MAY 2007 — VOLUME 5 ISSUE 6
Think like a thief
Summer’s around the corner and you may be thinking about going on holidays, but thieves casing your neighbourhood aren’t.
When it comes to home security, it pays to look at things from a thief’s perspective all year round. It’s easy to lock your doors at night and think you’ve got things covered. Really, who’s going to smash your window and steal your $60 DVD player and collection of Brooks & Dunn CDs?
You’d be surprised. The reality is thieves will take anything they can sell again, and those less-than-savoury types are always looking for easy targets.
“People are out there watching,” warns Constable Michelle Toews, spokesperson for the RCMP Kamloops Detachment. “I always tell people to think like a thief and do their best to determine how their home might be threatened.”
While property crime has been falling in Canada since 1991, Statistics Canada reports there were still 1.2 million property crimes committed in 2005.
“Among the most common,” the agency states, “were thefts, which accounted for more than half of all property crimes. There were almost 260,000 break-ins reported to police, more than half of which were into residences.”
Luckily, there are many precautions you can take to reduce the chances of a break-in, says Toews. Top of her list are common-sense security items, such as deadlocks and anti-pry plates for main doors, properly-secured patio doors featuring a bar-stop, pins and a frame that properly interlocks with the door itself, garage doors that remain locked and motion-sensor lights that illuminate your home.
Of particular importance to seasonal residents is creating the illusion that a home is occupied when it’s not. Have your yard maintained regularly, she says, and take precautions such as forwarding phones to another number and having mail forwarded or collected by a neighbour.
Sherry Chamberlain, a commercial and residential salesperson for Chubb Security Systems in Kamloops, also warns against thief-friendly landscaping. Keep your shrubs short, she says, and make sure entry points to your home are clearly visible. Thieves don’t want to be caught and having a well-lit, highly visible yard makes your home much less attractive to them. Alarm systems are another alternative, she says, and can act as a step-by-step deterrent to criminals.
“Step one is deterring would-be thieves from your house with the signage in your windows,” she explains. “The next deterrent is the siren, which is so loud they won’t want to stay. The third step is the security system itself, which is hooked up to your phone line and we get the signal.”
An oft-repeated recommendation by those in the business of crime prevention is to use your community. Keeping an eye on your neighbour’s home is not being nosy—it’s being nice. If you see something suspicious going on, don’t rush over, but take notes and call the police if necessary. Your attentiveness may help solve a crime after it’s been committed.
Keeping your home safer can be as simple as examining it from a thief’s point of view—if you see an opportunity, chances are they will too.
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