Muskego Police Note "Funeral Crime" Incidents

"Just when a family can be at its most vulnerable, they also must be vigilant," said Lt. Dave Constantineau with the Muskego Police Department of a recent incident. 

The police department received a call from the family of a Muskego man who had recently passed away, and was concerned about a car that seemed to be driving around the neighborhood with no real purpose. 

"Our officers looked for the vehicle, but were unable to find it.  There was no indication that the driver of the car was doing anything illegal, but we can’t say he wasn’t either.  Fortunately, this family was not victimized, and was able to grieve in peace," Constantineau said.

Apparently some thieves and burglars make a living by reading obituaries and then burglarizing the home of the deceased while the family is at the funeral.  It is a simple matter of checking the name of the person who has passed away, or their family members, against a phone book or the Internet.  Then they watch the house and wait for the family to leave, knowing the house will be empty for hours.  

"I don’t wish for anyone to have to grieve the loss of a loved one, but we all know that death is a part of life, and it is going to happen.  I would like to give you some thoughts so you have one less thing to stress over during a difficult time," Constantineau explained.  "When a loved one passes away, we want the whole world to know what kind of a wonderful person we lost, but consider keeping the information in the obituary to a minimum.  Family and friends already know the kind of person they were, and then we aren’t putting information in the obituary which can be exploited by the bad guys."  

Among his tips:  

If the home will be vacant for a while, make arrangements for a neighbor to keep an eye on the property. 

Put the lights on timers, make sure the grass is cut regularly and the snow is shoveled, and remove any valuables from the home. 

You can contact the police department and let us know that the house will be vacant.  An extra patrol notation will be placed in their log, which means the area will be patrolled more often, but as he pointed out, "it is no guarantee we will be able to notice something out of place."

"If a member of a household dies, and the home will only be empty for a day or two, or for just the funeral, you can again call us and we will put extra patrol on the residence, but your best defense is to ask someone you trust to stay at the home," Constantineau added. 

He realized this is sometimes difficult because family and friends all want to pay their respects.  However, you can have people take turns, or ask someone you trust to ask someone they trust to house sit.

"I don’t want to scare anyone, but the death of a loved one is devastating enough, it doesn’t need to be compounded by a devastation of another kind," he said.