How does a thief think? I combed the internet, including YouTube, on this topic and this is a compilation of information I found in articles/videos often from thieves themselves. Most of the sources dealt with urban thieves, but there are a lot of lessons for us rural folks too.
Thieves can have different motivations. A lot are drug addicts who are looking for anything they can turn into a dollar. Some are professionals who will case your place beforehand and leave no prints after. Some are crimes of opportunity such as leaving your garage/house door open when you are home but otherwise tied up mowing the back lawn or working on the property out of sight. They are in and gone before you return from your chores.
Do burglars plan a B&E? 12% of the time yes, 37% of the time depends upon the situation (something valuable is left in plain sight), 40% of the time it’s a spur of the moment thing. Make it hard to get into your place. If a thief can’t get into your house in one minute, they are on to the next.
A thief only needs 5-12 minutes once inside your house. Once in, he’s is going straight to the master bedroom looking for cash or jewelry. He’ll look in your nightstand, under the bed and in your closet. A friend of mine bought a small safe. I said, “Let me guess where it is?” “It’s in your bedroom closet.” He didn’t reply, but I could tell he was thinking about somewhere else to hide it.
Next stop is the home office. Here’s where he’ll find credit cards (or credit card statements with credit numbers & limits, including cash), laptops, passports, bank account details. From there it’s on to the bathroom to check the medicine cabinet where he’s looking for Prescription medicines, narcotics – easy money. He’ll be looking for stuff that’s easy to carry. From there he starts thinking about getting out especially if he’s got a nice haul.
One exception to this is if he knows you’re away for an extended period of time. If you’ve been nice enough to post the glorious two weeks you’re going to have while in Cancun on Facebook or other social media, he knows he can take his time.
On rural farms and acreages, it’s not just the house. There are the outbuildings: the barn, the shop, sheds, garages. It’s a big tradeoff between personal ease of use of the buildings and susceptibility of to a break-in. You’ll have to decide your risk tolerance and whether you want to go to the trouble of locking everything up every night. A lot will depend upon the value of what’s inside.
So what are the most effective deterrents to a thief. In their words:
1. Secure all entry points (gates, doors, windows).
2. Leave a vehicle in the driveway if you’re gone – “I avoid those places. I don’t want to chance encountering someone”.
3. If you’re gone for an extended time, put lights, radio, the TV on timers.
4. Install motion sensor lights or have permanent outdoor lighting (remember we are in dark sky country so get the right ones).
5. Install a surveillance system, preferably wireless. A thief is 2.7 times less likely to target a place with a security system.
6. Don’t keep your keys to everything by the front door. I was guilty of this one. I now hide all the keys someplace else when I’m gone. The last thing I need is for a thief to find the garage door opener and my truck keys so that he can really make a haul.
7. Don’t keep money in the freezer – thieves say a lot of people do. I know of someone who disguised a pack of money as a sausage package. Then there was a burglary somewhere where all the meat from the freezer was stolen so he had to come up with a non-freezer idea.
Nothing is bulletproof, but these will help increase your odds of avoiding a theft. Thieves say often people make it all too easy for them. Get creative. Remember the thieves don’t want to stick around for long, and they don’t want to be seen.
One thief said if he notices it’s a neighbourhood watch area or he’s aware of a person or two watching him, he’ll leave that area alone. It’s too risky. So keep an eye out for suspicious behaviour and join the High Country Rural Crime Watch Association if you haven’t already. Remember the RCMP want you to report suspicious behaviour so please do so.
Dave Schroeder
HCRCWA Board Member
