The worst part of a home break-in isn’t the money lost or the missing personal items.
It’s the feeling of violation that comes afterward.
“You just feel violated when something like that happens,” Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO) Captain Frank Copeland said.
The knowledge that someone has entered their home and searched through their things for valuables is deeply disturbing to burglary victims. Sometimes, their feelings of violation and embarrassment make them hesitant to call 911. But, calling is the first step to fixing things, Copeland said.
“I understand a person feeling that way, and in a lot of places, they’re probably right,” he said. “But it’s good to know that something has happened at their house, because they might not be the only person.”
Legally, a burglary is the unlawful entry of a structure with the intent to commit a crime.
In the past year, GCSO received 82 calls about people prowling outside a home, 63 burglary calls, 1,371 burglar alarm related calls, three gas drive-off calls, 16 identity theft calls, 11 breaking and entering calls and 70 calls about recovered property.
For victims, the realization that there’s been a burglary starts when they return home to a broken window or a knocked-down door.
At this point, you should call the police, Copeland said.
“Don’t go into the house until you’ve called 911 and had a law enforcement officer come out and clear the house,” he said. “You don’t know if the person’s in there or not.”
After the house has been cleared, you should take an inventory and try to find what’s missing.
“If there’s little to no evidence of who might have been there and when, then there’s not a lot to work with,” Copeland said.
It’s true that in an individual burglary without camera footage of the criminals, it’s hard to find the culprits.
But over time and by tracing patterns, it’s often possible for the GCSO to find out who stole your property.
Burglars tend to keep stealing until they get caught. Over time, they get careless or make a mistake. And one mistake is all it takes.
“The more they do it, eventually they’re going to do something where they leave some kind of evidence,” Copeland said.
If the GCSO receives burglary reports, it can send deputies to the area to patrol the area they come from.
“Hopefully, if we can’t discover someone who’s doing something illegal, we can cause them to move to other pastures.
Usually, a small set of career criminals is responsible for most burglaries. Desire to get money for drugs is often a key reason for their crimes.
“A lot of the people committing these types of crimes are known in multiple counties,” Copeland said.
After deputies catch a burglar, they can often connect the dots for previous burglaries.
“You’re going to get caught,” he said.
It’s almost impossible to completely prevent burglaries.
“There’s no 100 percent fix. You’ve got bank robbers robbing banks and safe crackers cracking safes,” Copeland said.
Often, precautions before a burglary happens are the best way to protect your items.
Security cameras and burglar alarms can make it more likely that burglars can be identified or caught.
“It’s very helpful if something does happen to have something to work with rather than nothing to work with,” Copeland said.
If you have items with serial numbers, it’s important to record their numbers somewhere. Such items can include guns, televisions and other things.
Photographing your jewelry or valuables can also help law enforcement find it.
“‘Somebody stole my gold ring’ is a pretty broad description,” Copeland said.
Burglars often steal small safes to access valuables or documents inside. People should either be keep these in more hidden locations or bolt them down to prevent their removal.
How much burglars take varies from theft to theft, Copeland said. They could take a few hundred dollars of property, or they could take thousands.
Burglaries are most common around the holidays, when criminals suspect people will be away on vacation.
If you see a suspicious vehicle or activity in your neighborhood, call your neighbor.
“Look out for your neighbor,” Copeland said.”
If people watch out for each other, they can often stop burglaries in progress.
None of these practices can guarantee your stolen items will be recovered. But they do make it far more likely.
“It does happen,” Copeland said. “People get their stuff back all the time.”