My brother's wife's parents got their home broken into.

They got hit while taking their morning walk. Lesson 1: Routines are a liability.

Total time away from the house was under an hour. Lesson 2: It takes a small window of opportunity for a burglary--you don't need to be at work or on vacation.

Happened in the morning. Lesson 3: Theives operate all the time, not just under the cover of darkness.

Victims were a retired Asian couple of modest means and no outward signs of wealth. Lesson 4: You don't have to look like a Target to be a Target.

Back window smash to gain entry. Lesson 5: Your neighbors aren't going to notice a thing.

They emptied out every drawer, cabinet and cupboard. They pulled all the drawers out and tossed them into the center of the room. The flipped over every mattress. They pulled all the clothes off hangars and went through every Pocket. Lesson 6: They know where most people try to hide their valuables.

They took credit cards, immigration papers, birth and marriage certificates, and even bills with account numbers. Lesson 7: Identity theft is real. Do something with your documents. Scan, shred, or secure.

Like I said, they were modest people, nothing really valuable lost, but still a good lesson.

Sickening. Boils my blood thinking about something like this. I hope they were insured, for what it’s worth.

Stories like this make me chip my teeth. Sorry they had to walk in to that. The feeling of being violated must be difficult to deal with.

It won't stop someone from coming in but when the siren goes off they know the police will probably be there. This would make them less likely to hang around and pilfer. They might grab a few things and run.

That is why I pay an alarm fee every month.

Things will get much worse for California and here is one of the reasons.


30,000 California prison inmates could be safely released, says report

https://www.scpr.org/news/2017...s-could-be-safely-r/

At least 30,000 prison inmates could be safely released if California adopts a series of reforms, according to a new report issued Thursday by the advocacy group that spearheaded the passage of voter-approved Propositions 47 and 57.

"California has emerged from a long history of being a laggard on criminal justice reform to becoming a national standout," says the report by Californians for Safety and Justice. But it argues that despite significant success in reducing prison overcrowding, the state continues to over-incarcerate, especially African-American men, and stands at a "decision moment" in criminal justice reform.

"California doesn’t need to spend $11 billion per year on prisons," said Lenore Anderson, the group's executive director. "In fact, stopping the cycle of crime depends on us making that budget smaller."

Props. 47 and 57 – along with a landmark 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling requiring the state to reduce overcrowding – have led to a dramatic 25 percent drop in the number of inmates over the past decade. About 115,000 men and women are now locked up in 33 prisons around California.

The report, titled "Safe and Sound," maintains that reducing the prison population by 30,000 would allow the state to close five prisons and free up $1.5 billion to spend on drug rehabilitation, mental health, job training and other programs that would help steer men and woman away from a life of crime.

It makes three key recommendations:

End lengthy mandatory minimum prison sentences, which would give judges more discretion in deciding penalties. That would allow them to take into account someone’s chances at rehabilitation, say activists.
Parole more low-risk inmates. Right now, the state parole board recommends release for about 20 percent of inmates who appear before it. That’s an improvement, but still not enough, the report says. Citing state statistics, it says 48 percent of California prisoners are assessed at low risk of committing another crime if released.
Let more inmates earn their way out of prison with good credits.

"The goal has to be rehabilitation," said Anderson. "Redemption has to be real."

Many law enforcement leaders remain skeptical of the reforms that have passed, saying too many people have been released and that relaxed penalties have given criminals the green light.

"It doesn't apply across the board," said Ron Hernandez, president of the union that represents rank and file Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies. "But when you lessen the punishment so to speak, it emboldens them to go out there and commit more crime because there is no fear of repercussion."

Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell and other law enforcement leaders have argued recent upticks in the crime rate are the result of some of the reforms – though they have yet to produce data to back up that claim. And crime rates remain at historic lows.

At the same time, McDonnell has said more money needs to go to rehabilitation. Activists agree; they say the way to free up that money is to incarcerate fewer people.

The report says "mass incarceration" in California continues to hit African American men the hardest.

Incarceration rates – including people locked up inside local jails and those on parole or probation – have fallen from a peak of 469 people per 100,000 in 2007 to 330 today. But for African-American men it’s 4,367 per 100,000. For Latino men, its 990.

Prop. 47, approved in 2014, reclassified some felonies as misdemeanors. Proposition 57, approved in 2016, made it easier to parole felons convicted of non-violent crimes. They have led to significant changes in the state’s criminal justice system:

1.5 million people – most of them black and Latino men – are now eligible to remove non-violent felonies from their conviction records. That increases their chances of getting a job.
The state allocated $103 million this year to help formerly incarcerated people through community-based programs.
District Attorneys have filed 22 percent fewer felony cases.

In an interview with KPCC, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said he supports a further reduction in the state prison population.

The way to overcome opposition is to show that releasing certain non-violent prisoners helps reduce crime, he said.

