Of course every city is different, but in general, home burglary is the biggest threat to homeowners everywhere no matter what city you live in. Here are some of the reasons why! First of all you should know that one in every six homes falls victim to burglary annually.
As we explained in a story about The Home Security Basics homeowners make it easy! FBI statistics show that 33.2% of all burglaries are called unlawful entries which means that there is no forcible entry noticeable. What this boils down to is simple: homeowners do not lock their doors and windows even when they are at home and this includes garage doors.
For a variety of reasons burglars are aware of the inability of law enforcement agencies to catch them. The clearance rate of burglaries is only about 14% less than any other category of crime.
First and foremost is the fact that most police forces are understaffed. In many communities law enforcement agencies do not even respond to home burglary calls. They just don’t have the manpower and the number of burglaries is so high. Additionally, there are usually no witnesses-which is why burglars do most of their work during the daytime when no one is at home. Then burglars sell most of their stolen property at pawn shops or on the black market with no evidence of transfer available to law enforcement.
And finally burglars know that even if they do get caught, the penalties are very low to nonexistent. In many cases you have to be a third or fourth time offender before you get any jail time.
As we said in that story, for homeowners prevention is the key.
We talk about burglary in greater detail in our article about the subject of How Burglars Target A Home “Believe it or not, burglars do a huge amount of planning when they pick a target-it is not just a random act.” It is called “casing a neighborhood.” During that process, they eliminate homes that they feel present a higher risk of getting caught. Those would include homes with surveillance cameras, no good hiding spaces around lower-level doors and windows and any sign that there is a dog on the property or in the house. Burglars hate dogs almost as much as they hate surveillance cameras.
Here’s a story out of Austin, Texas that typifies the creativity of homeowners who feel very frustrated about this situation with burglary. It represents an Interesting New Trend In Crimefighting where burglary victims, with the help of social media and images captured from their own home surveillance cameras, have helped police nab suspects.
According to the arrest warrant in this case, two Smith & Wesson 357 revolvers were stolen among other items. The homeowner’s home surveillance camera captured images of two burglars inside his house.
When an investigator started reviewing the footage, he recognized one of the suspects from a previous burglary. The suspect was never apprehended.
Savvy neighbors have started using a tool called Next Door where citizens exchange information about crimes in the neighborhood. It is a private social network for your neighborhood. That’s when Nijoi Silas, age 17, came to light. Police connected him to the two burglaries. Through his Facebook page the second suspect was identified. What would we do without social media?
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We can see the wheels turning inside those gray cells! It is absolutely FREE to chime in with what is on your mind! Have you used this technique to help catch burglars? Share your experience with us!