The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: Fatman on February 21, 2010, 10:13:47 AM
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8 More Things a Burglar Won't Tell You (http://www.rd.com/content/156681)
1. Of course I look familiar. I was here just last week cleaning your carpets, painting your shutters, or delivering your new refrigerator.
2. Hey, thanks for letting me use the bathroom when I was working in your yard last week. While I was in there, I unlatched the back window to make my return a little easier.
3. Love those flowers. That tells me you have taste … and taste means there are nice things inside. Those yard toys your kids leave out always make me wonder what type of gaming system they have.
4. Yes, I really do look for newspapers piled up on the driveway. And I might leave a pizza flyer in your front door to see how long it takes you to remove it.
5. If it snows while you’re out of town, get a neighbor to create car and foot tracks into the house. Virgin drifts in the driveway are a dead giveaway.
6. If decorative glass is part of your front entrance, don’t let your alarm company install the control pad where I can see if it’s set. That makes it too easy.
7. A good security company alarms the window over the sink. And the windows on the second floor, which often access the master bedroom—and your jewelry. It’s not a bad idea to put motion detectors up there too.
8. It’s raining, you’re fumbling with your umbrella, and you forget to lock your door—understandable. But understand this: I don’t take a day off because of bad weather.
9. I always knock first. If you answer, I’ll ask for directions somewhere or offer to clean your gutters. (Don’t take me up on it.)
10. Do you really think I won’t look in your sock drawer? I always check dresser drawers, the bedside table, and the medicine cabinet.
11. Here’s a helpful hint: I almost never go into kids’ rooms.
12. You’re right: I won’t have enough time to break into that safe where you keep your valuables. But if it’s not bolted down, I’ll take it with me.
13. A loud TV or radio can be a better deterrent than the best alarm system. If you’re reluctant to leave your TV on while you’re out of town, you can buy a $35 device that works on a timer and simulates the flickering glow of a real television. (Find it at faketv.com (http://faketv.com).)
Sources: Convicted burglars in North Carolina, Oregon, California, and Kentucky; security consultant Chris McGoey, who runs crimedoctor.com (http://crimedoctor.com); and Richard T. Wright, a criminology professor at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, who interviewed 105 burglars for his book Burglars on the Job.
Reader's Digest Contributing Editor Janice Lieberman shared these and more tips on the Today Show and in her blog (http://www.rd.com/blogs/heres-the-deal/13-tips-your-burglar-doesn-t-want-you-to-know/post12306.html).
From Reader's Digest - September 2009
Here's the other 8:
1. Sometimes, I carry a clipboard. Sometimes, I dress like a lawn guy and carry a rake. I do my best to never, ever look like a crook.
2. The two things I hate most: loud dogs and nosy neighbors.
3. I’ll break a window to get in, even if it makes a little noise. If your neighbor hears one loud sound, he’ll stop what he’s doing and wait to hear it again. If he doesn’t hear it again, he’ll just go back to what he was doing. It’s human nature.
4. I’m not complaining, but why would you pay all that money for a fancy alarm system and leave your house without setting it?
5. I love looking in your windows. I’m looking for signs that you’re home, and for flat screen TVs or gaming systems I’d like. I’ll drive or walk through your neighborhood at night, before you close the blinds, just to pick my targets.
6. Avoid announcing your vacation on your Facebook page. It’s easier than you think to look up your address.
7. To you, leaving that window open just a crack during the day is a way to let in a little fresh air. To me, it’s an invitation.
8. If you don’t answer when I knock, I try the door. Occasionally, I hit the jackpot and walk right in.
Sources: Convicted burglars in North Carolina, Oregon, California, and Kentucky; security consultant Chris McGoey, who runs crimedoctor.com; and Richard T. Wright, a criminology professor at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, who interviewed 105 burglars for his book Burglars on the Job.
Reader's Digest Contributing Editor Janice Lieberman shared these and more tips on the Today Show and in her blog.