"I think you prove success at reintegrating some of these young men who have been incarcerated – and most of them are young men – by dedicating some resources," Becerra said. "How about we give them eight years to get one year of UCLA under his belt, because that's essentially what it takes to lock up a young man in a juvenile facility for one year."

Becerra, law enforcement leaders and reformers alike are watching closely how California counties spend the $103 million allocated for rehabilitation – and how well it works getting people out of a life of crime. More importantly, reformers are looking at how the money might alleviate the factors that often lead people to criminal activity – including mental illness, drug addiction and poverty.

But Anderson says the money is not enough.

"There is simply no way to achieve a safe and sound California without a drastic change in how we spend taxpayer money," she said.

My invisible SF friends, please take note:
The overwhelming majority of residential burglaries which I investigated as a cop occurred in broad daylight. When everyone else is away from home working and neighborhoods are lightly traveled and populated. It was not unusual for a person to be in a backyard or garden while a burglar had made entry into the unsecured and empty house.
Common Burglar tricks:
Drive through a neighborhood with a stolen garage door transmitter with "open" button taped down.
Cutting exposed phone lines on the exterior of the house to disable alarms.
Walk up to the target home while well dressed and carrying a briefcase. Then use briefcase as cover while prying the door.
By far, the method most often used to gain entry was to find an unlocked door or window. Cutting and or removing a screen was a big favorite.
Target items mostly were small high dollar electronics, guns, purses and anything else easily carried. Tools too.
My burglars often spent less than one minute in the house and used the victims pillowcases to carry off the loot. And the first target once inside the house was the master bedroom and then the other rooms of the house.
Have an attached garage with a pedestrian exterior door? This door would often be forced open which gave the burglar a quick entry into the garage. Once in the garage, the burglar can take his time to attack the pedestrian door leading into the house.
My burglars were never armed and were scared to death of being caught inside the home by a resident.
Neighbors often saw the burglars but did not realize what was happening.
Stolen property was often disposed of the same day it was stolen.
Given how difficult it is to actually harden your home against intrusion, what is the best
solution to secure you home?
A good sized, bitey, barky doggie! And two is even better.
I can understand how devastating is to be a burglary victim. Your most private space is violated. I knew of burglary victims who were frightened to live in their homes afterward or even moved out and sold their homes. They could not regain their lost sense of safety and security a home should provide.
And most of my burglars did little time in jail, as the courts consider burglary to be a "property crime".
I am speaking about residential burglars here, not home invaders. They are a entirely different class of animal.

Yooper, could you briefly describe the other kind of burglar - the home invader. I didn't know they were two different kinds of people, but it makes sense a little, but could you explain ? The invader is after property, so why doesn't he do it the "other" way, not wanting to be seen or confronted ?

BTW, this exact thing happened to us when we got married, it happened in daytime, tore the house all the hell up, drawers turned over, the whole nine yards. Took everyting of value - expensive guitar, my guns, my camera and lenses, my coin collection, stereo stuff, gone.

quote:

Lesson 5: Your neighbors aren't going to notice a thing.

When I got burgled in 1993, it was the neighbors, specifically their teenage punk kids.

Yooper is right....when I was a B&E detective I found the same thing.

I could be in your home and in your MBR in under a minute,
strip the pillow case,
lift mattress for guns
look in top drawers for guns/jewlery
look in other drawers for same
look in clostes for guns/cash/valuables
pick up laptop/dvd player/video games on the way out the door
all in under TWO minutes

always in the daylight....always

guns and many other items are sold on the street and never pawned for pennies on the dollar

get a dog
get two dogs
get a safe
bolt it to the floor
get cameras
put up ADT signs
make cameras visible
get an alarm
don't be predictable
don't leave new Flat screen TV box at the curb....

lock your shit
lock you cars
don't leave shit in your cars

make your house harder so the B&E guys move next door and break in there!

anyone's house can be broken into-you just have to make it easier to go elsewhere

Were they living where there are a lot of asians and asian gangs?

Most asian gangs prey on asians (vietnamese/laos and some chinese) as most keep their money at home. Flipping even mattresses say they were looking for valuables and not just the low hanging fruit.

It might have even been better that they were out of the house.

The difference between burglars and home invaders:
Burglars are mostly non violent, long term dopers who steal to support a dope habit.
Home Invaders are violent, will use force to gain entry and use violence to ensure compliance of victims. Victims are targeted for a known or perceived high value item, like drugs or cash.

They flipped over the mattresses? Darn,now I have to find a new hiding place.

Sorry to hear about your in laws.
Getting robbed is more than just losing "stuff".
It is getting violated!

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
The difference between burglars and home invaders:
Burglars are mostly non violent, long term dopers who steal to support a dope habit.
Home Invaders are violent, will use force to gain entry and use violence to ensure compliance of victims. Victims are targeted for a known or perceived high value item, like drugs or cash.

Assuming you give them what they want, how often will they shoot or kill you ?

Its a roll of the dice.