By Beat Cop
Part three of a three-part series.
Getting woken up by a late night phone call from the police is almost always a bad thing. Extreme anxiety fills your body as you hear, “Hello this is Officer Fernandez from the Police Department.” The worst case scenario runs throughout your head.
“We have located a laptop computer that may have been taken from your house in a burglary. If you can come down to the police department and identify it, I may be able to release it to you tonight.“ Sounds almost too good too be true. It could be a reality if you follow some simple advice from your local Beat Cop.
Taking the time to inventory items in your home may be the most effective weapon you have in helping the police catch thieves. When an officer responds to your home to take a burglary report, they will look for clues, canvass for witnesses and catalog the items taken. A victim who has serial numbers written down for their stolen iPod, laptop, camcorder and Play-Station will likely get “some or all” of the items returned to them. If however, no serial numbers are available, there is almost no chance the items will ever be returned to their rightful owners.
All police departments in California utilize the same database to track stolen items. High-value items are entered into a nationwide tracking system. Police come into contact with crooks every day as part of our job. It can be frustrating to come into contact with a person on parole for burglary that has three laptops in a backpack and tells you that he “found them.” The officer will surely do their part and have the dispatcher check the serial numbers in the database. But if the victims of the burglary were not able to provide serial numbers to the responding officer, the parolee may be able to walk away with the likely stolen laptops. Even if the officer is able to seize the laptops for further investigation, the owners will likely never be located if no serial number was provided.
Burglars are predictable. If you or your neighborhood have been target for a burglar, it is likely they will continue to victimize that same area. One tool citizens use more frequently is a low-cost home video surveillance system. Home DVR systems are becoming more popular and are helping the police catch burglars. Even if you have not been the victim of a burglary, your video system may have seen the person who broke into your neighbor’s home and is planning on breaking into yours in the near future. Neighborhood organizations and groups are coordinating with each other after a crime occurs on their street. They are sharing information about the crime in emails, community meetings and now videos of suspicious people — and even criminals caught in the act.
Help us help you now and download this simple home inventory form. Walk through your home and jot down the make, model and serial numbers of any item in your house you would like returned to you if ever a burglar makes their way into your home and walks off with your stuff. Take photos of jewelry and items without serial numbers. Tuck the form away and hope it is never needed. If the unfortunate day comes when you do need it, you will have done the most effective thing you can to help the police catch the person who violated you and get your stuff back.
Proudly serving you,
Your Beat Cop
Showing posts with label burglary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label burglary. Show all posts
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Preventing the Break-In
By Beat Cop
Part two of a three-part series
I just added a new “friend” on Facebook. I don’t know this person, but two of my friends do, so why not, right?
Of course, I forget for the moment that I’ve used this excuse to add half the friends I already have. I click “What’s on your mind?” and enter a status update for all my digital friends to enjoy. Something witty... I know, talk about the New York trip... “Beat Cop is looking forward to his trip to NYC on Monday.”
Sadly this innocent act is just an example of one of the increasing burglary opportunities we’ve seen. Yes, the criminal I just added to my “social network” reads my update as, “Beat Cop is leaving town on Monday, I can’t wait to break his window, go in his house, go through his stuff, and steal whatever looks good.”
Far fetched or not, that scenario is rearing it’s ugly head too often lately. After reading the last Beat Cop article, "Nightmare On My Street," you learned that a reduction in police staffing has led to an increase of residential burglaries in our city. This week we will look at burglary prevention. We will explore ways all of us can contribute in order to prevent burglaries from occurring as well as learn ways to catch the crooks coming into our homes. In part three we will look at ways to get the cuffs onto those who prey on residents while they are away from their homes.
Burglary is a crime that is preventable even when you are not home. Burglars are in general cowardly and lazy. Most often they look for easy targets and quick loot. After succeeding with an easy break in, a burglar will go on the prowl for the next easy target, often in the same area/neighborhood.
I used the look up calls for service in your area link on the www.protectsanjose.com and saw that there were 94 burglaries last week in San Jose, with four of them occurring in my small neighborhood alone. Here are some of the top ways to prevent burglaries in your home and your neighborhood:
1. Don’t showboat.
Leaving valuables out in your frontyard or a new flat screen TV in plain sight from the road, can unwittingly lure thieves onto your property just like a frantic bargain hunter is lured to a flea market. The thief is always out shopping for loot. Don’t make it easy for them by letting them know what you have. Dont’ leave your garage door open for extended periods of time.
