Holidays are usually busier for us and this Easter was no exception. One burglary is worth writing about, not because it was unique but rather because it was quite typical. The burglary occurred on the night of Good Friday, at about 9:30pm (admittedly the time of the burglary was unique given most occur during the day, but crooks often assume homeowners are on vacation on holiday weekends).
At this Kitsilano home, the burglars (I’m pretty sure that there were two) gained entry by throwing a baseball sized rock through the back glass door. Once inside, the burglars bypassed the family room with a significant amount of electronic equipment, including a plasma screen TV, and went straight for the master bedroom. In a textbook example of a residential burglary, as I described in my post about the typical Westside burglary, the thieves pulled the drawers out of the bedside tables, checked under the mattress and then rifled through the master bedroom closet. While in the master bedroom, they ripped the alarm keypad off the wall and broke it (which has absolutely no effect on the alarm system – other than requiring a new keypad).
Given the actual ‘event history’ (the order in which we received the various alarm signals from the initial trip to each of the motions and openings), we know that the thieves were in the house for less than one and a half minutes. On their way out, they tried a few other drawers in a bathroom and the kitchen.
Luckily, the homeowners believe they did not get anything of value. Because the alarm was tripped from the glassbreak detector as soon as the window was smashed, the burglars had less time than if they had they pried open the door. This is because the alarm would have started an entry delay countdown for 30 seconds before tripping the alarm had the door sensor been the first to trip.
When our response team arrived, they found a purse that belonged to the home owner laying in the backyard and the rear gate left open.
Our client was out of town when it happened and we initially could not reach them, or any of their emergency contacts. We called the Police who indicated that they were unable to attend due to a busy night and as a result, would not visit until the client was home to confirm what, if anything, was taken. We obtained an incident number and started a Police file so that the Police would have all of the basic details on file to assist when our client called to complete the report.
We then arranged for the door to be boarded up and swept & vacuumed all of the glass from the family room and kitchen. Our on-call technician came out to install a new keypad and the system was tested to ensure it was functioning properly.
Lessons?
1. The burglars were able to gain easy access to the backyard through the rear gate. Locking the gates may have been enough to dissuade these crooks. There are two options for locking your side and back gates: 1) get a padlock from Kerrisdale Lumber, or 2) have a locksmith install proper deadbolts on the gates with the same keyway as your house.
2. Closed blinds or curtains may have also provided less temptation as the crooks would not have been able to confirm so easily that no one was home or get such a good look inside.
3. Our client was relieved to hear that his desktop computer had not been taken. You should always ensure that you make regular back-ups of all of your computer data (including photos, home videos, etc.) and keep them in your safe… or at least away from your computer so that in the event a crook does steal your laptop or PC, you do not also lose all of your data. Remember, the goal is to five minute proof your most important belongings!
4. Does your delay time need to be so long? If you can make it to your keypad from your door in less time than your alarm currently allows you, call us to talk about reducing your entry delay time to 10 seconds or less.
In this case, the crooks were looking for cash and jewellery, items that are easy to quickly grab and run with. How would they have fared if they had broken into your house?