Protect Your Home

Criminal Burglary The FBI says a house is burglarized every 15 seconds. The News 5 Crime Prevention Task Force will show you how to keep from becoming a victim in your own home.

by Mel Showers

Published: Tue, April 29, 2008 - 4:01 pm CST

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, a burglary occurs somewhere in the United States every 15 seconds. Chances are, you know someone who has been the victim of a break-in. Unfortunately, criminal experts say the struggling economy and soaring gasoline prices could mean your home and property could be next. Over the next three nights, our News 5 Crime Solutions Task Force will present some helpful tips on how to lessen your chances of becoming a victim.

Did you Know?

There were 6,116 burglaries in Mobile in 2003. Source: Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center.

We begin by introducing you to a recent victim. Mrs. Tracey Houze became a victim on April 22nd while she was at work. She told our Mel showers and Rose Ann Haven about how she felt when she returned home to find that a back window had been broken which allowed the thieves to get inside. She said, "At first, I was angry and then I felt this feeling of insecurity... The fact that someone had invaded our privacy, come into our home and just violated us. We felt violated. We still feel violated. My daughter is afraid now. She sleeps with me because she is so afraid they may come back. And so there's a sense of insecurity still to this day."

Did you Know?

The average dollar loss per burglary offense in 2005 was $1,725. Source: FBI

Burglary Tips:

Make your home look occupied all the time.
Use automatic timers on the lights when you are away from home.
If you are out of town, have a neighbor pick up the mail and newspapers.
Install a security system.
Install motion lights around your home.
Don't hide spare keys outside your home.

Once inside her home, the burglars stole shoes, clothes money and other personal items. Security experts say burglars often try to avoid breaking a window because of the noise created by the broken glass. Bruce Davis is the owner of Alliance Security Corporation. He told News 5, "80 percent of your break-ins come through doors..they are the most likely entry..they're easy to get in..and they're fairly vulnerable. With windows it involves breaking a window, and glass falling, and you know.. a little more noise, and you know more than 5 or 6 seconds at an entry...and a burglar is not real comfortable breaking into the into the home".

Mrs. Houze says her family is now more alert since their home was broken into. She says, " when I come home in the evening time, I will especially look to see if there is anything out of the ordinary in my yard around my home, I'll call my children to let them know I'm on my way home so they'll be looking out for me, so they'll know it's me coming into the house, so we have definitely changed the lack of security to being more security conscious."

In part two of our special report, Bruce Davis with Alliance Security Corporation will have some helpful tips on how to lessen your chances of becoming a victim.

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