Repeat burglary - third time in 2019

[silvercuckoo]

Asking on behalf of a friend / colleague, and posting for traffic here.
Her house has been broken into for the third time this year. It usually happens when she's at work and her children are in school. Nothing expensive has been taken - things like a power bank, a couple of phone chargers, a heavy used children's tablet and even an opened pack of A4 paper - maybe a hundred pounds resale value max (what's the purpose of such burglary, if they have been twice and should know by how she does not have any jewellery / cash /expensive gadgets?). Access is always through the patio door where they smash / cut the glass. She had CCTV installed after the first time but the criminals could not be identified / traced from it. It looks like they are the same people though.
She is quite stressed out (working from home today as has nightmares of someone breaking in immediately if she leaves). Is there anything I can suggest to her, o wise people? I really want to be helpful in some way, but know nothing about this topic.

security fog, smokecloak, fog cannon, alarm mine.

Sounds personal to me. Is there anyone in her life out for revenge, a bitter ex perhaps? I just can’t understand anyone burgling a house and taking paper? So random and odd.

They’re obviously finding it easy to access her house. She may need to replace the patio door. I know patio doors are nice but they’re also a prime target for burglars so if she’s sick of it happening, that might be the only choice. Failing that, a big dog...

They’re also clearly accessing the garden too easily so maybe better gates and thorn bushes or anti vandal paint all over the fences. Barbed wire seems extreme .

The police should give the most effective advice. My friend is a police officer and she tells me to keep a light on at night, have CCTV even if it’s fake and put a beware of the dog sign up even if you don’t have a dog.

Never mind alarms, she needs to stop the burglars getting into the house in the first place. The patio doors are a point of weakness - how about a security grille on the inside? As long as that doesn't just divert them to another easy point of access. Beef up garden deterrents too but it's entry to the house itself she should concentrate on.

If it's the same people repeatedly stealing low value items then it probably is for drugs and how rational are they going to be thinking about the deterrent effects of an alarm, or even CCTV?

Also compare her house and garden with her neighbours - have they been burgled? If not, what are the differences that make her house the easier target and can she do anything about them?

This is quite odd - most of the time repeat burglaries by strangers are for quick sellable items and they return after a period of time when the items will have been replaced to do it again. Most IT has a remarkably low resale price nowadays and household burglaries are very low in frequency in comparison to years ago as a result..

However this does not seem to be the case. The majority of burglaries - like most crime - is familial committed by family or friends. Maybe she needs to look closer to home.

Sounds like stuff a Drug addict/junkie would take... of low value but easy to sell... does she know anyone with an addiction problem? The thief seems to know her movements as they keep going there to steal!!

I agree about those patio doors.
are they doubled glazed?
Single glazed is obviously too easy to cut.

I would get some shutters, inside or out, can look lovely wood or white painted, extremely difficult to break into

If they're not taking much, my concern would be that it's someone she knows trying to scare her.

It does sounds like it might be personal.

I'm inclined to agree. They know when she's out and that they will be able to get in again.

I don’t understand her logic of working from home today- does she understand that people break in regardless of whether someone is home all the time? She’s putting herself in a dangerous situation here.

high traffic, low value burglaries usually means smack rats. is there a drug problem in the area generally?

cctv everywhere - we use Nest cams, and you can also shout at people through them remotely.

has your friend asked her local police to come and do a Crime Prevention assessment?

It doesn't take a criminal mastermind to figure out that Mon-Fri daytime is the most likely time a house will be empty.

Have the police (assuming they are still investigating burglaries) identified a pattern with other local burglaries? Your friend's house sounds ripe for a police sting operation as it sounds like there's a high chance she'll be burgled again.

They are neighbours. Maybe not NDN, but close.

I’d second the ADT alarm.

Could she get those iron gates fitted over the patio doors, my dad had them at his shop and I’ve seen loads of houses with them now. Burglars might decide it’s too much effort to try and cut through them then the glass?

Sounds like someone she knows or someone who is looking for something in particular. I'd second getting a monitored alarm.

I take it she can't get a dog?

I was going to get a dog. I used to know someone who was a (reformed) burglar, and he said that a barking dog would stop him trying to get into a house every time. The problem with alarms, according to the ex-burglar, is that they so often go off when they shouldn't that people tend to ignore them.

I'd also look into replacing the patio doors with some that have the highest possible security rating. My builder BIL, w
ho has a real thing about security, always uses this company:

patiomaster.co.uk/trade/patio-doors/patiomaster-secure/

I believe you can also get security film to put on existing glass, to make it harder for these little scrotes to get in.

I'd be asking the police for advice from a crime prevention officer, if they haven't all been got rid of because of the cuts.

Sorry, that should have said "suggest getting a dog". I've already got a dog, who is currently providing an excellent crime prevention service by lying in her bed snoring her head off.

Also of the opinion someone is doing this to frighten her.

If I was her I’d be asking some big scary family members to stay in the house. Go out for the day like normal so they think noone is in and then surprise them when they next break in.

I agree that it’s either someone close to home who knows the movements - a neighbour a few houses away or a disgruntled ex/friend etc.

Ask the police for advice- they can point out the weak spots.

With an alley/path at the back her house will be an obvious burglary target so she needs to make the back as secure as possible.

I live in an a nice area that is increasingly being targeted for burglaries. I have caught men trying my back door in the night on my cctv, which woke me up. It’s scary.

When speaking to the police they have told me there’s nothing the thieves are after. Often cars are a target but electronics are easy to nick and sell. There was a news story about a break in somewhere and the thief just took the contents of the freezer?!

Patio doors are a weak spot. She could look into replacing them or adding the security bar that goes over the handles.
Tall fences and gates and prickly bushes in any area of the garden that could be used for entry or exit.
Some of the new cctv systems like ring, nest and Arlo are good for real time monitoring. Have the cameras facing doors and windows (I.e. put them up in the garden to look at the property) so she can monitor when away from home. They come with motion detection to trigger an alert if someone is detected near the house. House alarms get ignored and to be honest, they’ve already broken in at the point the alarm sounds?

Finally, all valuables out of sight, curtains drawn and blinds down.
A lot of cars broken into near me are because people leave bags in the car. Don’t put temptation to thieves!

We have nest cameras, you can get a live view anytime you want by just opening the app. And if you get the IQ ones, you can talk to people via the camera, so she could shout at burglers

You can get reinforced security glass for doors and maybe she could look into internal shutters or iron grills so even if they cut the glass they couldn't get in? Poor woman, sounds horrid.