Aug. 8, 2007 - Home and property safety

Residential Burglaries

Burglary and theft from residential premises impose a significant cost upon the community. Most burglaries occur during daylight hours, when homes are often vacant. However, burglars can also strike at any time of the day, with some burglars even risking the possibility of confrontation when they commit the crime while residents are asleep. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that your home is secure at all times.

Burglary can be Prevented

Research suggests many burglaries can be prevented, but crime prevention is the responsibility of the whole community not just the police. Many burglaries appear to occur when an offender discovers an open window or unlocked door, and takes the opportunity to enter a home and steal cash or other items of value. Making sure that your home and other buildings (e.g. garage/garden shed) are always secure is an effective way to reduce the likelihood that opportunistic burglars will see your home as an easy target.

It is not always necessary to spend a lot of money on home security. A number of strategies such as those that follow can be an effective deterrent to would-be burglars:

• When you go out, always lock the door and close the windows - even if you are just going out for a short time.
• Window locks, especially on older windows, will help stop people getting in (and remember a burglar is less likely to break in if they have to smash a window).
• If you have deadlocks, use them. They make it harder for a thief to get out again. But don't leave the key near the door, or in an obvious place.
• Don't leave spare keys outside, or in a garage or shed, and put car keys or garage keys out of sight in the house.
• Use timers for lights and radios if you need to be away from home overnight. They will create the impression that someone is in.
• Consider motion-activated flood lights.
• Visible burglar alarms, good lighting, and carefully directed and limited security lighting can act as deterrents. But make sure that lights don't disturb your neighbors, and that alarms have an auto turn off mechanism.
• Fences at the back of the house may make this area more secure, but walls and solid fencing may let a thief break in without being seen. A good compromise is chain-link fencing, or trellises with prickly shrubs.
• Fitting a 'spy hole' allows you to see who is at the door. Having a door chain means you can open the door a little way to talk to them.
• Photograph and record serial numbers of all valuable property and retain in a safe place.
• Ask your neighbors to keep an eye on your home particularly if you are going on a vacation.
• Don’ let mail or newspapers pile up in visible areas if you are gone for a few days. Stop the mail and paper or have a neighbor pick them up and hold them until you return.

Other considerations

If you come home and find a broken window or tampered entrance, there may be a burglar inside. It is most likely best not to go into the house. Instead, go to a neighbor’s house and call the police, or use your cell phone to call for help if you have it available.
Many people believe that once their homes have been burglarized they are unlikely to be burglarized again. Mostly likely this is the case. However, sometimes offenders may return and attempt to burgle the home again based on the following reasons:

• The burglars know there are additional items of value in a home and view it as an easy target because they cannot see any obvious improvements in the security of the home.
• The burglars may try and burgle a home again in 4-6 weeks because they think the goods previously stolen will have been replaced through insurance.
• The burglars may return because they now have a buyer for some particular item they saw on the first occasion.

For those reasons outlined above, it is strongly recommended that you address any security shortfalls that may leave your home vulnerable to break-ins.

Source: Crime Stoppers of Somerset County