Someone kept going into the backyard when nobody was home. I haven't found anything missing besides some small stuff (ropes, etc). I've since padlocked the gates leading into the yard and some other 'hardening' of the structure, but I'm concerned about a repeat.

I'm looking for an inexpensive way of protecting a glass pane door. Right now I'm considering a dummy camera over the door or a "glass break/shock alarm". I don't anticipate being home if there is another attempt, so "get a gun" advice will be ignored.

Thanks in advance.

http://www.amazon.com/45238-Wireless-Bat...9718&sr=1-4
http://www.amazon.com/Humminbird-95dB-Window-Alarm/dp/B0007VM9ME

How about a dog?

Pete

Let the police know that someone has been trespassing and you believe they are doing recon for a break-in. Patrol cars should keep an eye out.

Talk to your neighbors and ask them to keep an eye out for suspicious behavior -- at their homes and yours. Know what's going on in your neighborhood -- subscribe to any crime report listserve your local police may offer.

Just yesterday I spent a couple hours with police at a nearby friend's home after a burglary attempt that was thwarted only after the alarm system went off. The perp did nearly break the front door down and damaged two windows he tried to pry open. Police arrived four minutes after getting the call from the security company that monitors the alarms.

So suggestion #1 is get a security system.

Or at least a couple ADT signs and window decals that indicate a security system.

A dog should be a 15-year emotional commitment that will entail a personal investment, including vet bills and food, etc. that over time will cost more than a good security system. I've estimated that Gidget has so far cost me $14,000 and she's only 8 years old. Her $1000 purchase price was just a down payment and that's the case with any dog -- there are no free or cheap dogs.

You can make it look like you have a dog, even if you don't. I took a security course years ago that advised this. To that end,

- put a large stainless dog bowl on the back porch, perhaps a sterilized bone or other dog toy and a door mat that indicates you have a dog ("Woof" mat or something).

- motion sensor lights on the front, back and sides of the house.

- lights on timers so your home always looks occupied when you're away after dark.

- leave a radio on when you're away On a talk station, audible to anyone snooping at the back.

- secure all the windows so they are not easily opened and make sure any sliding glass doors at least have "Charley Bars."

- Make the rear door harder to open (heavy-duty deadbolt - keyed, not a lever). Even if they get in through a window, don't make it easy to carry your flat screen out the door.


Prepare to have your things stolen:

-- double-check the content coverage in your home insurance

-- Mark your valuables with a UV Pens kit (this one is recommended by DC's Metropolitan Police Dept:

THE UV PENS KIT
http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/The...47/product.html

-- Mark valuables with LAST NAME and DRIVER’S LICENSE NUMBER. Do not use your SS#. Your DLN is sufficient and can't be used for ID theft. This info comes from DC MPD.

-- inventory and take photos of your valuables (record all serial numbers). This will ease the insurance claims process and aid police if any of your stuff turns up later on (DC MPD monitors area pawn shops and advertising).

-- backup your computers and keep backup off-premise (not just in your external drive that's sitting next to the computer the thieves are going to grab. Burglars around here are after peoples' flat screens, laptops, i-Phones, jewelry. The most pain is caused by the laptops being stolen. Especially distressing are the photographs that weren't backed up and are now lost forever.

I'll probably add more later but have to get ready to walk with our Orange Hat Patrol (which has been energized by a wave of burglaries in my 'hood last fall). Essentially us dog peops have become the OHP. I carry a Flip video and we all have cell phones (with cameras) to record suspicious things and things like streetlights in need of repair or trees that need to be trimmed because they are blocking streetlights.

Good luck and best wishes. It's terrible to feel like you can't be away from your home for fear that it will be ransacked.

Might oughta consider what you'll do if you walk in and the bad guys are still there.

Not a good scenario.

Dagny's advice is excellent. I would prioritize as follows:

1) Call the police if you haven't already. Now. Stop reading this and call.

2) If you don't have adequate insurance, make sure to get that fixed immediately.

3) Talk to your neighbors. Make sure that they know who is authorized and who is not, and ask them to call 911 if they see anything suspicious.

4) Make an inventory of your possessions and keep it off-site. Photos and serial numbers are good.

5) Back your computers up (I like Carbonite for this)

6) Only after these things are done would I work on hardening your home against intrusion (dog, alarm, motion sensing lights, lights on timers, cameras, and so on)

I'm a big fan of audible alarms, monitored or not, if your 180 decibel alarm is going off, most perps realize they have 30 seconds or less to get out of Dodge before they begin to get detected getting out of Dodge. Connected to door sensors and window sensors, even glass break sensors (pricey), you don't always have to wire your entire house for protection, but unless you're handy with wiring I recommend contacting a security firm for a reasonable strategy and installation.