2. Don’t put up the “Out for Lunch” or “On Vacation” sign.
Burglars only want to break into your home when they know you are not there. Protect yourself by creating the illusion you are home even when you are not. Leave a radio or TV on. Buy a ten dollar timer from your local hardware store and have lamps on at night when you are gone (energy efficient florescent bulbs of course). Stop mail and newspaper subscriptions while on vacation.
3. Lock your doors and windows.
I once asked a burglar why he chose the house he did. His response was, he didn’t, it chose him. After tugging on four or five doors/windows in the neighborhood he went with the one that was open. Most home breakins are more like “walkins” requiring very little force or none at all. Invest in quality deadbolts and locks. Use wood or steel dowels in sliding doors and windows. Don’t forget about upstairs windows. It’s not hard for a burglar to climb up an air conditioning unit or a left out ladder and enter your second story window. Burglars know to look under the front mat for a hide-a-key. Leaving your spare house key in common hiding places is like leaving milk and cookies out for neighborhood thieves. Lock it up.
4. Make your yard welcoming to guests not thieves.
Keep the bushes and trees trimmed near your windows. Clutter and large items offer concealment and a chance to pry a window open in privacy. Make use of motion lights and other outdoor lighting. A well maintained yard brings more friends over and keeps more crooks out.
5. Get to know your neighbors.
Knowing who belongs in your neighborhood, will help you to recognize those who don’t. Take notice of suspicious persons and note license plates and vehicle descriptions. Take a proactive approach to keeping yourself safe and let the police help keep predators out of your neighborhood. SJPD is available to help with this. Gather a group of ten neighbors and make arrangements for a crime prevention specialist to meet with your group. You can contact the SJPD crime prevention unit at (408) 277-4133 or log on to the SJPD website.
6. Use an alarm system.
A well maintained residential alarm system can make a burglar passup your house. Monitored systems are great and alert the police of a breakin when you are not home. A system that does not have a paid monitoring service can be very effective as well. Inexpensive systems are available that make that same high pitch noise as the expensive ones and scare the burglar off just the same. An alarm sign strategically placed in your yard might be all it takes to keep the crook moving along.
The reality is that some burglaries will still occur despite our best efforts made at preventing them. Taking the time to implement as many preventative measures as possible can help to keep you safe. In part three we will continue to work together to catch crooks with efforts taken before a breakin and after. Stay tuned and help San Jose Police Officers as they work to return San Jose to being the safest big city in America.
Proudly serving you,
Your Beat Cop
Part two of a three-part series
I just added a new “friend” on Facebook. I don’t know this person, but two of my friends do, so why not, right?
Of course, I forget for the moment that I’ve used this excuse to add half the friends I already have. I click “What’s on your mind?” and enter a status update for all my digital friends to enjoy. Something witty... I know, talk about the New York trip... “Beat Cop is looking forward to his trip to NYC on Monday.”
Sadly this innocent act is just an example of one of the increasing burglary opportunities we’ve seen. Yes, the criminal I just added to my “social network” reads my update as, “Beat Cop is leaving town on Monday, I can’t wait to break his window, go in his house, go through his stuff, and steal whatever looks good.”
Far fetched or not, that scenario is rearing it’s ugly head too often lately. After reading the last Beat Cop article, "Nightmare On My Street," you learned that a reduction in police staffing has led to an increase of residential burglaries in our city. This week we will look at burglary prevention. We will explore ways all of us can contribute in order to prevent burglaries from occurring as well as learn ways to catch the crooks coming into our homes. In part three we will look at ways to get the cuffs onto those who prey on residents while they are away from their homes.
Burglary is a crime that is preventable even when you are not home. Burglars are in general cowardly and lazy. Most often they look for easy targets and quick loot. After succeeding with an easy break in, a burglar will go on the prowl for the next easy target, often in the same area/neighborhood.
