What Burglars Don’t Want You to Know

Beating Burglars at Their Own Game—What They Don’t Want You to Know

When your home is burglarized, it can take away your sense of personal safety. Here at Deep Sentinel, your sense of personal safety in your home is of utmost importance to us. That is why we want to deliver ongoing comprehensive information to help you optimize safety for yourself and your loved ones. We believe that law enforcement agencies throughout the US are excellent sources of information on this topic.

Police officers get a macro as well as an up-close micro view of home burglaries and burglars. They learn how burglars’ minds work: how they decide what residences to rob, how they do it, and what is changing and what remains the same over time.

We are proud to present to you great tips from the City of San Diego Police Department.

What burglars don’t want you to know—from interviews with convicted burglars.

• I might leave a pizza flyer on your door and check whether you are home to remove it.
• Leaving your kids’ expensive yard toys on the front lawn makes me think there are fancy gaming systems inside.
• I may knock first. If you come to the door, I might ask for directions or offer to clean your windows. Don’t let me in. I could be staking the place out or I might rob you right then.
• I may look familiar because I was here to clean your carpeting, paint your kitchen, or deliver your new dishwasher.
• Thanks for letting me use your bathroom when I trimmed your trees last week. I got a good look inside your house and figured out how to get back in. Just say no.
• Leaving a loud TV or radio on can be as good, if not better, at deterring burglars as an alarm system. If you’re out of town, consider using a timer to turn TVs and radios on and off at key times.
• If you insist on having glass side lights at your front entrance, at least have motion detectors, and don’t put the alarm where I can see whether it is set.
• Just because it’s raining doesn’t mean I’m not out there. Lock your doors and turn on your alarm even in bad weather.
• If I see a safe, I will grab it and take it with me if it’s not bolted down. I know that’s where your valuables must be.
• Why would you pay a lot of money for an alarm system and not use it? Thank you from me.
• Your master bedroom is my jackpot. I look through the dresser drawers, the bedside table, and the medicine cabinet. I almost never go into kids’ rooms.
• Two of my least favorite things are barking dogs and curious neighbors.
• If the lights are on, close your blinds. I like being able to look in your windows. Why? I’m watching to see if you’re home and for expensive flat-screen TVs or gaming systems I can sell. I drive around your neighborhood at night to select my targets.
• Leaving windows open when no one is home is like inviting me in. Install locks that keep me from opening windows open wide enough to get inside.

Personal Safety—A Basic Human Need

Safety is not a luxury. Safety is a basic human need. Psychologist Abraham Maslow placed safety as one of the key bases for his famous pyramid-shaped Hierarchy of Human Needs. In Maslow’s pyramid, safety is second only to basic physiological needs for food, water, and air.

A vital focus of personal safety is feeling safe inside and around your home. Your home environment needs to provide you with a sense of peace that stems from personal safety. A major threat that can shatter your sense of peace comes from criminals and criminal activity, particularly theft, burglary, home invasion, or robbery.

Unfortunately, according to FBI data, a house, apartment, or condominium in the United States is burglarized once every 15 seconds. In a recent year, victims of burglary lost an estimated $3.6 billion.

Even if you’re not present when it occurs, a break-in can permanently shatter your feeling of security at home. That’s why security measures like live security monitoring are so important. Iron-clad protection gives you peace of mind like nothing else can.