For an element of prevention, a friend swears by cameras that are motion sensitive and can trigger his cell phone or work PC. Something like this I think - http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Logitech+Alert%26%23153%3B+-+750e+Outdoor+Master+System/1230961.p;jsessionid=198D9E0BA79970775D81BE89FEE3B264.bbolsp-app04-26?id=1218239220969&skuId=1230961&st=logitech outdoor camera&cp=1&lp=6 . Problem being of course, a burglar will go to the first unmonitored point of access and try that.

Dogs are good too, but mostly as a deterrent - they'll alert you if you are home, but are not generally a serious obstacle to an intruder if you're not. Unless they are trained to attack unattended strangers in your home, which I'm not sure many are any more for obvious reasons. Dogs will bark, they might even put up a fight - you can lock them in a bedroom and continue sacking the place. Dogs do enter into the calculus whether to enter a home - unless you have something they know they want (like guns, cash, prescription meds etc), most burglars will hold out for the safest place to burgle. A barking dog should make most try another house down the street (without a barking dog). But like Dagny says, its a 15 year investment, don't buy a dog just as an anti-theft dongle.

After my attempted break in last year I went from an unmonitored alarm system (which scared them off anyhow) to a monitored system with glassbreak on the windows that are reachable. I also upgraded to pet sensitive motion detectors. Even if they get in if we are away, they are limited to one room if they haven't set off the alarm already.

My garage back door is more or less blocked. Good luck getting in that way.

I still may go to the dog trick, undecided as of yet. We do leave lights on and the neighborhood watches out more.

I'm pretty sure it was workers on a bank owned building who were in the area on and off for three weeks. They saw the comings and goings, knew who was home when, and who wasn't home when trucks/cars weren't in driveways.

Do a walk around of your own house - how and where could you/would you/can you break in? Then fix those areas.

And don't hide keys. Thieves know where to look.

Great post Dagny



Consider leaving the key in when you are home, or risk being trapped in a fire.

Amidst our burglary wave last fall (one-third of the homes on my block were burglarized in a 10-day period -- during the daytime while residents were at work), residents got active like never before. The police department held meetings with us, stepped up patrols (including bikes and Segways), brought in undercover officers and even got out of their cars to walk the beat.

The instigators of that burglary wave (two juveys and an 18-year old) were apprehended because of two alert neighbors and one not-so-alert who was still able to ID them. They were nabbed while in the process of burglarizing the next door neighbor (the lead perp's girlfriend lives next door) who had walked out of his house to do an errand. One of the neighbors caught the burglary on video.

Takeaways from our interactions with DC police (this may be different with your police department so you need to talk to them and get their advice):

- Call 911 even just to report suspicious behavior (such as loitering or suspicious "work trucks" or vans). Your police may not want you to call 911 unless a crime is underway but our police -- to our surprise -- urged us to call 911 even just to report suspicious behavior.

They said they are pleased to roll a patrol car by and that they really need residents to be their eyes and ears because they cannot be everywhere all the time. And that we know better than they do what's out of the ordinary on our own blocks and in our alleyways.

We have long had problems in this area with home construction/renovation workers committing home burglaries during the day as they are able to see the comings and goings of residents.

Police also told us to be on alert for people who go door-to-door. It is a common tactic here for perps to knock on someone's front door and if they answer they'll have a ready explanation for why they were knocking. If no one answers the door, the perp(s) break in through the back. A couple nights before Christmas a friend and I called 911 upon seeing two suspicious fellows going door-to-door on our streets, at 8:00p at night, with a crate of apparent candy bars. Our neighborhood typically empties during Christmas as people here tend to be from elsewhere. They were working in coordination with a van with nonresident license plates. Police cars were on them lickety-split.

Police also advised that burglars want to know that your home is worth breaking into, so they case the place. Police stressed that we should close the drapes when not home so that valuables like flat screen TVs can't be seen.

You need to know what's been happening in your neighborhood -- in case there's a crime wave underway. The police need to know what you know about suspicious behavior. They would like to catch the perps in the act because they rarely catch them otherwise (at least that's DC's situation).


VALUABLE PROPERTY RECORD SHEET
http://mpdc.dc.gov/mpdc/lib/mpdc/opid_proprecord.pdf

after securing your dwelling and perimeter, and while you are deciding on a professional security system, borrow a couple of game cameras from your hunting buddies, and see what shows up from a couple of concealed IR/motion tripped cameras