Sorry to hear that. I just now got back from a few days away, better run and check my pole barn.

Hopefully you do not have a large amount to pay before insurance kicks in. I would file a police report.

Thanks to all for tips, advice and generally letting me vent.

Looks like grand total of stuff missing is about $3000 less my $1000 deductible and assuming insurance doesn't dick me around on the few things I do not have receipts for. I will just have to decide what gets replaced and when.

I have been checking Craiglist, Offer Up and a few other sites but so far nothing so I am assuming it is all in Mexico or a pawn shop somehere

The best deterrent are nosy neighbors. Have one of them walk around your house once a day. Maybe if he/she has an extra car they can leave it in your driveway. Motorcycle keys, extra keys to cars in the garage are locked in the safe, amazing how many people leave keys out, if the dirtbag gets into your house, he'll have access to your cars then. You can let the police know that you'll be gone, but DO NOT have them do a vacation check on your house by walking around it and shaking door knobs. Firstly I never believed this was in their job description, secondly nothing screams 'I'm on vacation' like seeing a police officer walking around your house. DO NOT post of Facebook your plans, why are people stupid enough to tell the universe that they're not home????!!!!Also, when you pack the car, don't do it in the drive where everyone driving by can see. Just a few tips from a 27 year LEO!!!

quote:

The best deterrent are nosy neighbors.

That depends on the neighbors. I was burgled in 1993, and it was the neighbors. The only time they were nosy, it seems, is to see when I went to work so they could be unencumbered.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: egregore,

June 10 2015 we were hit and total claim was over 20,000! Bastards, I just missed them! I was carrying a Glock 20 SF that day. I really wanted to see EXACTLY what a 10mm wound channel looked like in person fuckers

So, how was the vacation?

Neighbor as witness war story:
After taking the paper on a residential burglary, I checked all the neighboring houses to see if anyone may have seen something suspicious.
One idiot, whose house backed up to the victims house, said:
"I did see something odd earlier today. A guy was walking across my yard carrying a TV". I was speechless.
When I told our victim that his neighbor had watched the burglars, I had to physically restrain him to keep him from going after his neighbor.
Chapter Two:
I was investigating another house burglary and doing the neighbor contact thing. One dude I talked to said:
"Oh, I did hear his alarm going off earlier, but it goes off from time to time, so I ignored it".
Unless you have some really great neighbors, don't count on them.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
Neighbor as witness war story:
After taking the paper on a residential burglary, I checked all the neighboring houses to see if anyone may have seen something suspicious.
One idiot, whose house backed up to the victims house, said:
"I did see something odd earlier today. A guy was walking across my yard carrying a TV". I was speechless.
When I told our victim that his neighbor had watched the burglars, I had to physically restrain him to keep him from going after his neighbor.
Chapter Two:
I was investigating another house burglary and doing the neighbor contact thing. One dude I talked to said:
"Oh, I did hear his alarm going off earlier, but it goes off from time to time, so I ignored it".
Unless you have some really great neighbors, don't count on them.

When it happened to me, I asked a neighbor if he had seen anything. His reply was that he only saw some guy rolling a vacuum cleaner down the side walk and thought I was having my place cleaned. He was sort of right. They cleaned me out of $17,000 worth of my stuff.

Thank goodness I bought that renters policy at 19 years of age.

I really, really hate thieves.

quote:

Originally posted by MMSIG229:
The best deterrent are nosy neighbors.

My wife is a retired LEO. She patrols our neighborhood at night on her ATV. We have quite a few snowbirds whose houses are vacant for 6 months. She's not being nosy (though she is very aware of our surroundings and happenings). She has offered (via our community mailing list) to do this specifically for snowbirds who ask for it, but in general she is just looking out for suspicious situations. Our community is about 150 lots occupying the biggest part of a section, with one way in/out. We also have an active neighborhood watch program, with signs indicating so. All this still has not stopped a few break-ins, but they are few. There's only so much you can do. Steps to protect your personal property are a good start. Not necessarily alarms, here, but deterrents such as fencing, dogs, lighting inside (outside lighting is discouraged except for motion detected ones).
 

Well you have inspired me. I took advantage of the Prime day Amazon Cloud Cam deal and bought a bunch of them. I had one left with no where to put it so now my garage is under surveillance.