A private investigator warns - a thief is on the doorstep of your home!
According to statistics, the level of street crime in Ukraine is gradually decreasing thanks to the efforts of law enforcement officials. But there are crimes, the number of which is not only not decreasing, but also tending to increase - these are burglaries. According to the Kyiv private investigator Alex, almost half of all registered thefts of property are thefts with penetration into an apartment or house.
How a thief chooses a victim?
Perhaps not everyone knows that the apartment thief is this most ancient and respected specialization in the criminal world. It would seem, what is easier, to climb into an apartment and take out everything of value? In fact, a professional burglar is, as they say, a wide-profile specialist. He is an excellent locksmith who knows how to open the most difficult locks, open safes, and sometimes even turn off the alarm. He is a good analyst who can collect information and accurately calculate which apartment has expensive things and he can get in there, and which apartment is better to bypass. He is an experienced psychologist who knows human nature and skillfully exploits human weaknesses. He is also a kind of marketer who knows exactly the liquidity and value of a particular thing found in an apartment, as well as who knows how to sell it at the most favorable price, so as not to get caught. Finally, this is a person with strong nerves, because he has to "work" in a difficult environment, every second risking being caught.
All thieves can be roughly divided into two categories. The first is the professionals who have honed their skills during numerous thefts, gained experience during a long stay in prison. For him, theft is a craft that he takes seriously.
To begin with, a professional thief carefully prepares all his thefts. First of all, the thief chooses his potential victim. Most often, informants are used for this, the so-called "gunners", who tell the thief where he can profit well. As a rule, these are accomplices of the thief who receive a share of the stolen property for their services. It happens that close acquaintances or even relatives of the victim act as the gunners, envious of the well-being of a loved one and wanting to profit from him.
Sometimes the necessary information is provided simply by short-sighted people who talk too much about the wealth of their acquaintances, without thinking that this information can attract completely unwanted attention and entail very negative consequences.
Some thieves prefer to do without gunners, independently calculating the victim, watching, for example, expensive cars or tracking down wealthy visitors to cool restaurants and expensive shopping centers. Or simply choosing an apartment in a good area based on external signs of wealth (double-glazed windows, satellite dishes, air conditioners, etc.). Neighbors and gossipers can also tell a lot, especially if they are skillfully questioned.
After the apartment is determined, the collection of information begins to determine whether it is really worth visiting the intended object. To this end, attackers can resort to trickery and try to visit the apartment, disguising themselves as a representative of utilities, or, for example, a neighbor below. Alex, a private investigator in Kyiv (Ukraine), says that it is also popular when a pretty girl, an accomplice of a thief, is sent to the owner of a rich apartment, who learns everything she needs during her time together.
In the course of such "reconnaissance" it turns out what doors and locks are installed in the apartment, whether there are safes and, most importantly, an alarm system. The thief also keeps track of the owners' working hours, at what time they leave for work and the apartment is left unattended. By the way, the favorite time for thefts is the vacation season, or weekends, when many apartments and houses are left without proper supervision of the owners.
Well, then the culmination - direct penetration into housing. As a rule, it does not last long, no more than 10 minutes. The thief very quickly overcomes seemingly impregnable obstacles in the form of an entrance door with locks, quickly finds money, jewelry and valuables and also quickly retires. The criminal takes, as a rule, what can be easily and profitably sold without fear of being caught. These are primarily money, bearer securities, and precious metal products. True, the rings, brooches, earrings and bracelets so dear to the owners are often handed over by thieves as scrap for a meager price. Professionals also select things and equipment with a complaint. Dimensions are important, because with a large TV or a lot of jackets, the thief becomes noticeable and attracts unnecessary attention. Equally important is how easy it is to sell a particular thing. Expensive, rare items are harder to sell and more likely to be caught.
But not everyone is interested in banal money, there are also art lovers among thieves who specialize in antiques, works of art, paintings or icons. They are real experts in their field, excellently mastered the subject and possessing knowledge at the level of specialists in art.
It is interesting that only antique objects can be their goal, thieves can simply leave everything else intact, taking only pre-planned works of art from the apartment. There were cases when such "art critics" entered the apartment and stole only one, but the most valuable thing from the master's collection. And the unsuspecting victim discovered the loss after a long time.
In addition to professional thieves, there are also "amateur stealers". These are young, just starting their criminal career, thieves, adolescents thirsting for "thug romance" and quick profit, the derelict unemployed, alcoholics and drug addicts looking for any way to make money "for a dose."
As a rule, this category of thieves commit theft rashly, often just on occasion, seeing an open window or knocking out the first door they come across. That is why no one is insured from their visit, because even a modest poor apartment can appeal to hapless thieves. Moreover, some do not even pay attention to the fact that an alarm is installed in the apartment and very quickly find themselves caught red-handed by the security who arrived at the alarm signal. In the apartment "amateurs" behave rudely, they do not know how to search, so they turn everything upside down. They can even break or spoil things and furniture just out of courage, believing that it is "cool" or to make the owners fearful. They also take everything in a row, often without even thinking that it is difficult to sell these things, and they have no value. Some take things not for sale, but for themselves, or as a gift to their friends and girlfriends. As a rule, many traces are left at the crime scene. And sometimes they make just ridiculous mistakes. From the practice of the Kyiv Private Bureau of Investigation FUBI (Ukraine), one young inexperienced thief, finding a good suit in the apartment, immediately changed into it, and threw his old one in the same place, and forgot his passport in it.
Inexperienced thieves, as a rule, sell stolen property on occasion, renting it to a pawnshop or offering it to shop assistants. And sometimes even offering things to casual passers-by at train stations and markets. Naturally, it is much easier to catch such thieves, however, often they manage to spend all the loot in the first days after the theft, so the owners still remain without their property.
Not a key, so a burglary!
Having dealt with the one who commits the theft, now let's talk a little about the technology of penetrating housing, namely when and how thieves enter apartments. As for the time of theft, it is impossible to speak definitely about any specific time frame. For example, there is a theft called "good morning". As the name suggests, thieves enter the apartment at 4:00-5:00 in the morning, when the owners sleep in the deepest sleep and the thieves take out everything they need. Some thieves prefer to work under cover of darkness so that their "activities" and they themselves are less visible. Others go to theft after lunch, when it is already known for sure that the owners will not return home suddenly, and the attention of others after eating is slightly dull. In general, there is no exact time X.
The next question is how do thieves get into an apartment? A large part of the penetration occurs through the door by selecting keys, i.e. using similar keys or master keys.
Considering that many have standard locks, opening them for a good thief is not a problem. If it is difficult to open the lock, they can simply break the door. Metal doors are also not a panacea, because many do not bother to thoroughly strengthen them.
If it is difficult to get through the door, windows and balconies can be used. There is even a special category of thieves - "vents" who enter apartments exclusively through the open vents of the windows carelessly left by the owners. They are usually distinguished by a slender physique and the flexibility of a circus gymnast. Recently, more and more often there are "climbers" who, with the help of special equipment, descend from the roofs of houses onto absolutely unprotected balconies.
To achieve their goals, criminals are amazingly smart, because they are driven by greed! Naturally, the question immediately arises - is it possible to resist. Of course, you can and should!