Why Did I Get Burgled? – Burglar Picked My Home

Why Did I Get Burgled? – Why Did the Burglar Pick My Home?

by Martin Underwood

“Why did I get burgled? Why did the burglar pick my home, why not somebody else’s?

After all, I work hard, I pay my taxes and I’m honest Joe citizen. Why did that no good thief have to pick my home?”

The
thief picked out your home because it was your home that looked the
most attractive to him, not the home of your neighbor, not the home of
the guy down your street, but your home.

Come on, let’s us go and take a look around your home through the eyes
of a burglar maybe then you will see why the housebreaker found it so
attractive a proposition.

Looking at the front of your house what’s the first thing that a thief would notice?

He will notice all those bushes and trees, burglars love cover and those overgrown bushes provide it.

They should be either removed or trimmed right down as they are
providing too much shadow and that large tree right by your window
needs to go.

With that tree as cover a housebreaker could work on
your window with little chance of being spied by your neighbors or
passers by.

Talking of your windows, you really should not be depending on those
flimsy latches, they won’t give a housebreaker much of a problem at all.

burglar with crowbar
burglar with crowbar

Fit good quality key operated Window Locks and remember to always remove the key when you lock them and lock them each and every time that you go out.

The more visible a window lock is the better protection it gives you.

With good window locks a thief will have to smash the glass to get in,
and make a noise doing so, burglars avoid making noise as it attracts
unwanted attention to their activities.

Also broken glass can mean cuts
for the thief and that can result in him leaving forensic evidence.

What Can We See Through Your Window?

Through
your window we can see your plasma TV, your stereo system and many
other goodies.

Just by a quick glance in your window a thief will know
that you have plenty of stuff worth stealing, it would be worth the risk
to break in to your home.

It will require some planning but with a
little thought you can arrange your rooms so that there is little on
show to tempt a burglar.

What else can we see? You have a flat roof garage attached to your
house and you have left a window open just above the garage, now that’s
nothing but an open invitation to a passing opportunist burglar.

You can do a lot to prevent thieves from climbing up on to your flat roof with a coating of Anti-Burglar Paint applied around the top edge and the edge of the garage roof.

Let’s
take a look around the side of your house.

It’s a little dark and
gloomy here, do you really need such a high fence between you and your
neighbor? A fence that is lower would allow your neighbor keep a watch
on your home and also help you keep an eye on your neighbor’s home.

Installing motion sensitive Security Lighting would be a good security measure here too.

What have we got here? Your extension ladder has been left out here
for the thief to make use of! You have started to repair your roof but
didn’t finish the job so you left your ladder outside.

That really is
making things too easy for the criminal and you were asking why it was
that he picked on you!

Your ladder should be locked away in your
garage or shed, or chained up when it is not being used. Don’t leave the
ladder thinking that you will secure it later, secure it after each use.

The Burglar In Your Shed

Talking of your shed let’s take a look at it. You’ve a good
quality padlock and a correctly fitted hasp, which is good, but you
haven’t bothered to lock it! What’s the point of that, use the lock!

There
is a lot in your shed that would interest a burglar, all of your tools
and equipment, a thief would think it was a regular Aladdin’s cave and
could make quite a killing by selling your tools on, just think what it
would cost you to replace them all.

Not only that but why give a
thief easy access to a collection of tools he could make use of to break
into your home?

Keep your shed securely locked at all times.

Shall we take a good look at the door through to your kitchen.

This
door is not going to provide much of a barrier to an intruder, all your
exterior doors should be made of solid core construction and have high
quality Deadbolt Locks fitted.

Deadbolt locks can withstand the attentions of a housebreaker that regular spring latch locks can’t.

burglar with mask
Criminals do not like spending much time breaking in, they don’t like making noise and they certainly don’t like to risk being seen.

Okay, we haven’t even talked about Home Security Alarm Systems or Surveillance Cameras, and you are already beginning to see why it was that the burglar picked on your home.

As
a homeowner you need to do everything that you can to make the thief
perceive your home as being too difficult to break into compared to
other homes.

Thieves do not want to invest a lot of time breaking in to your home, they
don’t like making noise and they do not want to chance being observed.

Are you a member of Neighborhood watch? No, I didn’t think you would be and you should be.

Join it, there is no better home security than neighbor looking after neighbor.

If there is no Neighborhood watch in your area – start one, your local police station will give you all the help you need.

It’s a simple thing, make your home as unattractive as possible to a burglar and he will look for an easier target to pick on.

Would A Fake TV Burglar Deterrent Really Deter A Thief?
The opportunist thief passes by your home, he looks it over. He thinks
it looks just the kind of home he likes to burgle because it likely
contains plenty of goodies he can carry away easily. But no.
He’ll forget about your home because there is somebody inside watching a
color television set. He keeps walking, he’ll find somewhere else.

The thief was fooled. There is nobody in your home at all.

Key Safe.
A key storage box is designed to hold one or more keys. You fix it to a
wall close by your front door and lock it securely with a combination
code. Arriving at your door, you enter the code, remove the
key, open the door, replace and secure the key. Or, you can use the key
storage box to safely keep a spare key handy for those times you have lost or misplaced those darn keys.