Home Security Systems – Burglars Do Return to the Scene of the Crime

It’s a documented fact that burglars often work the same neighborhood, as long as the pickings are good – and even hit the same house more than once. We hear this anecdotally from our own customers when they are shopping for home alarm systems, and there is also abundant evidence on this practice from police reports around the US. One might expect that a homeowner who has been burglarized would immediately install a security system, but not everyone behaves that way. We tend to replace items that have been stolen (and we know what's on the list of tempting targets from my prior post), so for a burglar to revisit the scene of the crime is actually quite logical. Here are two recent reports of burglars coming back. In the first story from Georgia, burglars hit the same home three times in one week: in the second, from Florida, the burglar broke into the same house, three years later - after serving a jail term for… burglary! First, an excerpt from the Georgia story:

Three Burglaries in One Week - of the Same Home

A Rockdale County woman hopes to get back some of the things stolen by thieves who burglarized her property three times in the span of a single week. Myrtle Blackmon said that an estimated $20,000 worth of electronics, yard tools and machines, cars and other goods were stolen on Oct. 12, 15 and 18. Blackmon said a computer, TV, stereo system and other electronics were taken from inside the home. Burglars likely got in the house through the side door, which Blackmon said she left unlocked. An alarm system is now installed in the house and they are looking at getting fencing in the yard. “It’s just an unsafe feeling,” Blackmon said.

And now, from Sarasota:

Burglar Attempts to Rob Same Home - Twice

After recently getting out of jail, Gerald Maxwell broke into the same Sarasota home that he burglarized in 2007. While Maxwell was in the home, police responded to a report of an alarm at the home in the 2000 block of Chippewa Place."I was going back in there to leave a thank you note because I'm the guy who burglarized this place before," Maxwell told the arresting officers. Inside the home, investigators found multiple dresser drawers had been opened and jewelry had been gathered and placed on a mattress, next to a crack pipe that police say belonged to Maxwell. In less than three years, police have arrested Maxwell for six burglaries.

I’m glad that Myrtle Blackmon finally installed an alarm system – and that the Sarasota, Floriday homeowner had one in place – which is how the police caught Mr. Maxwell on his latest burglary. Happily one homeowner learned the first time around. FrontPoint is the nationwide leader in interactive, wireless home security, and we know that alarm systems work as a powerful deterrent – I’ve often referenced the fact that homes with monitored alarm systems are only 1/3 as likely to be burglarized as their unprotected neighbors. Time for you or someone you know to get a system that’s safer, smarter, simpler and more affordable? You know where to look!