Where to park vehicles on carpool chasing

[Derek Weston]

What have you folks done in the past when you've driven a distance to meet up with a group and then proceed to use their chasing vehicle? (leaving your vehicle behind, obviously) This, when the meeting point is at a location not the home of any of the participants.

What locations do you feel good about letting your vehicle park for hours if not a day or so?

I was thinking a nice hotel parking lot perhaps? A quite neighborhood? I really don't know.

 

[David Drummond]

The most heavily surveyed and camera covered area I can think of... Super Walmart parking lot! LOL

 

[Derek Weston]

The most heavily surveyed and camera covered area I can think of... Super Walmart parking lot! LOL

Ahhh. Should have clarified: where do people successfully park their cars such that they're not mercilessly stripped down by meth addicts looking for quick cash for their next fix....

The upside of Walmart, though, I guess, is that at least I'd have video record of the event.

 

[Karen Politte]

I totally agree with David's suggestion - Super Wal-Mart. They're everywhere, and they're high on cameras, lights, people, and security. They're 24-hr, so there's always going to be staff around, too.

I used to leave my vehicle (when just bought and new to me!) in the parking lot of a Super Wal-Mart over several weekends in the springtime - and nary a hair brushed it's waxed exterior......let alone anything else!!

KP

 

[Steve Miller]

Yep, my chase partner regularly leaves his car at a Super Wal-Mart. They have 24-hour security driving around in addition to the cameras.
Since I live in a small town, I have the luxury of seeing the police log in the local newspaper. Never is there a "theft from vehicle" at the local wally-world. Theft of merchandise from this same store is a regular police item though...

 

[Derek Weston]

Ah. Honestly, kind of a different perception of wal-mart around here. And maybe it's flawed. But the thought is that a lot of shenanigans go on around wal-mart locations... theft, assault, and what not. At least more so than other similar locations. Therefore, I've been kind of leery about making use of a Wal-Mart in such a way. But maybe I'm off...

 

[Jeff Snyder]

The "quality" of Wal-marts vary a lot from region to region. Where I grew up south of St. Paul, MN, the Wal-marts were largely quite dumpy, and there was a very strong perception that Walmarts = slumy while Target = nice and relatively upscale. The Super Wal-marts down here in the OKC area, particularly the new Super Wal-marts, are actually quite nice. It's still a big box store, but they aren't really any more "dumpy" than Targets.

That being said, I've also left my vehicle @ Super Wal-marts without any problems. There has also been a time or two when we left a chase partner's vehicle at a "Park and Ride" place in the OKC area. These are typically quite well-lit and reasonably traveled. I know of one Park and Ride place that sees regular police patrol, but I've never hung around this particular one to see how often the police drive by or through it. My only concern with parking in a business's parking lot (i.e. Walmart parking lots) is the threat of towing if someone notices my car in the parking lot for 12+ hours (i.e. long chases). Many 24hr Super Walmarts are typically busy enough that I'm not too concerned that someone will notice my car in the parking lot for that long, so it's not a strong enough concern that I avoid it. It also helps to try to blend in as much as possible (i.e. no antennae, etc). If it's a "normal"-looking car, there's no reason it may not belong to an employee, which could explain why it's been in the parking lot for so long.

 

[Derek Weston]

The "quality" of Wal-marts vary a lot from region to region. Where I grew up south of St. Paul, MN, the Wal-marts were largely quite dumpy, and there was a very strong perception that Walmarts = slumy while Target = nice and relatively upscale.

This is the perception I deal with in Eastern Iowa.

At any rate, perhaps I'll re-consider walmart.

 

[Glenn Rasmussen]

The first place that comes to my mind is at the Airport.

I have never had to leave my vehicle, but i considered the same situation last Thursday when friends and I were planning to meet up in N.Tx area.

I travel a lot and i know that some airports such as OKC are fairly cheap for multi-day parking/long term parking ($4-5/day) and even DFW ($7/day) isn't too bad. It seems these locations would be fairly secure and I have never had any break in problems.

 

[Bill Tabor]

Yep, Gene, a few others, and I used to use Walmart.

 

[Dann Cianca]

Here in Denver, one of the city's many park-and-ride lots work well for carpool parking. They're usually well lit and under surveillance.

 

[Cameron Redwine]

Ah. Honestly, kind of a different perception of wal-mart around here. And maybe it's flawed. But the thought is that a lot of shenanigans go on around wal-mart locations... theft, assault, and what not. At least more so than other similar locations. Therefore, I've been kind of leery about making use of a Wal-Mart in such a way. But maybe I'm off...

I agree. When I worked as a dispatcher in Pueblo, we had plenty of goings on in the Wal-Mart lots on both sides of town. Not just petty stuff either. Also, I was under the impression (may be wrong), that the cameras were largely for loss prevention purposes and were not necessarily being monitored. Don't know whether or not you should park there, but I'm just saying...

 

[David Drummond]

Here in the Lubbock area, someone recently called in a bomb scare at a local community college. The called it in from two different Walmarts. Police used the footage from the Walmart security cameras to nail down the same vehicle and person at both stores coincident with the phone call times. They caught them. So they are at least recorded if not monitored.

You could always got to the local police station, park it in front of that, tell them why and go.

 

[Dennis Sherrod]

The camera systems at Walmart are designed and set up to provide a frontal area view of the parking areas. In other words, they are adjusted to view out to only the first 20 or so parking spaces deep, set back from the store front. If cameras are not used throughout the parking areas, these lose all detail after that range of parking spaces as these are usually using 8-40 variable focal length lenses. Most have only between .5 and 1.5 lux rating. These are recorded on a hard drives and are usually only maintained before being written over every 2 -4 days depending on the set up and frame rates for each camera. This does not apply to every store, but is the norm for the Walmart camera system set ups.
Walmart corporate policy allows overnight motor home parking at most locations, but is subject to each cities laws and the store or regional manager's discretion. Some do not allow any parking as what is being discussed here and several stores are contracting with Securitas as their security company to help stop many of the problems that do occur in larger parking areas such as Walmart. I have known of a few that are towing any vehicle left over 24 hours.
Personally, I would not trust my vehicle to be parked more than a few hours at any Walmart or other large area parking lots, especially after dark. These are prime target areas for the misfits and criminal elements as these parking areas are so large and not easily watched. I would think anyone leaving a vehicle parked there should not be surprised that it may be broken into. Of course, this could happen anywhere, but, I would seek a motel or one of the larger 24 hour convenience store / gas stations and ask permission from the manager to park out front, out of their normal traffic flow.

 

[Brent Gilles]

To me it seems like if you park it in a well light and public area then it should be fine. Also, take into account what part of town you are leaving it in looks like, if its trashy find some place else. Obviously, you shouldn't leave your vehicle anywhere for more than a day. If you do need to do that, then like Glenn suggested before, try an airport parking lot because it will definitely be safe there.