From Reader's Digest - September 2009
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Good post and good advice. It also is a wake-up call to those expecting WWIII (I include myself here). A home invasion, unless you live next door to a dealer or in a very ritzy neigborhood is the least of our worries. These guys don't want a yelling match, much less a gun fight. They want to get in and get out. On the other hand, if they do surprise you..... Still it seems like its what we do when we aren't home that matters most. Just make them look for a softer target. I have a large, but harmless dog. My neighbor has a cat. Guess which house they'll hit first?
FQ13
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Hello;
Thanks for the posting, I intend to beef up my area in the next 6-8 months. 1 thing that should also be mentioned is our God fearing, law abiding neighbors who think that your property is also thier property. Not that I am a "mantracker" person who can tell the signs from leaves and twigs, but when you see footprints next to the dog crap in the back yard and things altered around the yard while you are at work sends concern up the spine.
What pisses me off the most is intentional signs left behind. The scum know your schedule and take advantage of it. I have 1 acre of land and they have 1 acre also, but like to use yours. Hopefully, the future security cameras will convince a judge that the church goers need a vaction in county jail.
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Hello;
Thanks for the posting, I intend to beef up my area in the next 6-8 months. 1 thing that should also be mentioned is our God fearing, law abiding neighbors who think that your property is also thier property. Not that I am a "mantracker" person who can tell the signs from leaves and twigs, but when you see footprints next to the dog crap in the back yard and things altered around the yard while you are at work sends concern up the spine.
What pisses me off the most is intentional signs left behind. The scum know your schedule and take advantage of it. I have 1 acre of land and they have 1 acre also, but like to use yours. Hopefully, the future security cameras will convince a judge that the church goers need a vaction in county jail.
Not to step into the middle of a feud or anything, but... Are we talking, "Hey you kids get off my lawn", or someone casing/vandalizing the place?
FQ13
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Good fences make good neighbors.
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Good fences make good neighbors.
and Locked Doors keep your neighbors honest.
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I hate Open windows, unlocked doors, and am very glad I have a large, loud, mean, and less than harmless German Shepherd (For the above and other reasons). When He barks it sounds like the world is ending. Which is why I Have a German Shepherd. ;D
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Fatman cutt'ed and pasted:
8. It’s raining, you’re fumbling with your umbrella, and you forget to lock your door—understandable. But understand this: I don’t take a day off because of bad weather.
Years and years ago, a buddy told me that his nice car stereo got stolen during some rainstorm. When he went to report it to the cops, the cop filling out the report sheet said that some robbers like to steal stuff in the rain. All that rain falling makes for good cover noise for them.
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Playing a TV in one room, and a radio with a light on in another, is easy and cheap insurance. The little bit of electricity they consume is well worth it. Remember, rarely are "pro's" going to hit in cookie cutter subdivisions. The crime is the same if you break into a $100,000.00 home, or a $675,000.00 one. Insurance statistics show most upper middle class home burglaries are committed by kids under the age of 16, and most are in the house for less than 2 minutes. "Smash and grab" type random hits. Making your home look like someone is there is your best protection.
Another thing that helps is to make your home look the same from the outside no matter if you're home or not. We park both cars in the garage. Believe it or not, we're the only one's on my block that do so. Everyone else in the neighborhood has their garages filled with crap, and they park in the driveway. On a Sunday morning when I go to get the paper it looks like a used car lot! Monday afternoon it resembles a ghost town. A dead give away. Bill T.
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Good points, Billt. That's the reason I had X-10 devices installed in the house I had back east. These were set to turn certain lights on and off at semi-random times (one set time per light plus/minus 30 minutes randomly selected) so the house was always lit when the son got home from school, and certainly when I got home. That included exterior lights, and I generally ran a cycle at night so the downstairs would go off well before the upstairs ones.
When I went out of town, the son always checked the house, collected mail (do not ever tell the USPS you are leaving, have a friend/family member take it in). The system had battery backup so even when I lost power, I had a lighting system when the power came back up as well.
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There is one more thing a burglar won't tell you, many times he is a teen age boy in your neighborhood. That is who broke into my empty house when it was for sale.