Over the past couple of weeks, there has been an increase in the number of burglaries through second story windows, balconies and skylights on the Westside of Vancouver.
I have discussed this issue on a few previous occasions including a recent post about a crook climbing through a smashed 2nd floor window in Kerrisdale a couple of weeks ago. In a post from the summer time, I talked about how many burglaries during the warmer months occur after crooks gain access through an open upstairs window. It appears that someone is now using the typical summer tactics at Christmas time… which is typically when a large number of burglaries occur.
One of the reasons that crooks will go to this extra effort to get in is that many alarms rely on a single motion detector on the second floor. As a result, it is possible for a thief to gain entry to the second floor and burglarize individual rooms without having to go through the upstairs hallway (by moving their ladder). As pointed out on this blog, your security is in your redundancy. We strongly recommend that EVERY opening in your home be connected to your alarm. As a further precaution, use window blocks on all single hung windows.
In the recent string of rooftop burglaries, the crook(s) have used both ladders as well as any available yard furniture and BBQ’s in order to climb up on the victim’s roof.
Do you have anything lying around in your yard that could be used to help a burglar?
Consider…
1. locking your side and back gates;
2. locking your BBQ to something on your patio/deck to make it a little harder to move along side your house;
3. bringing any ladders that may be lying around inside, or locking them to your fence.
Here is a message that we received from Constable Ray Gardner, who is the Constable responsible for the Kerrisdale Community Policing Office (click on the image to see a bigger version).
