Home Security Technology Update - DNA Matching Leads to More Burglary Arrests

We know that home security technology has evolved, and some of the most advanced alarm companies now offer amazing technology to make you and your family more secure: safer cellular monitoring, remote arming/disarming capability, event notifications by text or email, video, and a full range of wireless sensors that provide true peace of mind. While all these advancements can help deter, delay, and detect an intruder, burglaries do happen. And when they do, it’s good to know that other technological advancements can help police bring the criminals to justice. One such method is DNA matching, being used increasingly across the US to link the perps to the crimes. Several recent articles clearly demonstrate this point – and I bet you’ll be as surprised (and impressed) as I was when I read them.

From River Forest, IL

Almost a year after a garage burglary, DNA evidence led River Forest police to a Berwyn man who is being arrested and charged with  smashing a window and stealing a bicycle, police said Wednesday. Police initially had no suspects, but found a key piece of evidence — a bloodstain on the drapes near a broken window. River Forest Interim Chief Gregory Weiss said detectives believe the burglar may have cut himself while breaking the glass or climbing through the window. The blood was sent to the Illinois State Police crime lab, which notified the village of a suspect.

Hmmm…. sounds as if they needed an alarm system with glassbreak sensors to detect that one. Doors are the intruder’s most common form of entry, but windows need protection, too.

From Cromwell, CT

Blood droplets from a botched burglary and the work of a persistent detective have led to the arrest of a man accused of a breaking into a local restaurant nearly five years ago. Scott R. Ritchon was arrested and charged, accused by police of breaking into the Moon Star Chinese Kitchen in 2006. Police Capt. Edwin L. Kosinski Jr., said a burglar broke the front window of the restaurant and climbed into the business. The burglar took nothing, Kosinski said – but he left something important behind: his blood. When he broke out the window, Kosinski said, the suspect cut himself, and left droplets of his blood at the scene. Those droplets were forwarded to the State Police Forensics Laboratory for analysis. Almost four years later the blood samples had yielded a DNA match for Ritchon.

From Scranton, PA

City police extracted a DNA sample from a cigarette discarded by a suspect that tied him to a June 2010 burglary on Birney Avenue. Charges against Randy Greenfield were filed in the nearly one-year-old investigation for allegedly stealing approximately $2,710 in power tools from his former employer, John Howe. City police responded to a report of a burglary on June 5, 2010. Traces of blood were discovered on a small window at the rear of the Birney Avenue home: Greenfield was later arrested on a warrant, at which time a detective picked up a cigarette discarded by Greenfield and sent it for DNA testing that was later compared with blood found at Howe’s home. In August, forensic scientists concluded that the DNA profile from the cigarette matched the profile from the blood discovered at the back of Howe’s home.

More broken glass. You’d think these burglars would be more careful. But then, they would not be burglars if they thought that clearly.

From Carpentersville, IL

Carpentersville police say they’ve solved two residential burglaries, a business burglary, the armed robbery of a liquor store, and also retrieved a stolen gun with the arrests of two men Thursday. The break for police in solving all of the burglaries and the armed robbery was due to blood left at the scene of a Denver Drive burglary. On that day, the homeowners discovered a basement window broken and a police scanner, gaming systems, video games and a digital camera missing. The offender, police said, had left blood stains on a bed sheet in the home. “We packaged up the blood stain and sent it to the crime lab for DNA” analysis, Cmdr. Tim Bosshart said. The blood DNA matched that of a suspect in one the crimes. When police confronted the suspect with the lab’s DNA report, “he admitted to the burglary and several others,” Bosshart said.

More glass, and more blood. Of course, FrontPoint wants to prevent the burglar getting into your home in the first place – or to scare him away if he does. Remember: deterrent is always the first defense, followed by detection, and it’s been shown that a home without a monitored alarm system is three times more likely to experience a break-in than the monitored home next door. That’s a compelling statistic, even without all the remote control and notification features available from an advanced system. As the leader in interactive, wireless home security, FrontPoint offers the best in systems that are safer, smarter, simpler, and more affordable – and virtually impossible to defeat. That’s why we’re the #1 ranked alarm company in the US. When it comes to burglars, FrontPoint is more than a match - and you are protected.