Anyone else had their home burglarized?

[Curt]

My house was broken into two years ago. Thankfully, our alarm system ran him off without him getting anything. Nevertheless, despite leaving a cell phone that must have fallen out of his (or her) pocket the Del City police said that wasn't enough to go after someone.

Pfff...

Somewhere I heard once cops become cops because they are too stupid for college and too lazy to do a real job.

[oneforone]

Somewhere I heard once cops become cops because they are too stupid for college and too lazy to do a real job.

I am going to have disagree with you.

Tulsa PD requires a Bachelors degree.

OHP is lobbying the legislature for a bachelors degree requirement. Right now you have to have 60 college credit hours. The average veteran trooper has a bachelors and a couple of associates degrees under their belt.

In Oklahoma City you can get hired on with just a high school diploma but you will be expected to acquire a college degree if you want to make rank. A masters is required for the ranks of Captain and higher.

Furthermore, many police departments and CLEET continue to push for more training hours and college degree requirements for peace officers each year.

The only problem is the small towns across Oklahoma do not want to pay for training therefore they lobby the legislature to impede CLEET's progress.

This is why you see every small agency police job tied with the words CLEET Certification required.

[Kerry]

I couldn't disagree more with most of your negative comments about pawnshops.

In fact I used to oversee several pawnshops, including three in Norman. Each week we would submit digital records of all things pawned or sold to the respective police departments. These records would include the item make, model number, serial number and a detailed, physical description of the item.

If a person in our database was determined to have broken any laws in relation to any transaction at any of our stores, that person was permanently barred from pawning or selling anything to all of our stores.

Pawn shops are highly regulated, and police departments usually have very good relationships with the pawn shops in their jurisdiction. It is a statistical fact that less than one half of one percent of items pawned or sold are a result of ill-gotten means.

Now, that said, are there people in this world that operate outside the current system in place? Without question there are. However, I didn't and I do not believe any of my staff did. Why? Because you're fired, prosecuted, etc.

Final thought...If I pawned or bought a stolen item as a pawn shop, the police department has a record of it, the item is returned to it's rightful owner, I am out the money and my only recourse is to attempt to obtain restitution from the person who brought in the item in question. I can count the restitution checks I received on one hand.

So you admit that while running a pawn shop you bought and resold stolen items. I have never run or worked at a pawn shop and I have never bought or sold a stolen item. You say that one half of one percent of all merchandise at a pawn shop is stolen. While that might seem like a small number, what percentage of stolen items are pawned? That figure is focusing on the demand side but what about the supply side. Would it be acceptable if 75% of all stolen items end up in a pawn shop even if that only accounts for 0.5% of the pawn shops inventory?

Not to be totally negative about pawn shops because I know they try to run an honest business but the fact is that the industry caters to an element that is usually less than desirable. That is why you don't see pawn shops at the mall, even Crossroads Mall (at least not yet).

[Kerry]

Somewhere I heard once cops become cops because they are too stupid for college and too lazy to do a real job.

Don't give too much credit college degrees, at least the college it comes from. I have worked with Ivy League CEOs that couldn't manage their way out of a paper sack. Wall Street is filled with failed MBAs these days looking for bailouts from pawn shop customers.

[Curt]

Don't give too much credit college degrees, at least the college it comes from. I have worked with Ivy League CEOs that couldn't manage their way out of a paper sack. Wall Street is filled with failed MBAs these days looking for bailouts from pawn shop customers.

Good point Kerry, also my cop joke was just that, a joke.

[Centerback]

So you admit that while running a pawn shop you bought and resold stolen items. I have never run or worked at a pawn shop and I have never bought or sold a stolen item. You say that one half of one percent of all merchandise at a pawn shop is stolen. While that might seem like a small number, what percentage of stolen items are pawned? That figure is focusing on the demand side but what about the supply side. Would it be acceptable if 75% of all stolen items end up in a pawn shop even if that only accounts for 0.5% of the pawn shops inventory?

Not to be totally negative about pawn shops because I know they try to run an honest business but the fact is that the industry caters to an element that is usually less than desirable. That is why you don't see pawn shops at the mall, even Crossroads Mall (at least not yet).

No I do not admit that I knowingly bought or resold stolen items. I do admit that items we took in pawn or bought had on a rare occasion been classified as stolen merchandise. However, contrary to your flawed view of the industry it is by far the exception and not the rule.

