I think I am hooked on almost every show on that channel now! I just watched "It Takes A Thief" for the second time. I also almost had a heart attack. Click here if you want to see the website for the show. Check out the bios of the hosts. They are pros that have come to their senses.
The premise, two former professional burglars stake out a real house. One of them, Matt, approaches the home owner(s) to see if they are game to letting the other guy, Jon, actually burglarize their home. In exchange, they get a swanky security makeover--their house gets cleaned up and they get all of their stuff back. Then in a few weeks Matt and Jon come back unannounced to see if the homeowners have actually used the new security measures and are vigilant in locking doors, windows, and turning on the alarm. So far in the few episodes I have watched, I cringe at how absolutely lax and cavalier people are about the security of their home. Aside here, Jon looks a lot like the guy on "Man vs Wild"--one show I haven't watched and don't want to get hooked on. I don't need another show, what I need is a DVR.
Some more history here. We brought home our second child right after the 4th of July in 2005. On Friday, July 15th, like 10 days later, we were burglarized, badly. It was the bad version of the show. We had been at some friends house, and came home at about 10 pm with a sleepy boy and new baby. Open the front door, and the entire living had been ransacked, just like the show. The entry point was our kid's bedroom where a window was popped open. How callous are these people? They had to jump over a baby's changing table, jump on the bed, and go. There were huge footprints on both the bed and the table. Plus, they jumped so hard on the bed, it blew the castor wheels right off. But the ransacking was identical to the show. Things yanked out of cabinets and shelves recklessly and heartlessly. It was horrifying.
As a parent, it was a defining moment. As soon as we opened the door, and realized what happened, I dropped everything and called 911 right on our front porch. Then I realized I have a then four year old standing right next to me with saucers for eyes, and everything I said and did at that moment would shape his understanding of this event. I needed to tread lightly and maturely when what I really wanted to do was smash my cell phone on the cement and swear like a sailor. I will never forget that moment of forcing myself to be cheery, calm and nice, while completely mad, panicked and scared at the same time.
Our home is small. The thief spent most of his time in two rooms. Our living room and dining room. He emptied two book bags, just like in the show, and walked out of our home with $3,000.00 worth of stuff. All the easy to sell stuff. Laptop, digital camera, all the DVD's and CD's. That was it! I would post a picture of the aftermath, but can't. We didn't have a camera for quite some time after that.
Now, how did we feel? The personal side is this--that digital camera still had all the photos on it from when we adopted BH just a few weeks before. Gone. All the DVD's were kid's DVD's (again, very calloused thief--they don't care!) Gone. They left all the VHS movies, though. All the CD's my husband and I have collected since before we were married, some are no longer in print. Gone. One of the bags stolen was monogrammed by my company for me. It meant a lot to me, and is irreplaceable. Plus, the absolutely eerie feeling that someone has been in your house and in your stuff. It was 10 pm, we had to go to bed, and that didn't happen that night. We were traumatized.
Instead of sleeping, while we waited for the cop to arrive, we sat on the porch and watched the stars and the moon with JM. It was my effort to make this a non-traumatic event. My neighbor from across the street came over and joined us.
The cop came, more about him later. He called the CSI guy to dust for fingerprints and he came at about 2 am. Let me tell you this--the guy the police send in the middle of the night to dust for prints does not look like Marg Helgenberger! There is a reason these folks work in the middle of the night! He found no prints at all, and said he truly thought the dude was probably wearing gloves because there were several good, glassy surfaces that he would have definitely touched (ie window sill) and no prints were there.
Blessings?? None of our personal information was gone, yet was quite readily accessible. No bills, checkbooks, ID's, statements, passports, birth certificates, etc. Thank the Lord!
We were lax in our security, but not as bad as the two shows I have seen on Discovery. I have to the thank the police officer who came who gave us some really cheap suggestions in how to secure our home. We called a friend the next day to replace locks, put lag bolts on windows so they only open 6 inches, security screen doors, and some extra dead bolt locks, which we already had. He also suggestive a dog. A bellowing barking dog is a great deterrent. Two weeks later we had our dog.
Since then, we have installed a security system. We got a blessing of a deal on that. Some door to door guy came to my door saying he was giving away systems as a promotion. I told him I didn't believe him. It was true, the whole system is free, we just have to pay the monthly fee. It also has a remote type of system. So if I accidentally set the system off, which I have, there is a speaker where an operator says out loud to me "Hello. I need your security code immediately." It's like OnStar in my house. I also have an alarm code. So if something is happening right now in my house that I need the police right now, no questions asked, I hit those numbers and the police are dispatched right away. The scenario for that would be, I am coming in my home, bad guy comes up behind me and pushes his way in, but the alarm is going off. Obviously he tells me to turn it off. I use that code, it turns it off, and the police are also called.
My husband also locks up his laptop in our house. It is attached to super heavy furniture, like our roll top desk, when he isn't using. it. You have to lock stuff up in your house. That show really shows this well.
Also, shred everything. The cop said, "I know all the experts say you need to keep a copy of your bills for like a year. Nonsense. You can always request a copy and most utilities have online copies. Shred them as soon as you see they are received. Envelopes and all."
I also like that the show talks about deterrents. Our barking dog is a deterrent. The alarm sticker on my windows are deterrents. My super prickly tree by the window by my computer is a deterrent. In fact, the show I just watched, they used the exact same stickery bush in the makeover. I like it, I hate pruning it. I am sure that bush is what made the crown of thorns on Jesus, I am not kidding!
Motion sensitive lights are a nice deterrent. Our bad guy got into our house basically because at night, our backyard is pitch black. It is easy to sneak around there undetected. A new socket and lightbulb now sets off a motion sensitive light both in our backyard and our garage area.
Until we can afford to do a full replacement of our rickety windows, we have definitely used the deterrents that were suggested to us. Honestly, someone could break into our home again, easily. But there are enough deterrents I think that they would be more inclined to go to the next house. I hate to do that to our neighbors, but most of them have the same deterrents now as well.
I recommend that show! You may not be able to afford all the goodies they do in the makeover, but you can certainly get some great ideas from the easy fixes. I certainly don't want what happened to us to happen to anyone else. In the show, they get their stuff back, we didn't. And the police can't do a thing for you except fill out the police report for your insurance.
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