Preventing Burglary. How To ?

Ive walked in on liquor store robberys, burglarys in progress, home invasions that started with burglarys. One such was a couple working on their apartment and two armed offenders broke in not knowing they were there. They forced them both to the ground at gunpoint "not good" and the woman screamed when they made her start undressing and luckily a neighbor heard it and we got there in time. Both offenders ran down and prosecuted successfully. I have a thousand such story's.

A burglary when your NOT home is bad enough but a break in when you are home can be another totally different story. A far worse one.

At least back then we had the tools to combat it. In todays world the Police have far less leeway then we did. I'd prowl alleys all day long looking for obvious potential offenders, young and middle aged mostly white males, dirty clothes and hygiene, obvious/apparent signs of drug usage like track marks....ect. They were carrying pry tools and didn't live there so huh are they doing prowling thru alleys with pry tools ?

Name check them and if they aren't Lying they'd bounce back with all kinds of priors for burglary, theft, criminal trespass, robbery...ect Most had been in the joint, some multiple times. Back then we had a charge called "possession of burglary tools" or "Poss/stolen property" we'd hit them with just to harass them and get them off the street and hopefully into someone else's District. . But the Lawyers and the Libs hung cameras on us and took that charge away as well.

And I'd stop these creeps all day long they were so thick in that District. I'd check crime patterns and we'd be taking in 5 to 10 case reports a day for burglary, or more. You got to know the offenders just by their crime patterns. Some would go in on the prowl into businesses that were closed. Some only did garages. Some only apartments using a specific method. Many, MANY! went specifically for small high value items only. Coin collections, jewelry, bullion, IPhones, cash, handguns, anything they can walk away with and sell quickly.

Sell to get high on. I can't stress that enough. They dont steal your coin collection to eat ; They steal it in order to sell it and get high. I never once caught a thief "and I caught thousands" that were stealing to feed their family Some drug dealers will take the stuff in trade for heroin but generally theres a fence instead. We had a few pawn shops that asked few questions but I could never quite get enough evidence on them they knowingly traded in stolen goods from burglary. One dealt with a lot of coins too.

On occasion , if we were lucky, we'd lift a print that matched an offender. This would normally at least allow us to charge the guy but prosecution would be sketchy. If we were even luckier the Detectives would get the guy to confess to at least unlawful trespass which basically means being on private property with the intent to commit a theft or other crime.

We could roll that up with past convictions and maybe get a Felony charge approved.

Guys like you "collectors" make the best victims because you record and store stuff like VAMs or blemishes/details of specific coins or bullion we can use if were able to collect the proceeds in some way. The uniformed officer who respond first makes the initial case report and he probably wont ask for these specifics but the Detectives assigned after will want to know such minute details and will record them on separate reports they make as the investigation continues. We dont just write a report and then forget about the crime.

A property crimes Detective will probably know what a VAM or error/blemish on a coin is. If not then tell him. The smallest details are important. We often recover property years later and are able to locate the victims and return it to them. Coin and jewelry details, gun serial numbers, property and serial numbers for as much as you can record should be kept safe in case of a burglary. The Police want as much info as we can get.

Unfortunately the Police today can't use the tricks and tools I used to keep these criminals on the run. But they do what they can. Help them by reinforcing your home, safe keeping your coinage, keep exact records safely away from the property, and call your insurance agent to get added insurance on your coins and property.

But most of all we want you calling 911 when you see suspicious persons prowling around your neighborhood. If they look like they don't belong there then the Police want to hear about it.

They also look for window AC units in bedrooms on the second floor.

Good boy!

I had wondered if such a thread was appropriate for this forum but over the years Ive had to record so much coinage, coin sets, bullion, stolen in burglarys and robberys I figured maybe adding my experience was warranted.

Regarding use of force for home and personal protection theres just no hard and fast rules. It will be different from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. But generally the Law is linked to "reasonableness" . in other words was the use of force and the amount of force such that a "reasonable" person would find appropriate for that situation.

For instance a 100 lb female that shoots an unarmed intruder to her home would be judged differently then some guerilla of an ex-cop like me who is also a former competitive shooter. Now if that intruder had a deadly weapon and came at me I'd be justified to shoot him.

Deadly force is justified to prevent death or great bodily harm to you or others. As an opinion I'd never be without a firearm for home defense. The exception being children in the house.

Pepper spray, bear spray ? These are not considered deadly for but you still have to be able to justify using them. The standard with them is "fear of receiving a battery on yourself or to prevent an unlawful battery on someone else".

But be warned. Ive used our strongest pepper mace on violent offenders and had some wipe their face, taste it, and then laugh at me as they came in swinging. Other times its worked fine but never instantly. Also you have to worry about blow back with that stuff. Ive maced violent offenders and had the stream bounce back into my face leaving me even more maced then them.

Tasers the same. Less then lethal and a lower standard in using them. But Ive seen them fail plenty of times too. The new ones most of all so whatever you use you had better have a Plan B. I'm an ex Boxer so thats my plan B and I'd recommend for anyone to take some form of martial arts class even if for confidence alone.

So protect yourselves, your homes, and your collections. Coins, coin sets, stamp collections, jewelry, bullion, cash , all hidden away ? They go right for this stuff. Ive worked patterns on offenders who would break in and only steal this stuff, the smaller and more valuable the better.

Hope I helped. Chicago has a lot of burglary and a lot of violence but burglary can happen anywhere. Most of all in working class neighborhoods.

Be safe and take care.

Thank you SS for so many great insights.

I personally witnessed a couple of drug addicts bring two big duffle bags into the LCS to sell. The guy doing the buying asked very few questions. Red flags were everywhere including the dealer telling them certain coins had silver and were worth more. One guy was fidgety while the other guy was just clueless as can be. About a week after the sale, both guys were pictured in the local news for stealing a large coin collection from a very nice area of town. How they knew that there were so many coins for the taking can be speculated about all day long, but clearly the homeowner didn't take enough steps to protect his collection. You can really never be too careful these days.

Sorry I haven't got back to you on this thread. In patrol I did the initial investigation, called the evidence guys, and then passed it up to the Detectives. On occasion I would get lucky and catch them during an in progress call, or even a lucky "on view" pinch when I'd just be patrolling and just have the pinch fall into my lap. Once I took down an entire crew with just a car stop where the car was loaded with stolen merch.

I know on occasion we'd get lucky and hit on a print taken from the domicile but that alone could only prove they were in the house. It would however give grounds for a search warrant and an arrest. This is stuff the Detectives generally do but I have been called to assist them. My guess is untraceable gold, silver, numismatics, are probably bought by pawn and coin shops or traded for drugs from a drug dealer who then does the same. I know records have to be kept but how can you prove its stolen ?

Its why on the initial case report I record as much detail as I can about the property taken.

The actual recovery rate is not good I can tell you that much. But Chicago is awash with crime and other jurisdictions may have better luck. Drug use and burglary are almost always linked. I worked part time at a methadone clinic and it was like a "whose who" of the area's burglars and retail thieves.

With all the restrictions on the Police nowadays its just going to get worse and worse. I wish I had better news to tell you.