My guess is that very few items that are pawned or sold to pawn shops are stolen because of the way they are regulated. With the increase in online sale sites like ebay and craigslist and the ease of selling an item on the street, at a flea market or garage sale why would you want to risk arrest for a second offense by trafficking stolen property when you can get more money for it through other channels?

The fact that you believe the industry caters to undesireables is your opinion. I have loaned money to people from all the socioeconomic backgrounds you can imagine and they're really not all that different. Humans in all walks of life need a hand up once in a while.

[MrZ]

How ironic to just see this thread today after being robbed last night. Nobody was home between 4pm and 9pm so we know it happened then.
Came home and the front door was open and the porch light was off when it had been on earlier. Looked in the door and saw some stuff moved around so went out to the car and called the police. They showed up in about 30 minutes and went in with guns drawn and checked things out.
Once they gave the all-clear we went in and checked out the damages. The had busted out the bottom half of a sliding glass door and came in that way. They took a laptop, DVD player, video camera, digital camera, old cell phone, my wife's Mary Kay makeup stock (at least $2k worth), a lockbox with the deed to the house and life insurance policy among other important papers, some checks, a book of bank statements, emptied out the jewelry box (got my wife's wedding ring and her grandmother's wedding ring plus various gold and diamond jewelry), and various odds and ends (my wife swears she is missing shoes). The made a mess of the place and took pillowcases off pillows to haul the loot, but at least they didn't do any damage to the house other than the broken window.
They took everything out the front door which is surprising because it is highly visible and is the first house in the neighborhood so everyone drives by it. I found gloves at the corner of the house that they tossed and some socks which I guess where used at substitute gloves for one of them.
There was an alarm but it didn't have broken glass sensors on it and a family member had come over earlier and when they left they forgot to arm the alarm.
The police took a report and gave us an inventory sheet to write down info on what we were missing. I don't have high hopes on getting anything back, but if they get online on the laptop I have a way of telling what IP they are connected on and with that info the police should be able to find them. Keeping my fingers crossed they are dumb enough to get online at their own house!
Here's hoping that 2009 is better!

[Luke]

If you do install a home alarm system, be sure to get motion detectors. That way if you don't have glass breakage alarms, the motion will do him (or her) in.

[Kerry]

Centerback - I might have have an outdated opinion of pawn shops. You are right about things being easier to sell on Ebay with little or no chance of being caught (except for a guy in Salt Lake City that had his skis stolen from the ski resort and then saw them on Ebay the next day).

As for the other people on this thread have been broken into recently - maybe someone is targeting OKCTALK members.

[jbrown84]

I don't have high hopes on getting anything back, but if they get online on the laptop I have a way of telling what IP they are connected on and with that info the police should be able to find them. Keeping my fingers crossed they are dumb enough to get online at their own house!
Here's hoping that 2009 is better!

If they took your checks and are dumb enough to use them, they might catch them. This happened to a friend of mine.

[jsibelius]

Can you get an alarm, a big dog or a gun?

I wouldn't be in too big a hurry to get that gun. Guns are a big target for burglars.

My house was broken into two years ago. Thankfully, our alarm system ran him off without him getting anything. Nevertheless, despite leaving a cell phone that must have fallen out of his (or her) pocket the Del City police said that wasn't enough to go after someone.

Pfff...

You mean, it wasn't enough for them to be bothered to check into it. They would have if it had been a violent crime they were investigating.

Somewhere I heard once cops become cops because they are too stupid for college and too lazy to do a real job.

Good point Kerry, also my cop joke was just that, a joke.

Thanks for backtracking on that one. I was about to get upset with you. Most cops aren't that way. But I will say they are overworked and won't generally spend the time we might like investigating our burglaries. If no one is hurt, they usually take statements and move on...let the insurance companies handle it.

I am going to have disagree with you.

Tulsa PD requires a Bachelors degree.

OHP is lobbying the legislature for a bachelors degree requirement. Right now you have to have 60 college credit hours. The average veteran trooper has a bachelors and a couple of associates degrees under their belt.

In Oklahoma City you can get hired on with just a high school diploma but you will be expected to acquire a college degree if you want to make rank. A masters is required for the ranks of Captain and higher.

Furthermore, many police departments and CLEET continue to push for more training hours and college degree requirements for peace officers each year.

The only problem is the small towns across Oklahoma do not want to pay for training therefore they lobby the legislature to impede CLEET's progress.

This is why you see every small agency police job tied with the words CLEET Certification required.

It's not necessarily about being unwilling to pay for training. It's hard to attract officers to remote locations. The more requirements there are, the harder it is to get people to be willing to move to small towns far from the large cities. It's got nothing to do with being too lazy or dumb for college, but more about practicality for both cop and police agency.

