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People always say this, but is there any evidence it is true? Home burglars aren't exactly the cream of the criminal crop.

cube00 19d ago
Take a walk around the neighbourhood, plenty of houses still don't have any video surveillance. There's no shortage of footage of people casing a place spotting the camera then wondering away. The smart ones look like they're any other lost delivery driver complete with package in hand. Thanks to the rise of gig work nobody has uniforms anymore. No that it really matters, plenty of stolen uniforms in play too.
- teiferer 19d ago
  Anecdata is not helpful. Actually statistically significant numbers that are not presented by a home security firm. Everything else is just somebody trying to sell you stuff.
Aurornis 19d ago
From everything I've seen (which was a lot for a couple years due to my job) there were two types of burglars: One type didn't care about any security system, even alarms. They would smash and grab as fast as they could and get out. They didn't have a plan other than to grab the first things that looked valuable. It might cost more to fix the building than to replace what they found. The other type was trying to play it smart. As soon as they noticed the cameras or indications of a security system they'd leave. Lots of videos where a person was detected, looks up at the cameras, and then slips away to go find another house. A lot of people start turning off alerts or never set them up properly, so they don't notice the second type of video unless they go looking.
- SwtCyber 19d ago
  [dead]
soundworlds 19d ago
I once worked at a school where someone tried stealing our security cameras. Unfortunately for them, they had both of their kids' names tattooed to their neck, which helped reduce the number of possible suspects. Wild watching back that footage the next morning.
utopiah 19d ago
I recently exchanged with a police agent in Belgium who specializes in the topic. Their heuristics is opportunity of action, namely how easy it is to get in and out without being caught on the spot. They said they do not really care about being recognized, only being noticed and stopped in action. Consequently the advice is to strengthen physical security first, i.e. have a big door with proper locks and close your windows. Everything else, including cameras, only comes after. Imagine you have 7min to get in and out, everything that slows you down means higher chance of getting stopped and thus considering another target instead. You can get more information, including a free home audit, at https://polbru.be/prevention-contre-le-vol/?lang=fr https://polbru.be/prevention-contre-le-vol/?lang=fr in French and https://polbru.be/diefstalpreventie/ https://polbru.be/diefstalpreventie/ in Dutch, sorry no English links.
- ninjalanternshk 19d ago
  > Their heuristics is opportunity of action My favorite burglar fact is robberies go way down when it’s raining. Thieves just don’t want the hassle of getting wet.
  - soco 19d ago
    Business idea: start your sprinklers on burglar detection, not your alarms.
- tonyedgecombe 18d ago
  I remember reading somewhere that the one thing burglars are terrified of is finding someone home. They will spend a lot of effort to avoid that.
  - utopiah 18d ago
    Yes they mentioned that too, advising in fact to act on it. Obviously this is something home automation can very conveniently help with, e.g. if you are away, turn on a very visible from the outside light few minutes after sunset, turn it off few hours later. It's just another automation and you can switch it off when you are back from holidays.
jjav 19d ago
Burglars also know that they can pretty much pose and smile for the camera before covering it with tape and then breaking into the house, and the probability of consequences is very near zero. Unless they happen to break into the house of a well-connected politician or such. Seem silly, but just try going to the police with crisp hi-res video of a burglarly and try to get them interested. I know people who have done it and all have failed. "We don't have time for this", "Value is not high enough to pursue", "Just call your insurance, not us".
- artisinal 19d ago
  > they happen to break into the house of a well-connected politician or such The other way round: If the son the mayor commits armed burglary, nothing happens. Happened in Amsterdam. According to her, her son was just messing around with friends. https://nltimes.nl/2019/08/14/amsterdam-mayor-explains-15-yo-sons-arrest https://nltimes.nl/2019/08/14/amsterdam-mayor-explains-15-yo...
victorbjorklund 19d ago
You don't need to be extremely bright to realize that it's easier to burglar a home with no alarm system and cameras than one with. And if your neighbor doesn't have cameras, but you do, many home burglars are going to be smart enough to know that it's better to not be seen on camera. I'm sure there are some who have too low IQ/too high to realize that getting caught on camera is a bad idea, but at least it's gonna work on some.
- swiftcoder 19d ago
  > You don't need to be extremely bright to realize that it's easier to burglar a home with no alarm system and cameras than one with You also don't have to be extremely bright to realise that a home with a fancy security system may be a higher-value target than the one without.

cube00 19d ago

Take a walk around the neighbourhood, plenty of houses still don't have any video surveillance. There's no shortage of footage of people casing a place spotting the camera then wondering away. The smart ones look like they're any other lost delivery driver complete with package in hand. Thanks to the rise of gig work nobody has uniforms anymore. No that it really matters, plenty of stolen uniforms in play too.

teiferer 19d ago
Anecdata is not helpful. Actually statistically significant numbers that are not presented by a home security firm. Everything else is just somebody trying to sell you stuff.

