The jewelry was cleaned out.
Lorna Stanard couldn’t believe it. She stood looking at the destruction and chaos caused by a burglar who had kicked in the front door in the middle of the day. Along with televisions and a handgun, the burglar made off with several thousand dollars in jewelry.
“Don’t leave jewelry out where it’s easy to find,” she warns residents.
And don’t assume you’re safe during the daytime.
Stanard says she came home in the middle of the day, and saw that the door was open. As she peered into her home, she immediately felt something was wrong. Some drawers were turned upside down, and a closet had been ransacked. She quickly fled the house in case the thief was still inside, and called police.
“They were very methodical,” she says. “They even walked across the room to get the remote controls to the TVs they stole. It was horrible. Thank God I didn’t get home when they were still here.”
Along with the obvious feelings of invasion, crimes like this are nuisance for homeowners. Stanard had to take a day off work to have the door replaced and sort things out with her insurance company.
“None of it’s easy,” she adds.
Dallas Police Lt. Richard Dwyer of the North Central Patrol Division says the majority of crimes take place during daylight hours between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.
“The reason is most people are away at work and the kids are in school, so few people are in their neighborhood during this time. Suspects will often check the home by knocking on the door or looking through the windows first to see if anyone is at home,” he says. “Depending on how the homes are laid out, they may park their getaway car in the alley or back in the driveway. Kicking in a door or breaking a window is the most common way a suspect will force their way into the home.”
Dwyer says residents should write down the license plates of any suspicious vehicles in neighborhoods plus anything else that stands out about the car. Things such as missing taillights, dents and cracked windshields are very helpful to officers when searching for suspect vehicles.
He also offers one more tip — keep a folder with serial numbers of electronic items and photos of any expensive jewelry.
