Lessons learned from a burglary victim
Holly Derrick was recently the victim of a burglary where the thief’s made away with over $25,000 in jewelry, much of it with deep sentimental value. But, she has taken lemons, and decided to make lemonade.
“I thought, ‘That’s it,’” she said. “Everybody in this subdivision has to know I was burglarized to protect themselves and to be more aware. I was fed up.”
For her own safety, she had security Screens installed on every window of her home. Security screens look just like normal window screens, but they set off the alarm if they are tampered with or cut into.
In Derrick’s case, the burglary occurred because her security system was bypassed. Derrick started collecting newspaper articles. She searched for similar situations and came across another burglary in which an alarm was bypassed, as it had been at her home.
Many alarm systems don’t include glass-break detectors. Without this added service, the glass can be broken without sounding the alarm because the frame has remained in place. Once inside, they crawl low to the ground to avoid setting off motion detectors.
The burglary of her home remains unsolved, but Derrick is pretty sure she knows at least one of the guys who did it. As she was getting ready to go out for dinner that night, the doorbell rang. She answered. A man standing next to a big green bin asked her, “Would you like to buy something?”
Her instinct told her something was wrong, “I was really uncomfortable. He looked at me, and then he was looking beyond me. Now, I understand he was looking out back.”
When Derrick returned home that night, everything appeared normal until she saw the shattered glass.
Armed with her information about burglary, Derrick organized a recent crime prevention meeting to educate her neighbors. Derrick’s efforts are already raising awareness in the Three Oaks community, said neighbor Carolyn Neill said, “I had my security company come out to reinspect our system.”
Tags: burglary, prevention, Security System
