A professional burglar--and there aren't all that many of these--will shop victims according to what he wants to steal. He has a market or fence for certain goods, and that's what he has to get to make money. He might have an inside guy or some other conduit for information on recent purchases, or just assume that a home of a certain worth is going to have jewelry, art, firearms, or whatever he has as his target plunder.
Most burglars are opportunists. They choose premises based on how easy they are to get into. Most will have a favorite method of entry and a search pattern. These traits allow burglary detectives to make educated guesses as to who is responsible for certain break-ins. For example, a burglar in the area where I worked was a very skinny guy (owing largely to his heavy meth habit) who could squeeze through very narrow openings. His favorite method of entry was to pry narrow windows of commercial establishments out, slip through the opening, and search for any cash or coin on the premises.
I worked in a gambling town, where just about every store and restaurant had slot machines on the premises. His usual target was the coin boxes of the slot machines. I was once present when he was stopped, riding his bicycle from the scene of the crime. He had an estimated $200+ in quarters on him. We knew he had burgled someplace, but wouldn't find the crime until the owners showed up in the morning. We had to let him go. Sometimes you know who did the crime, but you lack the probable cause for the arrest.
Houses are easier. Most people leave some path of easy entry into their home. For example, they'll lock their front and back doors, but leave open an access door to the garage, which connects to the main house. Even if the door between the house and the garage is locked and secured, the garage often contains all the tools the burglar will need to get in, and the garage will hide his activity.
Sometimes you can make your house more burglar-resistant just by making your harder to get into than the neighbor's. The burglar seldom cares which house he steals from. He just wants to get in and out, obtaining whatever plunder he can carry and liquidate easily.
For some tips on hardening your house to burglars, see this answer I wrote about three years ago: What are the best deterrents to potential burglars?
Read other answers by Tim Dees on Quora:
- Home Security: Should a burglar break in while you're present, what measures can be taken to conceal yourself and stall him until the police arrive?
- Why do criminals commit home invasions (i.e. break-ins to occupied dwellings) rather than burglarizing unoccupied homes?
- In law enforcement, sometimes there is a need for investigation. What are the precautions if an anonymous whistleblower violates securities law and then the investigation finds no evidence of guilt?
from Quora http://ift.tt/2gi5qTD
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