How Crooks Pick A Target For Burglary

In today’s article we are going to tell you what burglars look for in a target. In our highly acclaimed article called ‘The Basics Of Home Security’ we explain that prevention is the key, such as taking some preventative measures and creating obstacles so that burglars cannot get into your house and if they do get in, how to minimize losses.

If you think about it, you can figure out exactly what they’re after. Items such as jewelry, handguns, valuable collectibles such as a stamp collection, certainly cash and credit cards are high on the list of things to be stolen because they can all be easily converted into cash at a local pawn shop

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 bad as they hate surveillance cameras.

The number one thing that burglars look for are unlocked doors. Amazingly, “FBI statistics show that 33.2% of all burglaries are called unlawful entries which means that there is no forcible entry noticeable. This translates to homeowners don’t lock their doors and windows.”

And this includes garage doors which usually leads to the house. We never have been able to understand why homeowners leave their garage doors open because of this risk. And the same is true for open windows, especially on the ground floor. Talk about an open invitation to burglary!

In this article from Greenwich Village, New York police are urging residents to keep their doors locked after a series of burglaries where crooks broke into apartments that had Unlocked Doors.

Law enforcement authorities said that thousands of dollars’ worth of jewelry, electronics and cash were lost in the last several weeks when dozens of burglaries happened to apartment dwellers who left their doors unlocked. In almost half of the cases residents were sleeping in their beds as intruders made off with their property. If that isn’t scary, we don’t know what is!

The head of the burglary section of the New York Police Department urged residents to keep their doors locked at all times, even when they’re at home.

The next thing that burglars look for are hiding places that offer concealment from prying eyes of neighbors. Nearly 90% of all burglaries are done during the daytime when neighbors are more apt to see strangers in the neighborhood.

Burglars look for homes that have good escape routes and easy access in and out.

They look for a home that has no visible signs of alarms, dogs or security systems in place. Sometimes just a sign warning of these deterrents is good enough.

It only takes the average burglar five seconds to break into a house, and he will spend no more than 60 seconds trying so if you can keep him out for a minute, you may be home free. The most common tools a burglar may use are a screwdriver or small crowbar.

This simple Magnetic Window/Door Alarm may help prevent up to 2/3 of all illegal entries that are forced. For $9.99 this loud alarm has three modes: a 120dB alarm, pleasant entry chime or off mode. It installs easily using self-adhesive pads and uses four LR 44 batteries. When this alarm is installed, if a burglar tries to get into a window or door the sound of the alarm will scare him away.

One of our more popular alarms is this motion activated Barking Dog Alarm that can protect an area up to almost 20 feet away. When that area is violated the sound of an angry barking dog starts. The volume and sensitivity are both adjustable.

Or try one of our inexpensive Fake Security Cameras that are so realistic looking no one can tell them apart from the real thing.

Feedback on these posts is appreciated. Over to you…