When Your Home Has Been Burglarized

You’ve been out for dinner. It’s been a wonderful evening
with friends, with good food and congeniality. You return to your home filled
with expectations of curling up on the sofa and watching the late show on television.

But as you pull into your driveway your headlights reveal
something that makes you stop the car. Your front door is standing open.

You grab your cell phone and dial 911. A few minutes later
the police arrive and they enter your house while you wait outside. They find
no one, but there is evidence that someone has been inside. You enter your
home, which now seems strangely different and violated. You go to your bedroom
and check your jewelry box. It’s gone.

What has happened to you is not unusual. According to the
FBI, a home burglary occurs every 20 seconds, and 1,478,901 home burglaries
were reported in 2007. Dollar losses from burglary are an estimated $3.5
billion annually.

How can you protect yourself? Fortunately, most criminals do
not want to encounter a homeowner. They want items such as computers and
jewelry that can be quickly converted to cash. Only about
four percent of home burglaries involve the robbery of the inhabitant.

Even if you are not at home, being the victim of a home
burglary is stressful and costly. The creepy feeling that your privacy and your
home have been invaded can linger long after the event.

What can you do to lower the probability that your home will
be burglarized? The Denver, Colorado Police Department has published these tips
for homeowners; your local police department or your insurance company will
have similar information.

Install heavy-duty deadbolt locks with one-inch throw
bolts on exterior doors.

Use blocking devices and anti-lift devices, such as
through-the-door pins or upper track screws, on sliding glass doors.

Keep your doors and windows closed and locked.

Secure accessible windows with blocking devices so that
they open no more than six inches for ventilation.

Get to know your neighbors and agree to watch each other’s
homes.

Collect newspapers and flyers for your neighbors, and ask
them to do the same for you.

Use timers on lights to suggest occupancy.

Use exterior lighting to eliminate hiding places around
the front of your home.

Install motion sensor lights on the rear of your home.

Use highly visible burglar alarm decals, crime prevention
decals, or beware of dogdecals, especially on ground accessible windows.

Identify your valuables by engraving an identification
number on them.

Photograph valuables and record the serial numbers.

Use a home safe to protect your valuables.

Keep garage doors closed even when you are home.

Lock doors connecting the garage to your house, and don’t
depend on an electric garage door for security.

Contact the your local police department for more
information.

You need to act quickly despite the trauma. If you are apprehensive about staying home alone after a
burglary, you are not aloneit is a very common feeling. Ask a friend to sack
out on the sofa, or go to a hotel for a few nights. Meanwhile, be sure to
contact your insurance company and file a police report if you have not already
done so. You will need to provide accurate descriptions of items that were
taken; hopefully you had previously photographed them or had taken a walking video
tourof your home.Timeliness and documentation can bekey to the recovery of your belongings.

Hopefully a burglary will never happen to you, but if it
does, being prepared will make the event less traumatic.