Are you worth robbing?

Press, 4 March 1987, Page 17

Are you worth robbing?

By

Josie McNee,

youth reporter

High density flatting areas with itinerant populations are sure targets for burglars. Usually they go for items which they can turn over quickly. Videos, televisions, stereos, cameras, and jewellery are popular. Or there are the burglars who are setting up their own houses. They are more interested in clearing out the kitchens

and taking off with the bedding. The Christchurch police district’s crime prevention officer, Terry Blumberg, advises anyone shifting into a new flat to have the locks on the doors changed. While this may seem like an expensive exercise, he says that in some flats with high tenancy rates so many keys have been cut that the new tenants have no way of knowing how many people may have access to their home. “I am not suggesting that all previous tenants

are criminals. Some precautions are just common sense,” he says. Another alternative is to change the lock on one main door and put bolts bn all of the other egress doors.

He also strongly recommends marking property. Recovery rates for stolen goods are not very high, but you have more chance of getting your property back if it is clearly marked so it can be easily identified. People can also help burglars by leaving keys hidden in easy places, and forgetting to lock windows and doors.

Another anti-burglar ploy is to make an empty house look occupied. Leave lights on and radios going so it appears that someone is at home. And if you do come home and find out you have been burgled, Terry Blumberg advises you to get out of the house as quickly as possible. Meeting the intruder could be a pretty nasty experience. Go to the nearest telephone and call the police. If you do walk in when intruders are there make sure you are not standing between them and the door.

“If you are standing between intruders and the door, stand aside,” Terry says. “You don’t know if they have something such as a screwdriver, and if they panic you could get hurt.”