[danielf1935]

As far as I'm concerned, and this is going to seem harsh to many, but the best theif is a dead theif. I'm building a new home south of Tuttle, over the Thanksgiving Holiday, someone broke in and stole app. $50,000 dolllars woth of materials, tools, etc.
I'm now staying at the property in a fith wheel trailer, and if they are targeting visitors to this site, they are welcome to come visit and meet Mr. Loaded 45.

[Kerry]

I wouldn't be in too big a hurry to get that gun. Guns are a big target for burglars.

I think you meant burglars are big targets for guns.

Here is the thing about having a gun - you have to be home during the burglary to use it. Since most of you weren't home when the crime happened then most likely you would have had the gun stolen also. Even dogs aren't that great. There is a show on TV that has 2 guys that break into homes to demonstrate where the vaulnerabilites are and when they go to house that has a dog they just pet it behind the ears.

Someone had it right earlier. Just make your house less attractive than your neighbors house for the burgler. If you really want to try something, try setting up web cams. I just bought a Logictec web cam yesterday and it has a motion activated recording mode on it and it can store the video at a remote site (because the camera and computer will probably be stolen). I am trying now to connect it to my Windows Mobile based phone so I can see video of my home on my cell phone. Now if I can just find a way to send myself a text message if the camera detects motion. The camera only cost $26 at target.

[redcup]

We were burglarized 20 years ago last Sept. I remember it because it was 2 weeks after my mother's death. The flower delivery guy scared them off, but they got about 2000 worth of stuff and took my tenant's (garage apt.) passport and cash. Insurance took care of it. The policeman came about an hour after we discovered it and did not even come in the house. I will say that insurance was very good at that time.

The burglary was a blip on my radar at the time. I barely registered that it happened as it was so close to my mother's death. Could have really cared less.

My son was burglarized in his apt. in San Francisco 2 years ago. We think it was one of his roommates, but could never prove it. They took his laptop and some photo equipment. Insurance proved a little trickier this time. Since he was attending grad. school and technically on my homeowners insurance, I filed for him. We had to prove cost of everything and the insurance paid us as we replaced the items. We bought and they then sent us the money for the item. It was a bit more complicated than the prior burglary when we received the money up front and could replace what we wanted, etc.

I discovered later after the first burglary that it was 2 kids from the local high school doing the house breaking. The school can be seen from our backyard. My neighbor was hit the next week and they were caught in the act. He chased them about 2 blocks and if Don had caught one of them it would not have been pretty. By his description and a little networking, I discovered that info.

My DH is home days now and so it is less likely we will be hit again. We also have a terrifying chihuahua that will bark until she is hoarse !! LOL

I am sorry for the losses that those on this board have felt. It sucks that someone will take your hard earned items and sell them for pennies on the dollar to wherever.

I am afraid with the downturn of the economic climate we will see more of this.

[CuatrodeMayo]

If indeed someone is targeting OKCTalk members, My alarm system is armed by a proximity remote, if I get further than 100' away, it arms. I have door sensors, glass breaking sensors, motion sensors, sound sensors and 24hr video feed recorded off-site and accessible on my iPhone. if the alarm is triggered, it then releases noxious gas that will paralyze any potential burgler for up to 2 hours and notifiys the police. Ir the system detects movement after the gas has been applyed, it will then release snakes. And there is a moat around my house.

Try me, sucka.

[redcup]

If indeed someone is targeting OKCTalk members, My alarm system is armed by a proximity remote, if I get further than 100' away, it arms. I have door sensors, glass breaking sensors, motion sensors, sound sensors and 24hr video feed recorded off-site and accessible on my iPhone. if the alarm is triggered, it then releases noxious gas that will paralyze any potential burgler for up to 2 hours and notifiys the police. Ir the system detects movement after the gas has been applyed, it will then release snakes. And there is a moat around my house.

Try me, sucka.

[GWB]

If indeed someone is targeting OKCTalk members, My alarm system is armed by a proximity remote, if I get further than 100' away, it arms. I have door sensors, glass breaking sensors, motion sensors, sound sensors and 24hr video feed recorded off-site and accessible on my iPhone. if the alarm is triggered, it then releases noxious gas that will paralyze any potential burgler for up to 2 hours and notifiys the police. Ir the system detects movement after the gas has been applyed, it will then release snakes. And there is a moat around my house.

Try me, sucka.

You've been crossed off my list.

