Lock your car doors, or the police in New Haven might try to teach you a lesson

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WABC) -- Police in one community in Connecticut are taking an unorthodox approach to teaching drivers a valuable lesson, but is it legal?

To teach drivers to lock the doors of their parked cars, officers in New Haven are going into unlocked vehicles and taking all the valuables.

Police then leave a note telling the driver that the valuables can be picked up at the police station property room.

Civil rights activists are crying foul.

The city says there's a caretaker provision in state law allowing police to remove the property.