter]

Do you leave this stuff laying out in plain view inside your vehicle?

Most victims at GAd did. And I'd suspect most major parks have similar problems. I know Disney does, and have personally heard of several people who have had laptops stolen from vehicles in Disney parking lots...none of the laptops having been in plain view, either.

[flightoffear1996]

I never have this problem. Because A. you cant see in my windows if your jsut walking by. B. If you stop and try to get within 6" my alarm will go off.

[The Interpreter]

But, nowadays nobody but nobody pays ANY attention to a car alarm going off. In fact, in New York City, that will get YOU a ticket, for noise pollution.

[Guest Millennium]

Um..I pay attention when I hear a car alarm go off.

[IBEW_Sparky]

As a former Police Officer, ask me how many theft reports I filled out for people with tinted windows and alarms that made their vehicles so "safe". As Terpy said, the only attention the vast majority of todays public pays to alarms is to yell "Turn that *** off", and to be honest, deep tint on a nice vehicle ATTRACTS attention, almost as much as an Alpine or JL Audio decal on the vehicle. Alarm systems serve two purposes... A)insurance rate discounts and B)To ward off amatuer "smash and grab" thieves who dont know how to defeat said system. Bottom line... they want it, they will get it... the best "security system" is to lock everything of any value whatsoever in the trunk and disengage the interior trunk release.

[Dbfan]

28 seperate games? Must have been a long vacation.

[The Interpreter]

One must wonder if the alleged losses here were padded...

[pkiboy]

Thats scary considering I was there just two weeks ago.

And if you thinks that bad...On my trip I brought an iPad, iPod, iPhone, LOL, laptop w/ broadband, etc.

Are you saying all you bring are your bags? Ya gotta have some entertainment on that drive..

I guess ur not used to traveling like I am. I Sleep in the car or talk to the people in the car or I text to other Kicers. The Drive to Great Adventure is not that Bad lol. Now driving thru the State of Penn I will admit is a Pain. That turnpike is Evil lol.

[Dalefan]

Doesn't SFGA know how to beef up guards since they said this happens this time of year all the time? Common sense people. Lol.

[The Interpreter]

Doesn't SFGA know how to beef up guards since they said this happens this time of year all the time? Common sense people. Lol.

9 such incidents. No, even one is not acceptable, but this season there have been 9 such incidents. Literally tens of thousands of cars parked in that lot each operating day. The park has incredible levels of security. And the press watches every little thing in the New York City media market. I submit other parks have had similar levels of activity in their parking lots, it just doesn't make the media like this did. One reason this did is because the victim went to Craig's list and made a really big deal about these losses.

Have you been to Great Adventure? You will find far more visible security, and far more of it, than in most parks in America. I actually feel safer there than many, if not most, places. Similar parking lot thefts take place in major parking lots throughout America on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, Great Adventure ejects people for smoking, for line jumping, for counterfeiting (that happened this week), and I see far less misconduct there than in most parks, including one that this site is about. Security is empowered to keep the peace there, and they do an astounding job. The Great Northeast, for better or worse, is not the Midwest. You can't go visit The Coney Island Cyclone, for example, and act as in you are in Mason, Ohio. You are not.

Heck, these days, even Mason, Ohio is not the place it once was.

By the way, the front gate security (and parking lot security) at Great Adventure is at the same or higher levels both manpower wise and in detecting items coming into the park as it was three and five years ago. I know of at least one major park where that cannot be said.

[TH13TEEN]

^ Kings Island: Where else?

13, just sayin'

[Dieseltech20]

No way I would take all that crap on a vacation. Wouldn't surprise me if they only lost 1/3 those items and see this as an opportunity to make some money.

As for car alarms, I rarely see anyone look twice at a car going off. My car sets them off if I am anywhere near them.

[Browntggrr]

I have a difficult time believing all these items were out of sight.

A thief is not going to take the time to pry a car door open if they cannot justify it. If they can't see anything worth stealing, they will most likely move on to another car where there are items that can be seen.

Out of sight, out of mind.

And yes, could security be beefed up? Sure. Security can always be added. But that doesn't stop a thief's intentions.

Banks are robbed everyday...

[Dalefan]

Doesn't SFGA know how to beef up guards since they said this happens this time of year all the time? Common sense people. Lol.

9 such incidents. No, even one is not acceptable, but this season there have been 9 such incidents. Literally tens of thousands of cars parked in that lot each operating day. The park has incredible levels of security. And the press watches every little thing in the New York City media market. I submit other parks have had similar levels of activity in their parking lots, it just doesn't make the media like this did. One reason this did is because the victim went to Craig's list and made a really big deal about these losses.

Have you been to Great Adventure? You will find far more visible security, and far more of it, than in most parks in America. I actually feel safer there than many, if not most, places. Similar parking lot thefts take place in major parking lots throughout America on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, Great Adventure ejects people for smoking, for line jumping, for counterfeiting (that happened this week), and I see far less misconduct there than in most parks, including one that this site is about. Security is empowered to keep the peace there, and they do an astounding job. The Great Northeast, for better or worse, is not the Midwest. You can't go visit The Coney Island Cyclone, for example, and act as in you are in Mason, Ohio. You are not.

Heck, these days, even Mason, Ohio is not the place it once was.

By the way, the front gate security (and parking lot security) at Great Adventure is at the same or higher levels both manpower wise and in detecting items coming into the park as it was three and five years ago. I know of at least one major park where that cannot be said.

I'm not a big fan of Six Flags and never will be. And how they maintain most of the rides scare me. When i went to SFWOA before Cedar Fair bought it, i was shocked at how rude most of the workers were and how dirty the park was. Most of the workers looked like they was mad at you. Lol. When Cedar Fair took over, Geauga Lake was more better. Cleaner park, nice workers and the rides were safer. It's not worth the gas and money for me to go to SFGA.

[The Interpreter]

Six Flags has been through two different managements since then. ONLY the name is the same.

In fact, the gentleman currently running Six Flags is a former park manager from a park you seem to love.

For a very long time, I felt like you currently do about SFGAd. It is, perhaps, the biggest regret I have in the park enthusiast portion of my life. To make assumptions and not go based on those assumptions is your loss, as it was mine. It is particularly sad when those assumptions are based on things long since passed, that weren't even accurate then.

[Rustbucket]

To be honest, SF has improved greatly over the past five years. I quite enjoy their parks now. I was not impressed with SF employees back in 2004 and 2005. They did not seem to care about helping guests or helping them enjoy the visits. The parks were messy and overly pricy. Now the parks are cleaner and have improved themes and appearances. I still do not like the concept of Flash Pass (pay to skip line if you ask me) and $15 parking, but most of their souvenir shops are reasonably priced.

They are struggling like most of the theme park chains. They had to transform their parks to have better services. Otherwise, they were going to be in deeper trouble. Things are looking little better for them with the new management at SF.

[Dalefan]

My eyes read the stories. I only seen a few things good. The rest bad. I'm not changing my mind.