Burglarized

The Newest Neighborhood Watchdog

Are you wondering why we have been MIA?  Well, let me just tell ya.  Our house was robbed while Carla and I went for an afternoon walk on Tuesday afternoon. We were only gone about 40 minutes!  We came home with our front door wide open.  My first thought was, "Oh goodness, Josie.  How silly of you to forget to close the front door!"  But when I peeked inside I noticed that our television and my brand new Mac laptop was gone.  Darn it!  Once the police arrived and checked the house we found that they actually came in the back door using a crow bar or other instrument to pry it open.  They also took Frank's personal laptop and some jewelry.

I think I actually might have seen the two men who did it.  As we were leaving our house I noticed a car driving by.  That same car must have done a circle around the block because they passed me again.  I just thought they were lost.  My neighbor across the street saw a white 4-door car (which is also what I saw) parked in front of our house.

As I have been telling people what happened I've often been asked what tips the police gave me or what I have learned.  I'll pass on those tips to you.  They are all pretty common sense but I am wishing we had done some of these things.

1. Get an alarm system.  If you can't get an alarm system at least get a sign for your front yard or stickers for your windows.
2. Put blinds/window coverings on all your windows and close them when you leave your house.
3. Don't open your front door unless you are expecting someone.  But you should say something such as "Who is it?" or "Not interested" so they know someone is home.
4. Take pictures of all your valuables.  Email to yourself or family/friends.
5. Store valuables in a safe or safety deposit box.
6. Keep serial numbers of all your electronic devices.  Email to yourself or family/friends.
7. Back up all your computer files.  (Hooray for Dropbox for saving all my stuff in the clouds!)

What other tips do you have??