I used the look up calls for service in your area link on the www.protectsanjose.com and saw that there were 94 burglaries last week in San Jose, with four of them occurring in my small neighborhood alone. Here are some of the top ways to prevent burglaries in your home and your neighborhood:
1. Don’t showboat.
Leaving valuables out in your frontyard or a new flat screen TV in plain sight from the road, can unwittingly lure thieves onto your property just like a frantic bargain hunter is lured to a flea market. The thief is always out shopping for loot. Don’t make it easy for them by letting them know what you have. Dont’ leave your garage door open for extended periods of time.
2. Don’t put up the “Out for Lunch” or “On Vacation” sign.
Burglars only want to break into your home when they know you are not there. Protect yourself by creating the illusion you are home even when you are not. Leave a radio or TV on. Buy a ten dollar timer from your local hardware store and have lamps on at night when you are gone (energy efficient florescent bulbs of course). Stop mail and newspaper subscriptions while on vacation.
3. Lock your doors and windows.
I once asked a burglar why he chose the house he did. His response was, he didn’t, it chose him. After tugging on four or five doors/windows in the neighborhood he went with the one that was open. Most home breakins are more like “walkins” requiring very little force or none at all. Invest in quality deadbolts and locks. Use wood or steel dowels in sliding doors and windows. Don’t forget about upstairs windows. It’s not hard for a burglar to climb up an air conditioning unit or a left out ladder and enter your second story window. Burglars know to look under the front mat for a hide-a-key. Leaving your spare house key in common hiding places is like leaving milk and cookies out for neighborhood thieves. Lock it up.
4. Make your yard welcoming to guests not thieves.
Keep the bushes and trees trimmed near your windows. Clutter and large items offer concealment and a chance to pry a window open in privacy. Make use of motion lights and other outdoor lighting. A well maintained yard brings more friends over and keeps more crooks out.
5. Get to know your neighbors.
Knowing who belongs in your neighborhood, will help you to recognize those who don’t. Take notice of suspicious persons and note license plates and vehicle descriptions. Take a proactive approach to keeping yourself safe and let the police help keep predators out of your neighborhood. SJPD is available to help with this. Gather a group of ten neighbors and make arrangements for a crime prevention specialist to meet with your group. You can contact the SJPD crime prevention unit at (408) 277-4133 or log on to the SJPD website.
6. Use an alarm system.
A well maintained residential alarm system can make a burglar passup your house. Monitored systems are great and alert the police of a breakin when you are not home. A system that does not have a paid monitoring service can be very effective as well. Inexpensive systems are available that make that same high pitch noise as the expensive ones and scare the burglar off just the same. An alarm sign strategically placed in your yard might be all it takes to keep the crook moving along.
The reality is that some burglaries will still occur despite our best efforts made at preventing them. Taking the time to implement as many preventative measures as possible can help to keep you safe. In part three we will continue to work together to catch crooks with efforts taken before a breakin and after. Stay tuned and help San Jose Police Officers as they work to return San Jose to being the safest big city in America.
Proudly serving you,
Your Beat Cop
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Nightmare On My Street
By Beat Cop
Part one of a three part series
Picture this...
You are returning home after a long day at work. While driving down your street you discover your garage door is open. “Hmmm, I must have left it open when I left this morning”, you think to yourself. This self talk provides a few moments of comfort as you pull in the driveway.
Scanning the front of the house, you notice the side gate is open. This is not getting any better. A quick phone call to your spouse confirms nobody has been home all day. You walk into the garage and notice the door leading into the house is partially open. Reality sets in. Someone has broken into your home...
The Reality
In our city, with a population of almost 1 million, the San Jose Police Department investigates over 4,000 burglaries a year with only 7 detectives assigned to the burglary unit. Eight consecutive years of cuts to the public safety budget are bound to affect you as a victim of this type of crime.
In 1986, with a population of approximately 700,000, San Jose Police had 13 burglary detectives and a 16-person burglary suppression unit. Since that time, the city has eliminated the entire burglary suppression unit and cut investigators almost in half.
The city projects that by the year 2020 the population will have increased to 1,150,000. More people and more housing will undoubtedly lead to a rise in burglaries. There does not however, seem to be any plan to increase the amount of burglary investigators.
