</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Based on all of these laws would autostart not break the laws of most states? Even though the doors are locked and the keys are removed the vehcile is running unattended. )</font>
Possibly a technical violation due to the wording of some states' and cities' laws, although it's a little hard for me to imagine an officer dumb enough to take any enforcement action if the doors are locked and the key is not in the ignition. Sometimes the wording of certain laws leaves something to be desired.
Apparently some folks disagree with a law that requires you to remove the keys from an unattended vehicle, so without expressing an opinion as to whether such laws are right or wrong, good or bad, properly worded or not, I can tell everyone the reasoning behind such laws.
I know from experience that a large number of the vehicles stolen had the keys in the ignition, which makes it easy for opportunistic thieves, so many of them would not have been stolen if the key had been removed. So, let's suppose I leave the keys in my car and it's stolen. I'm going to call the police to report it. That uses some of the police department's resources; the phone lines, salary for the person answering the phone, maybe paper and pencil if they write the report, computer resources (it'll get entered into computers whether the original report is hand written or not), etc. Now that report will get assigned to an auto theft detective and he'll have to write or type a report on whatever investigation he does, maybe a lengthy one, maybe almost none, but he'll spend some time on it either way. Along the way, police supervisors will have to review and approve the original report as well as the follow-up report(s). Now we're all paying taxes to support a police department. Is it fair for your tax dollars to be spent because I didn't take the keys out of my car?
Now I'm going to report the theft to my insurance company and they're going to pay me for the car; probably less than what it was worth to me, so I lose money, but at least they'll pay out "fair market value". And where did that money come from? Insurance premiums, and the more they pay out the higher all our premiums go. So, is it fair for your insurance premiums to go up because I didn't take the keys out of my car?
And, yes, I grew up in small towns and out in the country. My parents never had or needed more than one key for the car because it was never removed from the ignition. There was one key for the house; hung on a nail behind the front door so it wouldn't get lost if it were ever needed. I can't recall it ever being needed or used.
As for the officer jumping in someone's vehicle and taking off in it to impound it . . . it's highly unlikely (although possible) that it was the officer's decision. Enforcement policies and procedures are usually determined by the highest ranking police officials, not the officer on the street, and approved by the governing body, whether city council, county commissioners, or state legislature.
There's probably someone who will disagree with any law, but if enough people disagree and let their law makers know, it'll get changed.
