Not long after Jason and I moved to Las Vegas in 2000 did I discover what it’s like to be the victim of a “smash and grab.”

We grew up in Bellevue. I never drove a nice car — my first was a pre-dented 1968 Dodge Dart with a backseat that wasn’t bolted down — and never left anything of worth in my cars to inspire someone to break into them.

So, it did not occur to me at the tender age of 22 that I shouldn’t leave stuff in my car and I learned that lesson the hard way in late September 2000.

I had left my Timbuk2 messenger bag with my notes, checkbook and tape recorder, among other things, in the backseat of the 1990 Ford F150 that Jason and I shared while we lived in Vegas.

I had also left some CDs, some other random items and our wedding photo album (which was in a box) sitting on the front seat after getting home from work.

The next morning I went out to the truck to discover that someone had smashed out the driver’s side window and taken everything out of the car, including our photo album, which we never saw again.

I had to do interviews over again because my interview notes were in my messenger bag. This was embarrassing because I was working as an intern at a daily newspaper. I had just started the job and was trying to prove my worth. This did not help.

I also lost some really nice items I had gotten a few months earlier when I graduated from the University of Washington that were in my bag.

The car stereo was stolen along with CDs. This was before Napster and digital music downloads. With Jason going to University of Nevada, Las Vegas and working part-time while I was making an intern’s hourly pay we couldn’t afford to replace the CDs.

In fact, the only things the insurance covered was the stereo and the glass.

A year ago as our 10th wedding anniversary gift to each other we were able to finally getting our wedding photos reprinted, thanks to Cory Parris, our wonderful photographer who got all the photos onto DVD. No easy task since when we got married in 2000 Parris was still shooting with film.

But, we couldn’t afford to get that done at the time.

After that I left nothing in the car. We still put CDs in the truck but they were “mix tape” style and not the original album.

Still, the truck was broken into again, two more times over the next two years we lived in Vegas. The second time was in the apartment complex and all they got was the stereo and some mix tape CDs. Ha! Jokes on you thieves!

The third time was while I was out to lunch. The truck was parked at a restaurant near a mall in Henderson. Someone broke the wing window on the passenger side and stole the stereo in broad daylight. That one still leaves me shaking my head.

After all that I learned to be very careful about making sure there was nothing worth stealing in my vehicle. I try not to leave anything in plain view or even hidden in the glove box or center console. Not all thieves are so easily deterred.

So, imagine what goes through my head every time I look at the police report that are e-mailed to me during the week by the staff at the King County Sheriff’s Precinct No. 3, chock full of car prowls, thefts and break ins.

Yes, Maple Valley, Covington, Black Diamond, Ravensdale, Hobart are very safe places to live generally speaking.

That doesn’t mean we don’t have criminals here.

Here are some statistics for you. While car thefts have gone down since 2005, dropping by close to 50 percent by 2009, there has been a significant increase in thefts from vehicles, according to statistics provided by the city of Maple Valley and King County Sheriff’s Office.

In 2005 there were 70 thefts from vehicles. By 2009 that had risen to 132 and in that same period the number of stolen cars had risen from eight to 30.

By comparison, in 2009, Covington had 153 car prowls reported where thieves had stolen items from vehicles.

In 2009 in King Count there were a total of 837 vehicles recovered after they were stolen which was an 18 percent decrease from 2008.

I’ve lived in Maple Valley since May 2004. Most of the time I park my car in the garage but when I am at work or anywhere in the area, I don’t leave my iPod in the car even though it’s out of sight, because that’s a prime target for thieves.

Detective Jason Stanley with the Maple Valley Police Department had a handful of suggestions that I think bear repeating.

First, Stanley said in an e-mail, lock your car.

“Remove or hide your valuables when you’re not in your car,” Stanley said. “Car prowlers are generally opportunists looking for an easy score.”

My Mustang has not been a victim of the smash and grab, thankfully, though I do have a decent stereo and probably shouldn’t leave my sunglasses sitting in a cup holder.

On the other hand, I don’t leave my camera bag sitting on the front seat, even if I’m running into Starbucks because the time it takes for me to get my grande skinny vanilla latte is enough opportunity for a thief to do a smash and grab.

I see that often on the reports I get. That’s what I build the blotter from and as an aside I want to thank the nice folks at Precinct 3 for sending that to me via e-mail. It really makes my life a lot easier.

Every week there’s a number of reports about people’s cars being rifled through and I am always surprised that folks who live around here leave their car doors unlocked. Ever. That’s an open invitation.

Lately GPS units, cell phones and iPods left in plain view are enough to attract a thief to smash your car window and grab as much as he can from a car in just a few short minutes. Those are all popular items, Stanley said, as well as custom stereo units, digital cameras, custom auto parts on “tricked out cars and anything else that can be sold or pawned by the suspect.”

“Use your car’s factory radio,” Stanley said. “Custom radios are a favorite target for thieves.”

Heck, even loose change in your cup holder can be enticing.

“If you do a lot of customization to your car, consider yourself a rolling billboard for the thieves,” Stanley said. “This includes blasting your loud stereo to show would-be thieves that you have nice equipment in your vehicle.”

In the summer I am constantly bugging my husband to not leave his windows rolled down. That’s another invitation.

And when it’s cold, Stanley said, don’t warm up your car and leave it unattended because “car thieves will like the nice warm ride when they drive it from your driveway.”

Recently, some folks I know here in Maple Valley experienced a smash and grab when the car was not in view of their business. All sorts of things were stolen from electronics to clothing. The items that thieves deemed not of value were tossed onto a nearby trail.

And all this happened within blocks of the sheriff’s precinct and the Maple Valley Police Department. Thieves can be quite brazen.

Another Maple Valley resident told me a story on Facebook about how her son’s car was stolen, stripped clean and found the next day in Covington.

When the car was replaced, she said, they made sure to put a car alarm on it to prevent future theft.

Another contact on Facebook told me a long time ago he put nails in the driver’s seat so they came up through the fabric after “some idiots used my B210 as a hockey puck when the ground froze.”

Apparently the thieves didn’t like that and pushed the vehicle a half mile into the Green River.

Ultimately, I just want you to keep this all in mind. You don’t have to be the victim of a smash and grab. While there are some things that are unavoidable there are many things that can be done to keep your car from being targeted.

It saves time and money in the long run plus it cuts off a revenue stream for criminals who use money they get from selling stuff they stole to continue other illicit activities.

And if nothing else, do it for me, since it drives me nuts to see another car broken into because of a simple thing that could’ve been done to prevent the crime.

So, for my sanity, please?