Things a Burglar Won't Tell You

[Belinda Barfield]

Received this today and thought I'd share.

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. I don't think we have to worry about this one.
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 http://www.faketv.com/ (http://www.faketv.com/))
14. 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.
15. The two things I hate most: loud dogs and nosy neighbor
16. 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.
17. I'm not complaining, but why would you pay all that money for a fancy alarm system and leave your house without setting it?
18. 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.
19. Avoid announcing your vacation on your Facebook page. It's easier than you think to look up your address.
20. 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.
21. 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 http://www.crimedoctor.com/and (http://www.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

[Jim Rimmer]

I get lists from Reader's Digest and that was one a few months ago. It is a great list. A lot of common sense stuff.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Best way to steal a brand new TV.... Steal the old one and come back in a week. The TV will be new, the alarm system will not have been installed.
.

[Steven DeMars]

Best way to get rid of your old TV, put it in the box the new TV came in, put the box in the back of your truck & head to Walmart. Park, shop 15 minutes and your old TV will be gone . . .

Also works for old cans of paint and anything else the garbage men won't pick-up.

Steve:)

[Colin Giersberg]

Unless the new TV is a flat screen, and the old one is a tube type. I don't think it would fit very well in the new TV's box, unless you smashed it and dumped the debris into the box, but that defeats the purpose.

Colin

[Dan Friedrichs]

Good advice. The one missing thing is probably, "I'll be in and out in less than 5 minutes". Thus the reason why monitored alarm systems are a waste of money - even if the police came lights-and-sirens to your burglar alarm (which they won't....), will they be there in less than 5 minutes?

The best alarm system is one that makes a lot of noise.

[Don Alexander]

i rather suspect that most monitored alarm systems are unarmed the majority of the time after you pay the police for responding to a false alarm 2-3 times in a week because the cat set off the alarm you tend to not arm it very often :eek: i'm also guessing that the crooks are well aware of this phenomenon too:D

[Joe Chritz]

I disagree with #11 from my personal experience. The rest are very accurate.

I would add that most (well in the 60% area) of residential break ins occur during the day time (6Am- 6PM).

Locks keep honest people honest, someone who wants in will get in. The goal is to harden your target (your house) enough to make the bad guy go to the neighbors instead.

Dogs, alarms and motion lights are the big three.

Joe

[Belinda Barfield]

Thanks for your professional input, Joe. Years ago the thing about a kid's room may have been true. These days kids have better stuff in their rooms than the adults have.

[Mitchell Andrus]

I know a fella that hooked his alarm system to a digital recorder and a smoke generator. I hope it never gets triggered, but if it did I'd love to see the look on the thieves' faces.

"Warning. You have 1 minute to self destruct.... 50 seconds to self destruct.... 40 seconds......."

Fun at parties.
.

[Brian Ashton]

Unless the new TV is a flat screen, and the old one is a tube type. I don't think it would fit very well in the new TV's box, unless you smashed it and dumped the debris into the box, but that defeats the purpose.

Colin

By the time I'm finished with the old one it'll fit.

[Joe Chritz]

Thanks for your professional input, Joe. Years ago the thing about a kid's room may have been true. These days kids have better stuff in their rooms than the adults have.

With the possible exception of my hunting and fishing gear this is 100% true in my case.

Joe

[Jerome Hanby]

What a great idea! Wonder if my wife will let me buy a new TV.....


Best way to get rid of your old TV, put it in the box the new TV came in, put the box in the back of your truck & head to Walmart. Park, shop 15 minutes and your old TV will be gone . . .

Also works for old cans of paint and anything else the garbage men won't pick-up.

Steve:)

[Dave Gaul]

Thanks Belinda!

One thing I'd like to add, is to break your routines once in a while. Use the front door sometimes. Take the trash down at different times... Leave different lights on at different times... if someone is watching your house, they will look for routines...

Not a professional opinion, just some out-take from some military training I had in the Navy...

[Mike Cruz]

Hmmmm. I have an alarm system (ALWAYS armed when we are away and when we go to bed): I have two dogs that bark at ANYTHING that moves outside (they are barking at the deer right now...): I have motion lights on the back and side of my house: I ALSO am protected by Ruger and Marlin!

Doesn't mean I can't get hit, but I know I've done all I can...

Mitchell, you wouldn't be giving away any trade secrets there, would ya?

[Bill Cunningham]

Keep em confused as to when to burgle you.. use a sign..

VARIABLE SHIFT WORKER!
My home and business are protected by the fine products of Smith & Wesson. There is NOTHING on this property worth your life.

[Mike Cruz]

Or, to quote a recent Country song, you could post a sign...

This house is protected by the Good Lord and a gun. You might meet them both, if you show up here unwelcome, son...

[Steve Leverich]

For the country folk - my all-time favorite no trespass sign... steve

[Mike Cruz]

I WANT that sign!

[Neal Clayton]

Best way to get rid of your old TV, put it in the box the new TV came in, put the box in the back of your truck & head to Walmart. Park, shop 15 minutes and your old TV will be gone . . .

Also works for old cans of paint and anything else the garbage men won't pick-up.

Steve:)

that's how one of my employees gets rid of torn up not-worth-fixing motorcycles. says he moves them halfway to the curb, then goes to the BBQ place up the street. guaranteed to be gone by the time he gets home.