[Luke]

You mean, it wasn't enough for them to be bothered to check into it.

Apparently. And that's ridiculous.

Who knows where s/he is off to next to violate someone else's property or hurt someone. When the evidence is RIGHT THERE why NOT go after them?

No wonder people turn to a life of burglary, especially when it pays.

I mean think about it, I could leave my cell phone in someone's house with all the info about me and my contacts, and not even be bothered by the police.

I spoke to many people at Del City PD and they basically told me they had bigger fish to fry.

Asinine.

[Curt]

[QUOTE=jsibelius;190735]




Thanks for backtracking on that one. I was about to get upset with you. Most cops aren't that way. But I will say they are overworked and won't generally spend the time we might like investigating our burglaries. If no one is hurt, they usually take statements and move on...let the insurance companies handle it
QUOTE]





No problem I do know alot of cops and only a few are lazy but you will get that in any job, for the most part cops hands are actually tied sometimes, they are not allowed to do the job as complete as they'd like to because of the laws that regulate them.

[jsibelius]

I think you meant burglars are big targets for guns.

Nope. I meant guns are a big target for burglars. They like to steal them. Guns are very popular items for thieves to steal.

Apparently. And that's ridiculous.

Who knows where s/he is off to next to violate someone else's property or hurt someone. When the evidence is RIGHT THERE why NOT go after them?

No wonder people turn to a life of burglary, especially when it pays.

I mean think about it, I could leave my cell phone in someone's house with all the info about me and my contacts, and not even be bothered by the police.

I spoke to many people at Del City PD and they basically told me they had bigger fish to fry.

Asinine.

"Bigger fish to fry." That's about the size of it. That's pretty much any police department, although most of them wouldn't be so dismissive as to ignore the cell phone. The cell phone itself isn't necessarily enough evidence, but it's enough to take a minute out of somebody's day to look at and ask questions which could lead elsewhere.

Do keep in mind the cops are extra busy during the holiday season, though. I still the attitude stinks, but it may explain the dismissive attitude you're getting. By the end of January, things should slow down for them a bit (weather-permitting), and they might be more accommodating.

[Luke]

Nope. I meant guns are a big target for burglars. They like to steal them. Guns are very popular items for thieves to steal.



"Bigger fish to fry." That's about the size of it. That's pretty much any police department, although most of them wouldn't be so dismissive as to ignore the cell phone. The cell phone itself isn't necessarily enough evidence, but it's enough to take a minute out of somebody's day to look at and ask questions which could lead elsewhere.

Do keep in mind the cops are extra busy during the holiday season, though. I still the attitude stinks, but it may explain the dismissive attitude you're getting. By the end of January, things should slow down for them a bit (weather-permitting), and they might be more accommodating.

This was 2 Christmases ago and I called them for several weeks asking them to do something about it.

Nada.

[BailJumper]

This goes back to my complaint that pawn shops are basically fencing operations carrying a few legit goods for cover. I think burglaries would go down dramatically if pawn shops were illegal.

That's a pretty ignorant statement. In reality, most pawn shops work very closely with police and many even participate in LeadsOnline. That is a database where the pawn shop enters the description and serial number of the items they receive. The police can then search that database for items reported stolen.

Also, police and victims often visit pawn shops in their area. If a stolen item is found the pawn shop loses as the item is seized and eventually returned to the owner.

Ebay and Craigslist move far more stolen items than pawn shops do. Also, the penalty for falsely pawning an item is a felony and is pursued by police.

The best ultimate protection for your replaceable valuables is a home alarm you actually use religiously, good home safe, indoor dog, common sense and insurance.

[Kerry]

Can't we just go back to cutting off hands. You can only steal twice. I wouldn't mind if the perp didn't even serve jail time. As an added bonus, the criminal would have to wear the hand on a chain around his neck for a few weeks (say one week for every $1,000 of theft).

[MrZ]

Found out today that my wife was keeping an ATM card for her grandma who is in a nursing home and it was in the lockbox that was stolen Tuesday in our burglary. The PIN code was on the sleeve the card was in (it was in a lockbox after all, supposedly safe).
The thieves used the card that night at El Mariachi supermarket at 59th and Walker. They bought several hundred dollars of furniture from Mathis Brothers ( oh how I hope they were stupid enough to have it delivered to their house), and took out close to $1000 in the past couple days.
Had the card canceled today and giving the info to the police. Hoping we catch the sonofabitches soon!

[Karried]

That is horrible. Hopefully, you'll only be liable for $50 - also, what about your Homeowner's insurance?