Burglary

Burglary is a crime related to theft. The original common law definition of burglary consisted of six specific elements: breaking and entering the dwelling of another during the night with the intention to commit a felony therein.

According to the FBI, a burglary occurs somewhere in the United States every 15.4 seconds. By definition, the crime of burglary is a non-confrontational property crime that occurs when we are not at home. However, becoming a burglary victim can leave a family feeling vulnerable and violated. To avoid becoming a burglary victim, it is important to first gain an understanding of who commits them and why.

The majority of home and apartment burglaries occur during the daytime when most people are away at work or school. The summer months of July and August have the most burglaries with February having the fewest crimes. Burglaries are committed most often by young males less than 25 years of age looking for items that are small, expensive, and can easily be converted to cash. Favorite items are cash; jewelry, guns, watches, laptop computers, VCRs, video players, CDs and other small electronic devices are high on the list. Quick cash is needed for living expenses and drugs.

Although home burglaries may seem random in occurrence, they actually involve a selection process. The burglar's selection process is simple. Choose an unoccupied home with the easiest access, the greatest amount of cover, and with the best escape routes. What follows is a list of suggestions to minimize your risk by making your home unattractive to potential burglars.

There are many locking and blocking devices available in any good quality hardware store that will prevent a sliding door from being lifted or forced horizontally. Place highly visible decals on the glass door near the latch mechanism that indicates that an alarm system, a dog, or block watch/operation identification is in place. Burglars dislike alarm systems and definitely big barking dogs.

Use a secondary blocking device on all sliding glass doors

Keep the latch mechanism in good condition and properly adjusted

Keep sliding door rollers in good condition and properly adjusted

Use anti-lift devices such as through-the-door pins or upper track screws

Use highly visible alarm decals, beware of dog decals or block watch decal.

Next tip >>