Rolling Out the Red Carpet for Burglars

Out of sight, out of mind, out of your house and into the hands of thieves.

Lately, several Rancho Bernardo residents have had items stolen out of garages they left open, police said. This often happens when people are working in the backyard (out of sight) or accidentally forget to close the door (out of mind), providing burglars with quick access to tools and other property (out of your house).

"Unfortunately, we've been seeing a little bit of an increase in daytime open-garage thefts," San Diego police Officer Susan Steffen said. "Even during the day, be conscious that your garage is open.

"Sometimes, they get busy and people start working in the backyard, garage door is open and they don't hear anybody go in."

Crimemapping.com, which catalogs daily crime activities for law enforcement agencies, shows a series of burglaries reported around Rancho Bernardo over the past month, all throughout the community (see photo in gallery). Between January 2011 and October 2011, the most recent data available, there were 58 residential burglaries in Rancho Bernardo, compared to 50 during the same time period in 2010, according to ARJIS, which provides official crime statistics for the city of San Diego.

Once cash and jewelry are taken, they are often gone forever, Steffen said, but other types of property can be, and many times, are recovered. Electronics and other items with serial numbers, or that have inscriptions with the owner's information are sometimes found through pawn shops and when police arrest burglars in possession of stolen property from multiple residences. Police catalog the property in a database and try to match it up with items reported stolen, as happened recently in the case of .

So what can you do? Steffen offers the following tips:

• Don't enable burglars in the first place. Beside keeping your garage closed, residents should also make sure to lock the door in the garage that leads to the home, Steffen said. Many locals forget about locking this door, leaving not only their garage property vulnerable but the items in their home. People should also be aware of open windows and the view they provide of desirable items inside, she said. Sometimes, women will leave their purses downstairs on a table viewable through open-curtained windows. A burglar, even while knowing someone is home, may be willing to take the chance of breaking in and taking the purse (or laptop, etc.) as an easy score, Steffen said. People shouldn't have to worry about leaving their purses and laptops out at home, Steffen said, but that's the way it is.
• Cut the shrubs. "If you have a lot of shrubbery underneath windows, and windows higher up off the ground, you're actually kind of providing a hiding place for burglars," Steffen said.
• Install motion lights on the sides of the home and in the back. These may be more effective than lights that remain on all the time, Steffen said. Motion lights can draw more attention from neighbors when they suddenly go off, she said. "If the lights were always on, they wouldn't really think twice about it."
• Etch your drivers license information on your property. Electronics, furniture and other burglar best bets are good items to tag with your information. If they're stolen, tell police that your drivers license number is etched and they can keep an eye out, Steffen said, adding officers check for inscriptions and markings such as this when suspected stolen property is found. Officers can then look up the address associated with the drivers license in the DMV database and get the stolen goods back to their owners. Also consider etching the last four digits of your social security number instead, she said.
• Take pictures of your jewelry. In the case of stolen jewelry, pictures really are worth a thousand words trying to describe what a missing gold ring looks like, Steffen said. "Jewelry is really hard and it's real easy to get rid of gold now because you can send it through the mail," she said. Take pictures of each individual piece of jewelry, as well as the appraisal, to better aid officers in finding it at pawn shops, she said.
• Get involved in . "We're relying more than ever on the residents to be our eyes and ears and to look out for each other," Steffen said. Look out for suspicious people, such as those peeking into car and home windows, following mail and delivery trucks, or teens outdoors at unusual hours, such as 3 a.m., she said, adding don't be afraid to call the non-emergency line 858-484-3154.

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