Lineberry Alliance Blogs

The Lineberry area has had a rash of home and car break-ins starting November 18, 2009. There have been at-least 10 residential break-ins over the last 3-4 weeks. Before I provide a few tips, let’s start with the basics. If you see anyone that you do not recognize in your or your neighbors yard, call 911 immediately. Don’t assume that they belong there, even if it looks like a service vehicle. Don’t wait until your neighbor comes home, report suspicious activity right away.

When calling 911 give as much information as possible. Is the suspect male or female, are they white/black/hispanic, what is the color of their hair, what clothing are they wearing, what mode of transportation are they using, etc. Take a snapshot in your head and write down things if you need to. Consider calling your answering machine or voice mail to take notes.

Here are 10 tips that can help make your holidays a little bit safer

1. Zhu-Zhu pets may be the hottest toy this season, but GPS units (Garmins, Tom Toms, etc.) are the most popular items to steal. They are small, usually visible in cars, and the suction cup ring on your windshield is a dead give-away. Take your GPS unit with you and don’t let your vehicle be a target for this easy item.
2. From the car to the home, laptops and flat screen TV’s are also popular with burglars. They are lightweight and mobile. And if they are visible from a window, you’re a potential target.
3. Don’t advertise. Getting a new laptop, TV, or other hot item over the holidays? Don’t advertise your stuff in your driveway.  Take boxes to a local recycle center or break them down so they are not noticeable. Don’t just put them on the curb as a commercial to thieves, protect your belongings (and their boxes).
4. Are you shopping online this year? Have packages shipped to work or make sure you pick them up at the post office / shipping facility. Packages on your front porch are key targets and can easily be picked up by someone else.
5. Make your house looks lived in. A house that looks lived in is less likely to get broken in to. Use lighting, TV’s, radio’s, and other things to make your place look active.
6. Lock your doors and windows. Creating an easy point of entry for thieves is bad. Open windows, unlocked doors, and unlocked windows are key targets. It’s really easy to lock them. Lock it up.
7. Are you going on vacation? Have your mail and/or paper delivery stopped or have a neighbor collect them for you. A stack of newspapers in your driveway is a dead giveaway for a potential break-in.
8. Light it up. Use a combination of timers and motion sensors to light up your home. This makes it looked lived-in and a house that is well-lit is better than a dark one.
9. Consider an alarm system. “FBI statistics reveal that a home without a monitored security system is 3 times more likely to be burglarized, and that a business without a monitored security system is 4.5 times more likely to be burglarized.” (Source: Don’t Panic! Be Prepared for a Home Break In)
10. Know your neighbors. The best preventative measure is a neighbor that’s paying attention to what’s going on. If you don’t know your neighbors, it might be a good time to introduce yourself. If your neighborhood has a community watch, consider becoming involved and informed.

You can only do so much to prevent break-ins. Hopefully, the 10 tips above will help create an environment that will make your car or home be less vulnerable. Happy holidays.

Tags: alarm_system, break-ins, community, community_watch, garmins, gps, laptops, neighborhoods, neighbors, tips, tom_toms, tvs

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 20th, 2009 at 6:00 am and is filed under Lineberry Alliance, PRR-Watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.