A woman driving through a Big Lots parking lot saw a tempting treasure trove of Milwaukee tools in the trunk of a new Kia Sorento—and she did the right thing.
The video revealing the situation came from Colorado-based creator Jems (@jemssea). She posted it to TikTok on Sunday and has received more than 1.9 million views as of Monday morning.
In the clip, the creator says, “So we were just driving, and this whole car with all this stuff is wide open.”
She calls out, “Hello,” toward the Kia, but no one answers.
Faced with a decision, but also documenting what she’s doing, Jems closes the trunk on the tool owner’s behalf, revealing that it’s a brand-new car with a temporary license plate on it.
“Could you imagine someone taking that [expletive]?” she concludes.
How common are car break-ins?
Depending on where you live, vehicle break-ins and theft from vehicles are not uncommon occurrences.
In 2020, per Compare.com, Denver registered the highest number of incidents for major American cities, with 5,139 per 100,000 residents. San Francisco was next on the list, with 4,794, while Philadelphia (2,039), Austin (2,004), and Washington, D.C. (1,671).
Perhaps surprisingly, New York City was low on the list, with only 50 incidents that year, compared to 99 in San Diego, 218 in Dallas, and 229 in Boston to round out the bottom four.
According to Lot Guard, “Newer cars can be broken into in less than 10 seconds,” as “thieves no longer have to overcome physical obstacles to gain entry, start, and drive away a car.” They credit keyless entry and push-button start making it easy to not only take items from a car but take the whole car itself.
What viewers thought
Some viewers were pretty sure they knew what was up.
“That’s a bait car, ma’am,” one opined.
Another agreed, adding, “You just disrupted their operation.”
“The cops sitting in that tinted truck one space over,” said another, guessing as to how they set it up.
Do police really use bait cars?
Some police departments do use “bait cars,” as one commenter wrote, to assess local car theft. In August 2023, San Francisco police announced they would begin using bait cars to take action against the city’s car theft problem, per CBS News. Minneapolis has been using bait vehicles since 1998.
However, the effectiveness of bait cars in reducing car theft has been up for debate. While Minneapolis’ deployment of “high-tech” bait cars in 2004 saw thefts decrease 37% in the first six months, Government Technology reported that Sacramento’s theft rates remained the same despite the city’s use of bait cars.
Another commenter on Jems’ video laughed, “The officers thinking they got someone and you just being a good citizen.”
“Coming from a blue collar, WE APPRECIATE YOU!” said someone else. “That is easily over 4-5k in tools. my car is the same [and] sometimes the trunk opens randomly.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok direct message and to Big Lots via email.
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