13 Things A Burgular Won't Tell You

[DISdreamin']

Where I live, the household income is higher than the state average...
From the 2000 census: This is why crime is lower...

Yeah, cause thieves don't have cars, right?

Seriously, we live in a wonderful neighborhood - I can't begin to guess how much about the state median the household income is, but it's a lot (probably 2x or more). We recently formed a Neighborhood Watch group because we had a string of break-ins to both vehicles and residences, including one break-in while the residents were home. Thankfully nothing of a violent nature, but still crimes!

All homes are owner occupied, no rentals. Very few homes for sale (perhaps 1 in 100, if that, at any given time). It's freakin' nirvana - and yet we still have break-ins.

Personally, I have a security system, and I also have large dogs - German Shepherds. I still lock my doors and cars, and set the alarm. Being cautious is very different from being paranoid. Being lax is often, IMHO, inviting trouble.

 

[minkydog]

We have the best security system out there: a one hundred pound beast. He is the biggest baby to people he knows, but let someone he doesn't know walk in the yard, like the meter reader for the electric, and he goes absolutely nuts. I have to walk out to the end of the drive to meet the UPS chic when we order anything. She is scared of him and all he has ever done is bark at her. He is huge though.

I have his brother! Minky is a 10yo Standard Poodle, all black so when he smiles all you can see is teeth. He has backed more than one "salesman" off my porch. We had prowlers behind our house one morning in broad daylight. DD16 was home sick and DH had gone on an errand. Minky set up barking hysterically, like it was life & death. DD looks out, there's 4 strange guys casing out the place. She kept a cool head, locked all the doors, kept Minky inside, the cell phone in her hand watching them from the window where they couldn't see her. She called her dad and of course, he was racing to get home and calling 911. When DH got there, the SWAT team was in our driveway with 3 guys in handcuffs, the 4th cowering behind a tree. Minky still sending up the alarm. You would have thought there were 8 big dogs in the house! I am absolutley sure that those guys heard him and decided to find an easier mark. Minky got some roast beef for supper that night!

 

[minkydog]

The best deterrent to a burgler, aside from a barking dog or nosy neighbors, is a house that's a little run down but obviously occupied. If the owner doesn't have the money to fix those shutters or take care of that peeling paint, it's a good bet that the owner doesn't have expensive electronics like big screen TVs or jewelry inside.

This is the philosophy I subscribe to. We live in an older neighborhood(not a subdivision) with pinecones in the yard, older cars (one is missing some hubcaps), an old metal swing set in back. We have flowers and plants, but it doesn't look like a showcase (sadly.) We leave our doors open just about all the time. I'm sure if a burglar came in he would take a look at our 5yr old desk top computer, our 14yr old tV with the broken buttons, the mismatched furniture and the cheap costume jewelry and leave. He might even send US a check! There is nothing about my house that says "THESE people have money!" We have lived in the Atlanta area for 26 years and have only twice had any sniff of crime. Maybe our burglars have headed over to someone else's house,because I think word on the street is "Don't bother with Minkydog. THey ain't got NUTHIN."

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I would rather be of this mentality than of the mentality that the world is to be feared and I have to live my life in fear...

It's not black and white like you are trying to make it. I live in a city that is safe. I have never heard of there be any kind of crime in my neighborhood. I have an alarm, mostly because it came with the house. Most of my neighbors have alarms, but I have never heard of anybody ever actually needing it.

I don't live in constant fear. I have zero qualms about going into my yard well after midnight to get one of my dogs. I sometimes forget to set it, but I don't panic over it when that happens. I enjoy my neighborhood, it's a nice safe place. That doesn't mean that I can't use some common sense. Setting an alarm is hardly living in fear. Keeping your doors and windows locked when you are away (or at night) is not living in fear. It is simply common sense.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

I would rather be of this mentality than of the mentality that the world is to be feared and I have to live my life in fear...

There is a difference between living in fear and being cautious. I do not live in fear, but I am conscious and cautious of things around me and take reasonable precautions, regardless of the location.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

My mother in law used to leave her front door unlocked because "this is a good neighborhood." I told her there were no iron gates at the end of her steet to keep bad people from entering her "good neighborhood." They had even been burglarized several years before but I guess that didn't phase her.