There Are Ways to Avoid Robbery

WIDOWED Clara turned to invite the young couple in for a cup of tea. Generally, when they drove her home after their evening meeting she went straight in. Tonight, however, for some reason she invited her friends to join her. Everything looked peaceful as they approached the small, white house.

Clara entered the living room and switched on the lights. To the couple all still looked well, but Clara became distraught. Her television set was gone! As she looked into the next room, it was evident that thieves had invaded her bedroom and rifled through her personal items. Fear, anger and apprehension filled all of them. Was the thief still there? No.

For Clara the incident was traumatic. She was nearly 80 years old and had a lifetime of memories in that house. Now she felt violated; her security was gone. She could not sleep in the house that evening and eventually felt compelled to move.

Another woman, with a Middle Eastern background, had her home robbed of valuable oriental jewelry. The stolen items were particularly of sentimental value, since her father, a jeweler, had made them for her. She now keeps the remainder of her jewelry hardly accessible in a safe-deposit box​—afraid to wear the ornaments, unable to enjoy their beauty at home.

It has been said that a man’s home is his castle. Well, as such the castle is under attack. Invaders are determined to make your valuable things theirs.

According to FBI Director William H. Webster, the decade of the 1970’s “saw a 50% increase in crimes reported to law enforcement” officials in the United States. Burglary and robbery continue to triumph, seemingly unchecked by modern crime-fighting techniques. So how can we guard against becoming victims?

Having a good relationship with our neighbors is perhaps one of the most effective forms of protection. Invaluable as security are neighbors who know us and our families and have a feeling of concern over our protection. Carol Bellamy, president of New York’s City Council, says: “Crime prevention is not having a police officer in front of everyone’s door. It’s having an alert, informed citizen in each house and apartment.”

Of course, in our transient society, families have homes away from other family members, and neighbors are, at times, more concerned with their privacy than with community security. As a result, neighbors remain silent rather than becoming involved when they witness questionable happenings. Electronic devices have to supply an able but unequal substitute for the watchful eyes and the telling tongues of concerned neighbors.

One change a family may have to make involves its attitude toward living in a certain area, prestigious perhaps but isolated. One isolated family had their home completely ransacked and emptied when they were away one evening. The incident was repeated, and finally the father bought an expensive guard dog to protect their interests. Sadly, thieves struck again, this time stealing the dog and brashly demanding a ransom for the animal!

Still, as one expert thief and burglar admitted, “dogs, especially large ones, . . . are the best overall house protection one can have.” He mentioned that many professional burglars will avoid a house that has a dog guarding it. Of course, if a guard dog were to attack an innocent caller, the owner might have to face serious legal and moral questions.

If you own many things you may wish to mark such valuable items as televisions, stereos, and the like, with an engraving tool, perhaps scribing your driver’s license number on these items. Usually, such a tool can be purchased at a hardware store. However, in order to make this effective, notification of such identification could be posted on a door. (It may be possible to obtain such stickers at a police station.) The reasoning is that the potential thief may be deterred since he will have a harder time disposing of the identified stolen items.

Additionally, some have purchased timers or photoelectric light switches for lamps and radios to give the impression that someone is at home. However, here, too, there is a need for caution. The previously mentioned professional thief said: “The best invitation you can give a burglar is to leave a light burning just inside the entrance, and no other. To a burglar this means you left a light on when you went away so you could see your way inside when you return. . . . A porch light on with no other interior light burning means the same.” However, he did say that several lights on are a deterrent. The best ones are the porch light, bathroom light and an overhead bedroom light in a separate part of the house. A television set playing in the living room or den may also serve as a deterrent. And, of course, when vacationing, be sure to notify mailing or paper delivery services.

Motorists and Commuters Beware!

Motorists, too, are under fire. Automobiles have been a great source of attack by thieves, ranging from the entire vehicle’s being stolen to theft of parts and gas siphoning. In these cases the thieves often rely on the cover of night or of anonymity in the masses on crowded streets. Who knows whether the man working on that car is its owner, a mechanic or a thief?

While some cars have factory-supplied alarms, these can be installed in others. Additional deterrents available include theft-proof door locks, wheel locks, locking gas caps, hood locks and chains, bars and chains for brake pedals and steering wheels, as well as electronic ignition cutoff systems.

Traveling by public transportation daily or while on vacation may prove hazardous and may at times even beckon thieves. Of course, finding a job and keeping it may preclude our being selective about where and when we work. However, it is sobering to note what was done by one businessman in New York City. He cut out night shifts in his plant because he could not offer his 700 employees protection from muggers during their seven-block walk to public transportation.

The New York City Transportation Authority has supplied subway advertisements about avoiding theft. These and other sources advise against wearing any exposed jewelry, especially gold chains, and suggest keeping your wallet in your front pants pocket and carrying a purse (preferably having a strong shoulder strap) with a firm grip on the top of the bag and on one side of the strap. We should go about our business with determination and purpose in our step.

By way of a warning, a Los Angeles patrolman said: “Some of the tourists might as well wear a sign that says, ‘Please rob me,’ with all these cameras around their necks” while touring high-crime areas.

If faced by a burglar, remember that you are now a robbery victim and your actions may well determine if you will be alive after the thieves have left. A calm spirit is needed, and sentimentality or possessiveness over items should not move you to any aggressive action or provoke severe depression. At such times, your priority is life itself.

Christians should have no problem in understanding that “the scene of this world is changing” and that there would be an “increasing of lawlessness” with ‘wicked men advancing from bad to worse.’ (1 Corinthians 7:31; Matthew 24:12; 2 Timothy 3:13) Such knowledge encourages vigilance and soberness of mind concerning security. And we can feel a little more secure in this troubled world if we follow practical hints that can ward off thieves. Indeed, there are ways to avoid robbery.

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Crime can be reduced by having an alert, informed citizen in each house and apartment

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“Dogs, especially large ones, . . . are the best overall house protection one can have”

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“The best invitation you can give a burglar is to leave a light burning just inside the entrance, and no other”

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It is said that a man’s home is his castle. That castle is under attack