House burglarized last week. Anyone experience home burglary
PRL1JAM
Posts: 787
I was at work and I came back to find my house had been broken into and burglarized. It looks like the thieves broke into the back door and instantly went for the first room they saw. My brother has been living with me for the last year and they hit up his room first. He had some jewelry taken that was given to him from our grandmother. The only other thing he had in the room was a 5 gallon jug/jar with about 200 bucks of quarters inside. His entire room was torn apart, however, the money and jewelry were the only thing taken.
They went in my room and took my cell phone. I normally always have it with me, but on this day I was in a hurry and left without it. The interesting thing is my room almost appeared untouched. My phone was left on the desk right when you walk in, but everything else looked to be exactly intact. My worries now is having it happen again. I have small dogs but they are not much of a threat since they are kept inside. Funny thing is, I was more concerned about some of my Pearl Jam items that mean a lot to me. Items such as posters that I have got at shows, as well as the guitar picks I have caught. Thankfully none of my items were taken other than the phone. I don't keep any cash in my house, but now I am nervous about having my personal items taken one day. I now wonder what are the best means of security I should take to try and prevent this from happening again. We had a deadbolt, but there is a possibility that it wasn't installed with long screws (thieves got around it by prying the door open). A gun is not going to help much if I am not there when they break in. I want to do everything possible to prevent them from coming in at all. The feeling of being violated and having these lowlifes in my home is just a sick feeling.
They went in my room and took my cell phone. I normally always have it with me, but on this day I was in a hurry and left without it. The interesting thing is my room almost appeared untouched. My phone was left on the desk right when you walk in, but everything else looked to be exactly intact. My worries now is having it happen again. I have small dogs but they are not much of a threat since they are kept inside. Funny thing is, I was more concerned about some of my Pearl Jam items that mean a lot to me. Items such as posters that I have got at shows, as well as the guitar picks I have caught. Thankfully none of my items were taken other than the phone. I don't keep any cash in my house, but now I am nervous about having my personal items taken one day. I now wonder what are the best means of security I should take to try and prevent this from happening again. We had a deadbolt, but there is a possibility that it wasn't installed with long screws (thieves got around it by prying the door open). A gun is not going to help much if I am not there when they break in. I want to do everything possible to prevent them from coming in at all. The feeling of being violated and having these lowlifes in my home is just a sick feeling.
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I think the reason I never had to deal with that when I was growing up because someone was always there at the house, parents, brothers. We rarely ever went out and when we did it wasn't for more than a couple hours.
I do wish you well and send my condolences.
why do people steal cell phones? you can have it disabled right? they can never have it activated?
hidden webcams are good at catching people.
8/08 - Ed solo in DC, 6/09 Ed in B'more,
10/10 - Brad in B'more
Noones ever got into our house, but we've had things stolen from outside in the garden. The most expensive being a motorbike. It's a horrible feeling.
Sorry to hear.
About twenty years ago I had fallen asleep on the couch only to wake up in the middle of the night and see someone headed out the front door with my stereo. They were brazen enough to break in while I was sleeping there. They had apparently been in and out more than once before I awoke. They got my stereo components and my VCR. By the time I realised what was happening they were in their truck and headed out of the parking lot.
the 2nd time we weren't so lucky. they took just about everything and broke the glass in a kitchen window to gain access. (after the 1st incident, we put wooden dowels in every window so they can't be pried open). a bird had gotten in, too, and shit alllll over the place!
The glass man and police said we were VERY lucky that nothing was trashed... guess that happens a lot up there. It's weird, they didn't mess anything up! they obviously took items from closets and drawers yet closed the doors when they were done.
You're on the right track by installing a deadbolt properly! the longer the screws, the better! put a metal plate on, too! the police (and everything I read online) said that you want to make it hard for them to get in. the longer it takes them, the more freaked out they get. look into those hotel bar locks as well and walmart sells GE window and door alarms that are very loud.
if you're worried about someone coming during the day, leave a radio on. For night, we bought a fake LCD thing that makes it look like a tv is on inside. it turns on at dusk and turns off either 4 or 7 hours later. http://www.homesecuritystore.com/p-496-ftv-10-fake-tv-burglar-deterrent-device.aspx
We also installed a few fake bubble cameras that have a red blinking light, a sign that says 'smile, you are being videotaped' and I made some stickers on clear decal paper that say 'rockwell GPS tracking" and stuck them in the corner of every window and door.
we also bought a trail-game camera.... you might want to go that route. they aren't expensive if you don't need the nighttime infrared. if you can spend the money, there are a bunch of hidden camera's out there.. like a Kleenex box!
I found a large, old trunk at goodwill and screwed it to the floor.. we put the remote controls, a drill, ipod speaker, phone charger, etc. in it and lock it up. That might be an idea for your PJ stuff! we also took a big black plastic storage box and put a rock in it along with the snowmobile helmets and snowshoes. That gets locked up and it's very heavy. If someone does get in, you have to make it hard to get stuff out. we glued the dvd player to the stand it sits on! also installed a security lock on the tv--it mounts with airline cable and one-way screws. i would rather have them break the tv into pieces than get it out of the house!
the most important thing everyone should do is inventory everything you own. write down model and serial numbers and hide a physical copy of this info somewhere or give it to a friend. don't just leave it saved on a computer because if that gets stolen, you're SOL. \email it to someone or yourself so it can be accessed from another computer. Take pictures of everything, too. it's also helpful to either engrave or use a sharpie and write your drivers license number on everything! I got a call just last week from the police.. they busted some kids and were able to close 5 other burglary cases in the county. None of our items were recovered but we didn't have serial numbers to everything... this was almost a year after our place was robbed.
It's a horrible feeling!
It's a very unsettling feeling to be burglarized/robbed. I hope you don't have to endure this again.
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Kinda odd, you have small dogs and they still came in. Usually, burglars won't bother a house with small dogs because of all the barking.
- Christopher McCandless
thank you guys