TAKING MORE THEN JUST VALUABLES

As children we are brought up to believe that our homes our safe havens. Places to run to when you are scared. A place where you are suppose to feel the most comfortable. A place that is suppose to offer protection from the outside world.

So when your home is burglarized, it is much more then just valuables that are taken from you. Not only are things taken but things are given to you as well. We will explain.

Its been a long day at work and all you can think about is getting home, the place where you kick off your shoes, grab a cold drink a relax. So as you pull in the drive something feels different but you just cant quite put your finger on it. You make it to the door and unlock your safe haven with your special key. You close the door behind and you place your things down, and that is when it hits you. You didn't leave that light on, you didn't leave those drawers open. As you take a few more steps the reality of what has just happened begins to set in and fear starts to creep over you. Now you notice that things are thrown all over the place, broken and trashed. Your expensive electronics such as tvs, stereos, dvd players etc. are not where they are suppose to be. You breathing becomes rapid, you now realize that you are a victim of a burglary.

Its not quite over yet. As you search for your phone, cell phone or land line, you mind starts racing. Are the burglars still here? Did I walk in on them? How many are or were there? Should I turn around and run out or should I keep searching? These are all questions and emotions that victims of burglaries go through within the first 3 minutes of realizing they have been burglarized.

Ok so you finally run outside and call for 911 and then probably family members next. It is only minutes until the authorities show up and escort you back into you supposedly safe home.

Now the taking begins. You search around with astonished eyes, trying to take it all in and quickly identify what items are missing. You cannot process your thoughts correctly because you are overcomed with many different emotions at the same time. Obviously there is fear, there is angry, there is sadness, there is astonishment. These things are running wild in you and at the same time there is a police officer attempting to ask you questions that you only partially understand at the moment.

These burglars have taken almost everything from you. They start with the electronics. They know that is what will bring them quick cash on the streets. They grab tvs, dvd players stereos, computers, cameras, anything that can easily be pawned or sold. Now take another look around. They didn't take the vhs player or the dvd movies or the telephones, why you ask? Because they have no street value. These disgusting thieves need to carry the most bang for your buck.

But they don't stop there. They rummage through drawers looking for anything of value that someone may be hiding. They are looking for credit cards, check books, identification cards, anything they can use to quickly go buy something before these things are reported stolen and canceled. They also look for jewelry. They know that they can pawn jewelry very quickly and without too much of a hassle. Most of the jewelry these thieves get away with is of relatively little actual value but they do not know that, they only see gold and diamonds. So they dump all they can into bags or pillow cases.

What these disgraceful human beings, I'll call thieves, do not realize is that they are actually taking way more then they think they are.

They are taking and breaking memories. Things that have no monetary value, but you cherish dearly because of their meanings. Things from your childhood or possibly from wedding. These things can never be replaced. But these are not the worst things that are taken.

The worst thing that is taken from a victim of a burglary is the sense of security. They can no longer come home to the place that is suppose to offer that protection from the outside world. No longer can someone just sit and relax without jumping at the first noise they hear from the other room. Even knowing that all the doors and windows are locked loses it sense of security because the thieves got past that the first time.

That lost sense of security is heightened due to the fact that there are statistics proving that once someone has become burglarized, those same burglars are likely to come back a second time. Now that these evil people have a layout of the home and know exactly what they left behind, they gain alittle more confidence in thinking they can do it again. There are other troublesome statistics for burglary victims as well. In all reported burglaries only 12% actually get caught and have the stolen merchandise returned to its owner. That is a 88% success rate for the bad guys. Not good.

Now I stated in the opening of this article that these burglars actually give something too. And they do.

They give the victims health problems, anxiety issues, some even suffer from depression for sometime while they battle the "why me" question.

So how do we stop being victims? With preparation and creativity.

We must be prepared. By this I mean we must remember to lock our doors and windows. Not just at night but anytime you leave. Long gone are the days of leaving your doors and windows open and being able to sleep safely. Another great preparedness item is a safe. A safe is great for putting any item of great value to you, whether it be monetary or sentimental value. Put you credit cards, all of your important papers such as deeds, car titles, birth certificates and what ever else you would like into that safe. Any safe is better then a drawer but we here at Loose Topics highly recommend a safe that can be bolted down. A safe that cannot be is good but if they take the whole safe, you are still losing all of those items. Another great preparedness item is a security system. Systems today are so easy to use, and quite inexpensive. For  roughly 100 bucks you can have a system installed that will monitor you doors and windows. If a break in occurs when the alarm is set the alarm company is notified and then they notify the local authorities. Systems can be as simple as just glass breakers and motion sensors to cameras and remotes on your key rings.  Not only do these systems give you back some sense of security but they may also reduce your home owners insurance a bit.

As for being creative. This simply means do things different, don't become predictable. Do not come home for lunch at the same time everyday, vary it. Do not leave for work or return from work at the same time everyday. This may mean you get up an extra hour early once a week and go for a short drive before work. This may mean to visit a family member or friend for 20 minutes after work before going home. Go for walks at different times. Sometimes in the mornings, sometimes in the evenings while keeping you eyes open to your environment. Being creative may mean not leaving out the same door every time or entering the house through a different door when coming home. If you don't and you stay predictable, it only takes a few days for a thief to figure your pattern out.

By being prepared and being creative we may be able to keep or even get back some of the security that these burglars take from us when a break in occurs.