Conventional wisdom in the alarm industry, backed up by law enforcement professionals and plenty of relevant statistics, contains these two general rules:
- Burglars do NOT want to confront the homeowner.
- Most burglaries happen during the day, vs. at night.
Of course,
there are exceptions to these rules. For instance, the rising incidence of
home invasions indicates that some intruders don’t care if you are home or not: they are armed, and are ready for a
confrontation with you or the police. These incidents usually end badly, with injuries quite common, and fatalities more frequent than you might think.
Burglars Try to Avoid You
Burglars know the
best way to avoid you is to strike during the day, when they feel it’s less likely that you are home. One frequent tactic is the
“knock-knock” approach, when a burglar knocks on your door to see if you are home. If you answer the door, then they have an excuse or a silly question, and leave quickly. But
if you don’t answer, they may well move around to the side or back of the house and
look for the easiest way in.
Some Work at Night
Then there are the burglars use the cover of darkness to make their move. And that’s what I recently read about in
this report from Naperville, Illinois, where several incidents demonstrate this intruder’s preference for working in the wee hours of the night.
If you’re squeamish over the prospect of burglars pawing through and then making off with your prized possessions — and all while you’re either in another part of your home or fast asleep in your own bed — you might want to give serious consideration to keeping your doors and windows locked at all times. Naperville police are investigating what Sgt. Lou Cammiso said “would appear to be a rash” of burglaries to occupied homes, including two that occurred during the late-night and early-morning hours while the owners were present.
Many Break-ins in Short Period
At least four break-ins occurred over the three-day period of Aug. 18-21. And another incident from Aug. 17, in which two men in hooded sweatshirts ran away after being caught peering through the window of a house, might have been a thwarted burglary.
- In the first break-in, the victim told police burglars took an iPhone, an iPad and $20 from his wallet after entering the home via the open door of the attached garage, according to a written police bulletin.
- Another Brookdale burglary happened between 12:30 and 6:15 a.m. Aug 21 on Paxton Drive, where a small amount of money was stolen “sometime overnight” from his home, police records showed.
- A third Brookdale-area break-in was reported by a 52-year-old homeowner on Albermarle Court. The man said a camera and “cash and collector coins were taken from his residence” between 12:45 a.m. Aug. 20 and 8 a.m. Aug. 21, police said.
- The fourth burglary occurred on Lakewood Circle, in west-central Naperville. A woman told police between 10:30 a.m. Aug. 20 and 6:30 a.m. Aug. 21, she “forgot to secure the overhead garage door, and entry was made to (her) home via the garage service door.” The woman said a laptop computer and other possessions were stolen.
Why No Alarm Systems?
While there is no mention of
alarm systems, the odds are that these homes were unprotected. The more stories like this I read, the more I wonder why
only about 20% of US homes
do have a
monitored alarm system that can trigger a police dispatch. Imagine
how much safer you would feel in your home – or when entering your home at any time of day or night, without worrying about who might be there. And with
interactive monitoring services, such as those offered by
FrontPoint, you can receive a
text or email any time a door opens, telling you which door. That’s the kind of protection more people are looking for, as home intrusion statistics
continue to get worse across much of the US.
A monitored
home alarm system will help make your home safer in the first place. And that’s where
FrontPoint can help. We’re
the leader in wireless home security, as well as
the #1 ranked home alarm company in the US. When you’re ready for a home alarm that’s
safer, smarter, simpler, more affordable, and virtually impossible to defeat, you’re ready for
FrontPoint: no hidden fees, the best interactive, wireless home alarm technology at the best price, and world-class service. With only one in five homes protected by a monitored alarm system, and a burglary occurring
every 14 seconds in the US, there are still lots of homes –
and homeowners – left for us to protect.