[Dar Lounsbury]

I leave two 140lb Rottweilers in the house when we go out. They like to look out the windows and are visable. We don't get any extra visits.

Dar

[Dan Hintz]

Neal,

When we picked up a new lawnmower a couple of months back, we were stuck trying to decide what to do with the old one... it still ran fine, but could use some work on the wheels and such. I left it in the front yard for a week to see if the garbage men would take it, but they said 'no'. So I left it there for another week, and then another... before the end of the third week it had mysteriously disappeared. Solved my problem of where to take it.

[Rick Markham]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/Rick357/n1130201926_30037381_3137.jpg

Things to realize if you are a safe owner...

1. a fire rating is not to insure your belongings are safe in a fire, it is a measure of how much harder it is for someone with a cutting torch to get into your safe. No fire rating? A simple torch and a few minutes is all it takes for everything inside to be gone.

2. If you don't bolt it down, it isn't safe no matter how big it is. If you can push a safe over on the ground the welds on the top panel are the weak point and a hole big enough to remove your firearms with a sledge hammer and a pry bar can be made in a few minutes.

3. If your door doesn't have locking bolts in all four sides... you should have saved your money and bought a better safe. 3 sides is acceptable, one side is essentially useless.

[Steve Griffin]

Regarding advertising you have a gun-- I wouldn't. That might be just the bait a criminal needs to target your house, perhaps being extra careful you are gone.

I learned that from some South Africans, who say that if word of you owning a gun ever reaches the street, you will get broken into and it will get stolen. Of course things are so bad their they sleep in specially locked safe rooms.

-Steve

[Steven DeMars]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/Rick357/n1130201926_30037381_3137.jpg

Things to realize if you are a safe owner...

1. a fire rating is not to insure your belongings are safe in a fire, it is a measure of how much harder it is for someone with a cutting torch to get into your safe. No fire rating? A simple torch and a few minutes is all it takes for everything inside to be gone.

2. If you don't bolt it down, it isn't safe no matter how big it is. If you can push a safe over on the ground the welds on the top panel are the weak point and a hole big enough to remove your firearms with a sledge hammer and a pry bar can be made in a few minutes.

3. If your door doesn't have locking bolts in all four sides... you should have saved your money and bought a better safe. 3 sides is acceptable, one side is essentially useless.

The new thing is the little portable 120vac plasma cutters. They make quick work of the best gun safe, burglar bars, steel hollow core doors & even stealing catalytic converters.

The once treasured Browning or Fort Knox Gun Safe is now quicker to open on the side than through the front door.

Steve:)

[Neal Clayton]

Regarding advertising you have a gun-- I wouldn't. That might be just the bait a criminal needs to target your house, perhaps being extra careful you are gone.

I learned that from some South Africans, who say that if word of you owning a gun ever reaches the street, you will get broken into and it will get stolen. Of course things are so bad their they sleep in specially locked safe rooms.

-Steve

exactly. i would wager that advertising you have a gun in the house/car would make it infinitely more likely that the gun winds up used in a crime, since it makes the house/car an obvious target for gun theft.

[Steven DeMars]

exactly. i would wager that advertising you have a gun in the house/car would make it infinitely more likely that the gun winds up used in a crime, since it makes the house/car an obvious target for gun theft.

Thats the same thing I think when I see a vehicle with one of the "THIN BLUE LINE" stickers to let other cops know that this car belongs to a cop.

Duh! Would you not expect to find a gun in a cops personal car?

Steve:confused:

[Mike Cruz]

Hehe, around these parts, you EXPECT each house to have a gun! Heck, most of 'em have multiples.

I haven't had a "gun conversation" with ANYONE around here that didn't list their arsenal.

Yes, I realize that different parts of the country will yeild different results, but I seriously doubt that a sign touting humor (or seriousness) about tresspassing is within range of a firearm would give anyone reason to then go further BECAUSE of the sign...any more than a sign warning of dogs will tempt someone to come steal your dog.

[Joe Chritz]

Statistically around 40% of homes (maybe a bit higher now) have firearms of some kind.

Strangely enough I have seen many fewer firearm thefts than in years past. This could be that the criminal element is getting smarter (guns are relatively easy to trace back) or that other items are easier to off load with little risk.

What criminal break in artist wants to have 5-oh knocking on his door because some gang banger gets pinched with a stolen handgun he sold to him?

Gun safes are however, great places to store lots of valuable and get broken into regular.

Joe

[Belinda Barfield]

Hmmm . . . come to think of it I've seen all kinds of signs advertising that a property owner has a gun, but I don't think I've ever seen a sign advertising that an owner doesn't have a gun. :rolleyes:

[Mike Cruz]

Did you get your hair cut, Belinda? It looks great. ;)

[Bill Cunningham]

Hmmm . . . come to think of it I've seen all kinds of signs advertising that a property owner has a gun, but I don't think I've ever seen a sign advertising that an owner doesn't have a gun. :rolleyes:

Many pro gun groups have given out signs to the 'anti's' that simply say "Gun Free Home" No one, not even the most rabid antigun people would dare post one! Basically, If you believe in gun control, post a sign on your front door that says "Gun Free Home" Now how safe do you feel?

[Belinda Barfield]

Did you get your hair cut, Belinda? It looks great. ;)


Yes. Thanks!

[Brian Vaughn]

I tend to prefer this sign...