It was supposed to be a normal evening walk with my doggie, never expecting anything amiss until I was told that my neighbour's house was broken into. The door was ajar from the back and when we peeped inside, the kitchen drawers were ajar. Fearing that the thieves might still be inside, we quickly made a phone call to the owner who is in Kuala Lumpur. At the same time, we made a call to the police as well....
In less than 10 minutes, the police arrived, two in a car and two on Ninja bikes.
We told them what we knew but we didn't dare to go inside the house. Then three of them went into the house and after some minutes, one came out to motion my brother to go in with him. I was curious and asked the policeman why, he said he needed a witness to follow him, to show him the house was already ransacked to the fullest. In malay, he said "hancur"... I followed them in and indeed the house was in a mess already.
After more questions asked, we were advised on what we should do especially when we go on trips or whenever we are not in house. He told us that most back lanes are very dark at night and it is advisable to install some kind of lights at the back door. Bright lights will deter theft in a way but this is daylight theft, I said. How to avoid? The police deduced that the thieves climbed in from the roof and left from the back. All these are already planned, they know the owner is not around....
What steps should we take to prevent this from happening to our house especially when we go on long trips? Locking up the door from front to back is very obvious that the owners are not in the house 24/7.
Owh, so daring, happen in broad daylight. Install censor light, the lights will turn on when it sense darkness and off when bright. Timer is good too but once there is no electricity, the time to on and off will be disturb.
ReplyDeleteBut this happens not night time but daytime.. yes, timer helps a bit here..
DeleteMy point here refers to your last paragraph.
DeleteI think having an alarm may frighten them off when it rings though they may find a way around the alarm but at least that is an additional step we can do. Or install hard to cut wooden planks on the roof underneath the roof tiles so that it is difficult to get in through the roof.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about the wooden planks too.. but when I thought of the mess, I shudders... alarm is definitely a must..
DeleteThe thieves are very daring, daytime also break in...
ReplyDeleteOver here in Malaysia, everywhere also not safe..
DeleteBe like me - never paint the house, so run down, never renovate, drive old proton cars...one look, nobody wants to go in already. There have been break-in's into my neighbours' nice houses - all renovated, extensions and all, drive new expensive cars...
ReplyDeleteYou are wrong.. nowadays old or new houses, they dont matter anymore.. they see no one in the house, they will go in.. whatever they can take, they take... the house they broken into also not beautiful, no car at all...
ReplyDeleteMust be the desperate ones - illegal immigrants, maybe. Any construction nearby - usually happens here when they're building something in the neighbourhood. The workers will come and steal anything...
DeleteAlso watch out for strange suspicious looking people going up and down the road - mine's easy as it is a short lane and a dead end so people would not simply use the road, nobody passing by so any unfamiliar faces, we would know.
Yeah, dead end roads are safer in a way... I think staying in condos are safer than landed properties nowadays.. .
Deletethieves now very daring, probably it's less suspicious to do it during the day.. yeah, gotta be very careful and always ask the neighbors to keep an eye whenever you are away.. or probably make sure you have alarm or lock your house securely..
ReplyDeleteAnd pray....
DeleteScary when I read this, anything can happen even in broad daylight~
ReplyDeleteOnce they know the house is empty, they will be on the prowl...
DeleteMalaysia is no longer a safe country to live in.... but i am quite surprised with the efficiency of Ipoh police though, at least they arrived in 10 mins.... my neighbor's case few years back... it took them like an hour to arrive?
ReplyDeleteMy area and a number of areas here in Sibu have CCTV surveillance - put up by the police or the town council, dunno who exactly.
DeleteCos the police station is very near my house.. within five minutes drive.. Not so sure about CCTV... where also I dont know..
DeleteOh dear, so scary.. At least, no people are hurt, but the house is already "hancur".. We can only ask the neighbours to keep and eye and "soon bin" watch our house whenever they are in out of their house.. We don't switch on the lights at night, and like you said, if the lights is suddenly on, then people will know the owners are not in..
ReplyDeleteNeighbour also dont realize cos not all the time watching the house.. they went in from the roof so it was done very discretely until we saw the door opened from the back.. that time also gone liow..
DeleteTime to call the community to raise funds to employ guards. Make it a gated environment.
ReplyDeleteGood idea, I dont mind paying though.. .
DeleteSorry you had this shock! Wishing you safety
ReplyDeleteALOHA from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
=^..^= <3
Thank you Cloudia!
DeleteIn my old house last time, it always has brake in case, remember one of my sister's car, two of the tires, the radio and the car seats are gone...its so dangerous, so after all is fine since we've to move in to those neighborhood has guards to look after 24hours!!!
ReplyDelete