Two homes on the same block in the Whittier Heights neighborhood were broken into during the middle of the day on Friday and another had an attempted burglary the week prior.
The first break-in on Friday happened sometime between 12:45 and 3 p.m. when the homeowner was out of the house. “The perpetrator went into our fenced-in backyard and climbed up onto a gas grill and ripped open a screen in our bathroom,” the victim emailed us, “The thief (thieves?) came in, ransacked the place from top floor to basement, and took mostly electronics, although they went through jewelery and medicine cabinets and bank statements and checkbooks as well.” She also tells us that a bag of Bobbi Brown make-up was also taken, “Don’t assume it would be a guy,” she says of the suspect(s).
Just after breaking into this house, it seems the suspect(s) went to another house on the same street. The suspect(s) got in through an unlocked window in the back of the house and left a laptop that was stolen from the first house. Jewelry and some electronics were taken from this house, as well.
Another home on the same block may have been targeted the week earlier. “Our house [address removed] had an attempted burglary last week through our basement window. Luckily we have an alarm and stickers on all the windows alerting any perps and they only tore the screen but did not get into the window. I believe they were scared off. This was also during the day,” the homeowner emails, “You better believe my eyes are peeled and my locks are secure and windows are closed up.”
“Please, learn from my mistake and keep your windows closed and locked when you are out of the house. I am really dismayed that this could happen here in broad daylight while I am gone for a three hour period,” the victim of the first house says. (Thanks Ryan for the tip!)
You guy should include a small logo map with the area affected as highlighted. I have a hard time keeping up with all the hyper-local neighborhood lingo.
I assume Whittier Heights is the area blocked off by 65th – 85th, and 15th – 8th?
Wow, that is dangerous behavior.
“I am really dismayed that this could happen here in broad daylight ”
Actually most burglaries occur during the day. The idea of someone breaking into your house at night is more Hollywood than reality. Think about it for a moment and it makes sense: most people work in the day and burglars know this. Burglars avoid home break-ins at night because they want to avoid confronting a homeowner. Instead they go afters cars at night.
My old man was a burglary detective and offered me the following advice:
1) Use window locks.
2) Use double keyed deadbolts – the kind where you need a key to open from both the inside and outside – that way if someone does get into your house they’ll have a hard time taking off with anything large and are more likely to be noticed by neighbors. Most neighbors won’t call the cops if they see a stranger coming out the door – they’ll just assume it’s a friend/worker/etc. They will however call the cops if they see someone coming out through the window. Just be sure to keep a key in the lock when you are home so you can open the door (bonus: this saves you from the “where did I put my keys” dilemma since they’ll usually be in the door lcok)
3) Put a deadbolt on the door between your house and garage. Garages are especially easy to break into and most homes have no lock on the door into the garage.
4) Have packages delivered to your workplace rather than being left on the doorstep.
5) Install double pane windows. Much harder to break into in addition to the significant savings on your utility bills.
6) Plant thick/thorny shrubs/flowers below your windows to make them harder to enter.
Can you tell us the intersection where these crimes occurred. Thanks!
maybe the north beach criminals are moving on.
Those burglaries were on Dibble between 67th and 70th.
Wow, I just was outside and noticed all the warnings on that block, and came here to see if there was more news. SUCK!
Creeps! Some similar break ins have happened around NW 60th and Sycamore and 62 and 1st NW.
Mine was the lucky 2nd house burglared, the thief also made out with some old credit cards from a desk drawer and had a little fun at Northgate mall, specifically Aéropostale and Perfumania after lunching at BK, which suggests to me a somewhat youthful perpetrator. So if anyone sees their kid with a new white netbook or an ornately designed HP laptop (browns & beige) let me know :) I think the other house lost a couple Nintendo DS’s and a iPod touch, so all in all, not a lot. And yeah, I think they left my house in a hurry as they left quite a nice laptop in my dining room.
So, very likely a teen, a girl, or a boy stealing in part FOR a girl. If it’s all the same perp, someone who feels comfortable on that block but maybe isn’t there all the time — a babysitter, a kid with a parent or grandparent with part-time custody, a bf/gf of someone who lives on the block and who visits often and does crimes on the way home?
We had something similar on our block many years back and it turned out to be a kid who was here occasionally to stay with family.
sketchy kid was selling door to door magazine scam a week ago………………….
When someone knocks at my door, nowadays I usually just ignore it – we get so many door-to-door solicitors, I’m sick of interrupting their schpiel and informing them I don’t give money to anyone who shows up on my doorstep. (After they give up, I watch them walk away just to make sure it wasn’t a neighbor or someone else I might be willing to answer.)
Now maybe I will start a new practice: grab my camera, open the door, and snap a nice clear photo of them. I’m sure none of the legitimate visitors would mind, but the scammers probably would (note to self: be sure to keep the old baseball bat and the other “contingency tools” nearby when trying this).
If everyone made a practice of taking a quick photo of everyone who knocked on their door, I bet the incidence of the old “knock, no answer, go ’round back and break in” burglaries would drop right off.
Taking a photo of each visitor to your door sounds creepy.
So does peeking at who is walking away from your door to see if you just missed someone acceptable.
Have the Whittier Heights neighbors seen some men going door-to-door selling discounted meat from a little red pickup truck?
Get a dog.
Solicitors get my standard warning: I can only hold the dog for about ten seconds so make your pitch quickly. They usually just leave after assessing the snarling dog trying to break loose.
“Taking a photo of each visitor to your door sounds creepy.”
Perhaps, but we live in a creepy neighborhood that is being actively targeted by creepy thugs. Get used to creepy things.
Or, when one of these scumbags breaks into your house and steals something expensive (or worse…) then just be OK with it.
I’d rather have a good clear picture of the perp I can give to the police afterwards. If that’s creepy, I can live with that.
Chances are you won’t have a photo of the perp and you will still be creepy.
I’m just looking forward to getting a nice snapshot of those door-to-door meat salesmen I keep hearing about.
This explains the behavior at our house on 11th. A box delivered by Fed EX was opened and rifled thru and our shed was opened and rifled thru. Then we found our pruning shears propped up by a basement window. No one made it in – but someone was sure getting ready for something.
Keep up the neighborhood watch!!
Blah blah woof woof – Right on! Great idea.