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Deadbolts, locks and open doors

Beware of Open House Thieves

Recently I attended a break-in where the intruders somehow entered an apartment building and made their way to a third floor suite. Once there, they tried to open the apartment suite door by sticking a pry bar between the door and frame in an attempt to weaken the deadlocking bolt.

Upon doing this they caused the bolt to jam creating a near impossible feat for an amateur thief to gain entry. Once this happens, the bad guys usually opt for an easier target. However this intruder must have had a motive.

A motive strong enough to scale up a third floor hatch ladder to the roof. Once on the roof the thief then scaled down to the third floor balcony that displayed several open windows and an out swinging man door leading from the balcony to the apartment.

It is here the burglar hit the jackpot. This door did not have a deadbolt installed. Instead it had a doorknob lock, which offered no security what so ever because it had a passage latch without a deadlocking feature. All the bad guy had to do was move the latch back between the door and frame and presto, in he or she walks.

The burglar then targeted a specific room in the apartment which concealed a specific item. How did the burglar know about this item and how did he or she know where it was hidden. Let’s rewind back to the Sunday before where the homeowner’s real estate agent held an open house. Yes this apartment was listed “For Sale”.

It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out the open house had a direct connection to the burglary especially since the intruder zeroed in on a specific hidden item. Let’s review this break-in and see how it could have been prevented.

An once of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This being the case, I don’t recommend “Open Houses” It is never a good idea to invite strangers into your home, especially when you’re not there. So that being said, a realtor should show your home by appointment only. This way they can identify and qualify all viewers entering your home.

Somebody obviously let the culprit into the building. Owners unfortunately need to be constantly reminded not to let unidentified people into the building. Strata councils should be placing “No Key No Entry” signs on all entry doors making sure owners adhere to the rules.

The roof hatch should have been secured with a padlock. This would have prevented the burglar from gaining easy access to the roof. Right from the “ABC’s of Home Security”, check list is “Lock all your windows before leaving your home”. Open windows are always an invitation to a burglar, especially if nobody is home.

And last but not least the owner should have had a deadbolt on the door leading to the patio. This coupled with an alarm system would have created a greater challenge to the lowlifes who decided to break-in and impact an innocent persons life.