Aurornis 19d ago

From everything I've seen (which was a lot for a couple years due to my job) there were two types of burglars: One type didn't care about any security system, even alarms. They would smash and grab as fast as they could and get out. They didn't have a plan other than to grab the first things that looked valuable. It might cost more to fix the building than to replace what they found. The other type was trying to play it smart. As soon as they noticed the cameras or indications of a security system they'd leave. Lots of videos where a person was detected, looks up at the cameras, and then slips away to go find another house. A lot of people start turning off alerts or never set them up properly, so they don't notice the second type of video unless they go looking.

SwtCyber 19d ago
[dead]

soundworlds 19d ago

I once worked at a school where someone tried stealing our security cameras. Unfortunately for them, they had both of their kids' names tattooed to their neck, which helped reduce the number of possible suspects. Wild watching back that footage the next morning.

utopiah 19d ago

I recently exchanged with a police agent in Belgium who specializes in the topic. Their heuristics is opportunity of action, namely how easy it is to get in and out without being caught on the spot. They said they do not really care about being recognized, only being noticed and stopped in action. Consequently the advice is to strengthen physical security first, i.e. have a big door with proper locks and close your windows. Everything else, including cameras, only comes after. Imagine you have 7min to get in and out, everything that slows you down means higher chance of getting stopped and thus considering another target instead. You can get more information, including a free home audit, at https://polbru.be/prevention-contre-le-vol/?lang=fr https://polbru.be/prevention-contre-le-vol/?lang=fr in French and https://polbru.be/diefstalpreventie/ https://polbru.be/diefstalpreventie/ in Dutch, sorry no English links.

ninjalanternshk 19d ago
> Their heuristics is opportunity of action My favorite burglar fact is robberies go way down when it’s raining. Thieves just don’t want the hassle of getting wet.
- soco 19d ago
  Business idea: start your sprinklers on burglar detection, not your alarms.
tonyedgecombe 18d ago
I remember reading somewhere that the one thing burglars are terrified of is finding someone home. They will spend a lot of effort to avoid that.
- utopiah 18d ago
  Yes they mentioned that too, advising in fact to act on it. Obviously this is something home automation can very conveniently help with, e.g. if you are away, turn on a very visible from the outside light few minutes after sunset, turn it off few hours later. It's just another automation and you can switch it off when you are back from holidays.

jjav 19d ago

Burglars also know that they can pretty much pose and smile for the camera before covering it with tape and then breaking into the house, and the probability of consequences is very near zero. Unless they happen to break into the house of a well-connected politician or such. Seem silly, but just try going to the police with crisp hi-res video of a burglarly and try to get them interested. I know people who have done it and all have failed. "We don't have time for this", "Value is not high enough to pursue", "Just call your insurance, not us".

artisinal 19d ago
> they happen to break into the house of a well-connected politician or such The other way round: If the son the mayor commits armed burglary, nothing happens. Happened in Amsterdam. According to her, her son was just messing around with friends. https://nltimes.nl/2019/08/14/amsterdam-mayor-explains-15-yo-sons-arrest https://nltimes.nl/2019/08/14/amsterdam-mayor-explains-15-yo...

victorbjorklund 19d ago

You don't need to be extremely bright to realize that it's easier to burglar a home with no alarm system and cameras than one with. And if your neighbor doesn't have cameras, but you do, many home burglars are going to be smart enough to know that it's better to not be seen on camera. I'm sure there are some who have too low IQ/too high to realize that getting caught on camera is a bad idea, but at least it's gonna work on some.

swiftcoder 19d ago
> You don't need to be extremely bright to realize that it's easier to burglar a home with no alarm system and cameras than one with You also don't have to be extremely bright to realise that a home with a fancy security system may be a higher-value target than the one without.