7 Out of 11 Vehicles Stolen in MN Were Left Running Unattended

Get our free mobile app

This Minnesota police department just sent an alert about what some residents are doing that makes it way too easy for thieves to steal their vehicles.

Some violent crimes have been increasing not only here in Minnesota but across the country these days and the Saint Paul Police Department (SPPD) just sent an alert about what some of its residents did that made their vehicles sitting ducks for car thieves.

According to a post on the SPPD Facebook page Tuesday, 11 vehicles had been stolen in Minnesota's capital city since Sunday night, and-- here's the kicker-- seven of them were left running unattended.

And they were stolen? You don't say!

We'd all like to think, even living here in Rochester, that we can just go out and start our cars to let them warm up and have them still be there when we come back a few minutes later, right?

Well, sadly, police say, that's just almost literally inviting a car thief to jump in your car and drive away these days. I mean, heck, they don't even have to break in... those vehicles were just sitting there, already running!

I get that we've been experiencing a bout of really cold weather in the Bold North lately and that coming out to a warm car is something we'd all like. But again, leaving a car running unattended is something we should NOT do.

In fact, technically, according to state law here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, it's actually illegal to warm up your car on a cold day (if you leave it running unattended, that is.)

In addition to the reminder about not leaving your vehicle running unattended, the SPPD also reminded Saint Paul residents (and Minnesotans in general) to help stave off thieves by not leaving children, pets, cell phones, laptops, purses, or any other valuables in your car, truck or SUV, either.

Being able to leave our cars running while they warm up harkens back to a simpler time, doesn't it? Kind of like the time when you first started driving. And speaking of that, do you remember what gas cost when you first got your driver's license? Keep scrolling to find out!

Listen to Curt St. John in the Morning
weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. on Quick Country 96.5

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.