My South Philly Review Crime Beat Column: Burglary - The Silent Crime

The South Philly Review published my second weekly Crime Beat column, which covers crime news, crime issues and crime prevention in South Philadelphia. 

You can read the column via the above page or the below text:

Burglary: The Silent Crime

By Paul Davis

The 3^rd Police District sent me a burglary prevention poster that advised South Philly residents that hot weather leads to burglars breaking into homes and business via unsecure air condition units.

The poster notes that as the temperatures rise, many South Philly residents install window air conditioning units.

“Criminals may target unsecure A/C units as an easy point of entry into homes and apartments,” the poster explained.

The poster advises people to secure all window A/C units with mounting brackets and screws. One should also install locks or security bars to prevent windows from being forced open.    

Good advice.

Burglary is defined in Robert Jay Nash’s “The Dictionary of Crime: Criminal Justice, Criminology & Law Enforcement” as illegally entering a building to commit a crime. To break into a premise and steal. Burglary is usually a felony.

Burglary is known as the “Silent Crime” as it is often committed stealthily under the cover of darkness or hidden from view. And the burglar usually slinks away like a rat before the burglary is discovered.   

I’ve discussed burglary with a good number of patrol officers, detectives and security specialists over my many years of covering the crime beat.

All have recommended that residents install an alarm system with cameras, and the placing of a sign in plain sight that states the residence is covered with an alarm system. And one should also install deadbolt locks on doors and good locks on all windows. One should additionally mark all valuables with a UV or indelible pen to help police identify and recover your property.

Burglars prefer to work under the cover of darkness and hate the light, so one should also install exterior lights for visibility. One should also let their immediate neighbors know when they will not be home and ask them to look out for suspicious people walking around the property.

Thankfully, in South Philly most neighbors traditionally and famously look out for one another, and they keep watch on their street.  

One detective told me that he has come across too many burglaries where the resident had an alarm system but chose not to turn it on.

“People get preoccupied with something else or they become complacent and don’t take the time to turn on their alarm systems,” the detective said. “What’s the point of having an alarm system if you don’t use it properly?

“But boy when they return home to see their place burglarized, they sure wish they had.”

The detective explained that there are three types of burglars. There are professional burglars, thieves and opportunists.

The professional uses sophisticated tools and targets rich homes and major businesses. The thieves target homes and businesses where there is cash, guns or jewelry on hand. The opportunists are teenagers and/or drug addicts who will break into a place to steal items quickly and clumsily.          

I’ve been out on numerous ride-alongs with Philadelphia police officers when they responded to burglaries.  

I recall how homeowners and apartment renters acted when they found their residence burglarized. The most common reaction initially was outrage that some burglar had entered their home and stole their valuables, some of which had sentimental value and were irreplaceable. 

The most common subsequent reaction was the feeling of being violated. To know that some stranger was in their home and rummaged through their private and personal belongings brought on a physical sickening feeling.  

I remember discussing burglary with former Philadelphia Detective Mark Tartaglia. The detective, like me, a born and bred South Philadelphian, happened to be my good friend for more than 30 years before he sadly passed away a few years ago.

“Burglars are creeps,” I recall Mark Tartaglia telling me. “They are sneak thieves who prowl around and look for weaknesses in the security of people’s homes.

“In the past, people were too trusting, or lacked a healthy fear of criminals, and they often left a window open or a door unlocked, which is an invitation for a burglar to step inside and loot the place. But things are changing. The burglars I’ve known say they fear the homeowner with a gun far more than a cop. They think they are more likely to be shot by the homeowner protecting their home.”

Mark Tartaglia recommended security alarms and locks and lights like other detectives, but he added one additional crime prevention tool.       

“Get a dog,” he said succinctly. “Burglars hate dogs.”

Paul Davis’s Crime Beat column appears here each week. He can be reached via pauldavisoncrime.com.