Protecting Against Burglary

in #life6 years ago


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Introduction

Burglary is a crime that causes damage to not only property but to the victim’s sense of safety and security. The most current data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting statistics indicates that there were 1,515,096 burglaries in the U. S. in 2016 and that was a slight reduction from the previous year. The victims lost a massive, $3.6 billion in property, of which some was recovered due to insurance and that means higher rates for everyone. Although burglary is not 100% preventable, this article will delve into some techniques that can lower your exposure to burglary and how to better the chances of recovering your property in the event that it is stolen.

Hard and Soft Targets

Within the law enforcement community, commercial and residential structures are graded as being a “hard” or “soft” target with regards to how appealing and easy to breech that structure is for potential thieves. A “soft” target refers to a business or residence that has weaknesses and obvious avenues for breeching. A “hard” target describes a business or residence that is more difficult to break in to and has systems in place to deter people from breaking into it. When officers or detective go to the scene of a commercial or residential burglary, they look for ways in which the property was a soft target and then discuss with the owners ways of improving the security of the area, or on how to “harden” the target to reduce the risk of future burglaries.

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One method that is used to deter burglaries is to remove shrubbery from all of the entry points and windows. This makes concealing an illegal entry more difficult. Criminals attempt to find a way to enter and leave a building without being seen from people passing by and also ways that will not be immediately discovered if seen from the roadway. An example of this would be a window that has a large shrub covering it. By removing the shrub, you eliminate a hidden path for criminals to use.

Another important improvement along these lines is to ensure adequate lighting on all areas of the property so that no shadows are left for criminals to exploit. It is a good practice to place these security lights on timers that come on whether the homeowner is at home or not and to have some of the lights be motioned-sensored spotlights that come on unexpectedly. This way if a burglar does find a weak area in your lighting system, his movements may trip lights he cannot see and force him to retreat or face being detected.

An additional technique is to ensure that all valuable equipment, such as lawnmowers, motorcycles, leaf blowers, and power tools, are kept out of sight during the day. By keeping this type of equipment stored indoors, it limits what a passing burglar might see when he is canvasing the area for targets. This includes homeowners closing their garage doors when the garage is not in use. Leaving it open, even while doing yard work on the weekend, is an invitation for thieves to make an inventory of possible valuables to steal at a later date.

One of the most important tools in the battle against burglary is the purchase and utilization of a security alarm system. These types of systems have become increasingly affordable in recent years and the cost to replace stolen items will far outweigh the cost of maintenance and monitoring of an alarm system. It is imperative that yard and window signs are utilized promoting the use of these types of systems. Criminals roam neighborhoods several times before actually breaking into a house and seeing signs showing the use of an alarm system will force them to concentrate on “softer” targets. It is also a good practice to consider adding a video surveillance system on the property. These too have become more cost effective and easier to use for the layperson. A professional thief will see these cameras and be less likely to risk being identified. If your house is violated, the footage can be used to identify the perpetrators or suspect vehicles involved with the crime. Make sure at least one of the cameras faced the roadway and at least one of the cameras near the windows or doors is at eye level. Facial features can be greatly distorted with a camera angle that is above head facing downward.

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Using heavy duty dead bolts and other high grade locking mechanisms will make it harder for thieves to break in. Although any door can be breached, the more time it takes to break into a building the better. Criminals know that time is of the essence and they rely on getting in and out quickly in order to stay ahead of responding police officers. The longer it takes them to get in is less time they have to take items and get away with them. An added measure of safety is to use wooden dowel roads or metal rods in windows to prevent them from being opened. If windows have to be broken, the breaking glass will cause noise that may be heard causing the break in to be interrupted. Using rods behind sliding glass doors will created the same desired effect.

Minimizing the Damage

As stated before, not all burglaries are going to be prevented. If someone is desperate enough, determined enough, and ruthless enough, they will find a way into your house or business. There are ways to make the damage that they deal out a little less destructive and to help to recover your stolen property. One of the most helpful tools to recover your stolen property is to make a list of all your valuables with the make, model, serial number, and description of each item. This list should be hidden in the home in an unlikely place as well as kept of premises at a family member’s home or in a safety deposit box. All your items should be photographed and the photos stored on a thumb drive. A picture is worth a thousand words and a picture of your item is going to be much more important to identify the items than just a description will be. Make a specific mark that you can identify on your valuables and electronics in a place that only you know about; this will allow you to identify your property even if the serial number is removed.

Conclusion

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These are just a few of the tricks and techniques that can help you to avoid a burglary and minimize the damage if a burglary does occur. If your neighborhood does not have a neighborhood watch, you may want to invest the time in organizing one with the help of your local Police or Sheriff. The more eyes you have watching your property the better. If you are planning on going on vacation, have someone pick up you mail and notify the police department so that they can perform extra patrols of your home. Many departments do this free of charge to bolster relations with the communities.

Links
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting


Shared under Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) from my original work first published on DevTome .


All photos and videos are my own creation unless otherwise noted.

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A nice article. A few things I have noticed as well.

  • In the southwest, many police officers will plant cactus in front of their windows which is the opposite of the bush strategy. Burglars do not want to contend with cactus.

  • Be careful with people you invite in your home. Many burglaries are people who would know you.

  • I would recommend not to have any security tied to the internet like the cable companies offer. The system can be hacked from your computer and use your security to spy on you. This can be taken further if you integrate your locks with the security system.

  • If you are going on vacation, make sure to have them put a hold on your mail, and if you are a relic who still gets the newspaper have that held as well. Piled up mail and newspapers tip burglars off you are away.

  • Don't let the Jones know you have this or that in the way of assets. So many want to brag about their expensive toys and investments, and it is this type of action that will increase the odds someone you know will either target you or say something naively to another who will.

These are some really great points. I especially love the cactus tip, definitely makes sense. We recently returned from vacation and we utilized the mail hold system.

I also would suggest that people not post their travel plans on social media, not all of your followers are "friends ".

Great advice thanks.

Quite an insightful and educative post. With this information I believe all who apply these methods would become safer. I would have also loved to know of cheaper less expensive security measures. Thank you for the information

Grreat article. Thank you for sharing with us.

It is always important to be extra careful and watchful. An extra bolt or lock is most welcome. Here we have a notorious group called the akyat bahay gang. They climb up houses entering thru windows. It's safer getting those windows bolted aswell.

Too many people overlook securing their windows and crawlspaces. Excellent point and observation.

Where we live this is a daily event in each town, secured behind burglar bars, they will try come through the roof. Live on the 5th floor is not safe enough, they climb up drain pipes too.

Alarm systems we installed (since we did not like the idea of security company alarm systems) we use remote battery option, expensive but well worth while.

Planting thorns bushes, cactus or similar around the perimeters and under windows to make it a bit more difficult, as mentioned by @practicalthought

Lighting only works when you have electricity (ours goes off quite regularly), we have lighting everywhere, leads one back to using motion sensor battery operated systems being the best.

Always have someone in the home if possible, house sitting.

House sitting is definitely a smart option when traveling.

Most of my suggestions were just deterrents. It has been my experience that if someone want to steal or break in, they will find a way.

Handy tips that will hopefully help some people out, or at least to know some things to look for to check how secure their place is.

Thanks for taking the time to comment and for you support. It amazes me just how much people leave to chance when it comes to the security of their homes.

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