Crime Wave

Maybe it’s just a strange coincidence, but several people I know in my neighborhood and surrounding areas have been victims of home burglaries in the last few weeks. Most took place during the day time. One of my buddies even had his saxophone and flute stolen while he was doing yard work.

We have an alarm system, and I save all receipts of valuable purchases, and have taken pictures of my gear along with the serial numbers. When I bring my gear in and out of the house I try to do so discreetly with the garage door closed.

What precautions are you taking?

These burglary gangs work naighbourhood after neighbourhood, and switch to a different one every few weeks, before things get to hot....

In general they choose the best houses where they can get the best loot with the least burglary precautions...


I am not taking to many real precautions, i have a fake outside allarm system with Cameras and fake sensors that looks real and sophisticated even up close. I also have some movement sensors attached to my fire warning system which is a silent system that class the police/firedepartment in case of allarm.... but honestly i never switch (the burglar alarm part) on because the chance for false allarms is to big and overhere they make you pay big money for every false burglar allarm.

Next to that i dont allow any strangers in my house, and only companies that i invited over, so they can not know what to expect inside.

Last month, the wife of my GP who was a dermatologist was murdered in the parking lot of their office building.

Turns out they took in a homeless guy, let him work on maintenance in the building, invited him to holiday dinners and let him sleep temporarily in a small apartment in the office.

He became fascinated with the wife and kept calling to the point where they got a restraining order.

They arrested him a few days ago.

Most of my friends tell me I should watch out. Some of the people I help have pretty scary backgrounds. when I was injured several years ago, the kid who cut me had been a part-time worker (on parole) here at the warehouse.

The death of my good friend's wife really hit me hard.

But, I'm not ready to give up on people; maybe just be a little more cautious.


Be well, all,


Russ

Montunoman,

Aren't you in Texas? I thought Rick Perry made everything perfect there.

Tom

Tom, according to my very reliable internet resources (LOL) you have a 1-34 chance of becoming a crime victim in Michigan and a 1-190 chance in Texas. How much Rick Perry has to do with that, I have no idea. All I know is that our lax gun laws are sure making a mess in Mexico.

Montunoman,

Your sources (new acronym VRIR) could be right. However I've listened to Rick Perry and according to him he is responsible for everything good that ever happened in Texas. I just wondered that's all. Archie Bunker had a theory on airline safety, he thought we should issue everybody a gun when they got on the plane. That way no one had an advantage. Food for thought.........

Tom

I still watch "All In The Family." And, Archie may have a valid point of view when it comes to airline safety. We have some of the most stringent gun laws in the nation in Baltimore and Washington. Wanna' take a wild-assed guess about the handgun crime and murder rate in those two cities? The most recent reports put Baltimore at #3, while New Orleans is still holding onto the #1 spot. I'm not sure where the Nations Capitol is in these standings, but you can bet they're not far behind Baltimore.

Cheers,

Gary

Well this is off topic of off topic. Texas is #18 in murder rate. Most of the states with the highest murder rate are in the south and southwest. It's probably because of a variety of factors. IMO, the biggest factor is a culture of getting even and not backing down. Lax gun laws and very high levels of gun ownership are probably factors as well.

There are no northern states in the top 10 except for Missouri which is really in the middle.

I got the stats from here http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/murder-rates-nationally-and-state. The website got the stats from the FBI website.

Russ, I am so sorry about your friend and his wife. That is too tragic for words.

Anyway, this is a reminder to be careful about robbery. It only has to happen once to screw up your life.

Picture this....

I live in rural Ireland surrounded by Forests, Mountains, lakes and old traditional Irish folk who would always help a friend in need. The modern world does not exist where I live. It's like going back in time 100 years.

All except for my new neighbour who is young, came into money, and is a drug user amongst many other things. Generally speaking I can deal with him, but the people he brings around are from the City and are serious trouble. I've been having awful difficulty with them and the cops don't seem to ever aid us in a capacity that matters when these guys party.

Until recently.....!!!!

Our home has always been alarmed for years, so while these people don't break into my home, they do our neighbours. Because of my very close proximity to this guys house, I have recently installed a high end CCTV system that makes even the darkest of night time footage look like a sunny day. I'm talking high end Inferred Lamps and Camera's that can make out a face in complete darkness at 100ft effortlessly and have a range that extends many times beyond that if needed.

Well.... bingo.... I caught the prick and his friends big time just recently. They were showing my home with rocks , beer bottles and breaking into my neighbours homes. My neighbours are all aware of the spread of my cameras and take comfort in having them on, as well as have granted permission to point them as I've done. We are all very close people, so you have to understand what a reassurance it is to them. They don't know anything about technology and I'm the complete opposite.

Anyway..... the cops armed with CCTV footage have arrested all the guys and are prosecuting them to the full extent of the law. Two are most certainly looking at prison time as they are only out on good behaviour.

The sense of peace and the good vibe this has created amongst my neighbours is priceless and in a single incident after installing the system, I feel the CCTV system has paid for itself 100 times over.

Regards
James.