The case load of every burglary detective does not even come close to making a dent in the amount of cases going through the unit. The lack of adequate personnel prevents most burglaries from even being investigated. With the public safety budget getting cut every year, non-violent property crimes receive less attention. Understandably violent crimes continue to take priority with investigators. For the victims of home burglaries, this is of little consolation.
The Good News
On the bright side, SJPD takes great pride in our professionalism. An overly-abundant case load will not make a detective care for your case any less. There does, however, exist the undeniable reality that an impossible workload reduces the time allotted for each incident.
Thankfully, Chief Davis understands our staffing shortfalls and is working with the City Council to staff SJPD at appropriate levels for a city of this size. Until that happens, we will do the best with what we have. As always, call us, we will be there.
As members of your San Jose Police Department, we want to get involved. We want to catch the person or persons responsible just as badly as you do. With your help, and our expertise, we have a good chance.
Most importantly, let us go inside first to make sure no one is still there — this is why we have guns. Once inside, we will start the collection and preservation of evidence for future prosecution. All patrol officers are trained in evidence collection. You are welcome to watch although don’t expect the process to look like an episode of CSI. It’s actually slow and meticulous, not glamorous, but very important.
Finally, we will work with you and your neighbors to offer our expertise in burglary prevention. There are steps members of the community can take to help protect themselves from burglaries and help the police catch the crooks.
Working together, we can reduce the number of burglaries that occur and arrest more of the people responsible for them.
I’ll tell you more about this in future articles.
Proudly serving you,
Your Beat Cop
Part one of a three part series
Picture this...
You are returning home after a long day at work. While driving down your street you discover your garage door is open. “Hmmm, I must have left it open when I left this morning”, you think to yourself. This self talk provides a few moments of comfort as you pull in the driveway.
Scanning the front of the house, you notice the side gate is open. This is not getting any better. A quick phone call to your spouse confirms nobody has been home all day. You walk into the garage and notice the door leading into the house is partially open. Reality sets in. Someone has broken into your home...
The Reality
In our city, with a population of almost 1 million, the San Jose Police Department investigates over 4,000 burglaries a year with only 7 detectives assigned to the burglary unit. Eight consecutive years of cuts to the public safety budget are bound to affect you as a victim of this type of crime.
In 1986, with a population of approximately 700,000, San Jose Police had 13 burglary detectives and a 16-person burglary suppression unit. Since that time, the city has eliminated the entire burglary suppression unit and cut investigators almost in half.
The city projects that by the year 2020 the population will have increased to 1,150,000. More people and more housing will undoubtedly lead to a rise in burglaries. There does not however, seem to be any plan to increase the amount of burglary investigators.
The case load of every burglary detective does not even come close to making a dent in the amount of cases going through the unit. The lack of adequate personnel prevents most burglaries from even being investigated. With the public safety budget getting cut every year, non-violent property crimes receive less attention. Understandably violent crimes continue to take priority with investigators. For the victims of home burglaries, this is of little consolation.
The Good News
On the bright side, SJPD takes great pride in our professionalism. An overly-abundant case load will not make a detective care for your case any less. There does, however, exist the undeniable reality that an impossible workload reduces the time allotted for each incident.
Thankfully, Chief Davis understands our staffing shortfalls and is working with the City Council to staff SJPD at appropriate levels for a city of this size. Until that happens, we will do the best with what we have. As always, call us, we will be there.
As members of your San Jose Police Department, we want to get involved. We want to catch the person or persons responsible just as badly as you do. With your help, and our expertise, we have a good chance.
Most importantly, let us go inside first to make sure no one is still there — this is why we have guns. Once inside, we will start the collection and preservation of evidence for future prosecution. All patrol officers are trained in evidence collection. You are welcome to watch although don’t expect the process to look like an episode of CSI. It’s actually slow and meticulous, not glamorous, but very important.
Finally, we will work with you and your neighbors to offer our expertise in burglary prevention. There are steps members of the community can take to help protect themselves from burglaries and help the police catch the crooks.
Working together, we can reduce the number of burglaries that occur and arrest more of the people responsible for them.
I’ll tell you more about this in future articles.
Proudly serving you,
Your Beat Cop
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