The House Key you give away…
You come home, reach for the visor, and instantly your garage door opens for you. That magic button you leave “clipped to the visor in your car” is so convenient. Everybody does it. I used to do it until I started seeing a pattern of how criminals really work when no one is watching.
If you are like most people you have an automatic garage door opener clipped to your visor or in a console. Convenience is nice but it can cost you in the long run if you are not careful.
First, lets go with the crooks that drive through neighborhoods clicking on a garage door opener they have, to see which garage doors they can open.
(More than likely they are using a stolen one from a car burglary)
They may change the code often to try to match one nearby. A long shot but it works sometimes.
Some people may hear their garage door open at 4 a.m. but not me. I sleep like a log. If a crook drives through a neighborhood clicking a garage door opener, one is likely to open sooner or later. A quick grab of tools, bicycles, or whatever else of value that you have in there is a quick source of money for the crooks, and a big loss for you.
There is not much you can do against this random, but sometimes successful burglar. Occasionally this works, especially with older garage door openers with limited access codes. I have seen garage doors open simply after a power surge, or when the power came back on after an outage. This is a field day for burglars.
The next type of crook is smarter. This is how he or she likes to work:
You take your family to a movie, the beach, an amusement park, etc. Wherever you go, you’re gone for an extended period of time.
Mr. Burglar walks through the parking lots trying car doors for ones that are unlocked, while looking into every car he passes. He sees the all too often chrome clip of a garage door opener clipped to the sun visor and now he has his next victim.
Mr. Burglar quickly gets into your vehicle and grabs the garage door opener off the visor and your vehicle registration from the glove box. Whether he takes the registration with him or just writes down the address, now he has your address and access to your garage.
Mr. Burglar goes to your house while you are still enjoying yourself at the park or wherever it is that you went for a day of fun. A few rings of the doorbell with no answer, confirms that no one is home and with a click of YOUR garage door opener he is in YOUR garage.
Once inside, he closes the door behind him and access to your house, personal property, and belongings are all his.
Almost better than a front door key! 7 out of 10 people I ask on burglary calls leave their entry doors from the garage to the house unlocked. They lock the garage, but they want to make it easy to get in when they get home so the entry door into the house stays unlocked. But what happens if SOMEONE ELSE gets into the garage?
Even if you’re one of the smart ones who lock the garage entry door, if someone gains access to your garage no one would see or hear someone forcing their way through the garage entry door. PLUS, your garage probably contains enough tools or gadgets to break into a safe.
While you and the family are enjoying a day away from home, a burglar can be enjoying a day at home. YOUR HOME!
He knows you are gone for the day. That’s why he prowls the amusement parks, beaches, boat launch ramps, movie theaters, wherever cars are parked with the likelihood of people being preoccupied for hours. After ringing your doorbell to confirm no one is there, easy access to the garage is all Mr. Burglar needs. Mr. Burglar can gain access inside your garage and close it behind him in less than 5 seconds.
I have seen burglaries where a burglar gets into a garage and house, loads up your vehicle that is parked in the garage (all behind closed doors drawing no suspicion), then steals the car that he loaded all the property from the house into.
In short, a garage door opener and your vehicle registration is like a key and a map to your house. Yes, most state laws require you to carry vehicle registration in your vehicle, but there are ways to avoid these kinds of burglars.
Here’s a few tips:
• Dont leave garage door openers clipped on your visor or in plain view. When parking, lock them in a glove box or at least put them under the seat and out of sight. A burglar will rarely break into a car unless he sees something that he wants.
• Lock your car. If you leave your car unlocked, definitely dont leave a garage door opener and registration in the car. Put the opener and vehicle registration in your purse, pocket, or at least hide the registration. Without that, the burglar won’t know what house to go to. Just do it right the first time, and LOCK YOUR CAR!
• When on vacation or away from home, use the manual slide locks to lock the garage doors shut (located on most roll-up doors). I do that and I unplug the garage door openers to assure that no one can open my doors when I’m gone. If you have the older swing out garage door, you can park a vehicle up against the door to prevent opening the door while you are away.
• ALWAYS lock the door leading from the garage to the house. Leaving it unlocked may save you 5 seconds when you get home, but it saves burglars a lot more than that not having to force entry to your house. You should also lock the door leading from the garage to the side yard or patio too. You want to make it as difficult as possible for someone to gain access to your garage. Because from there, getting into the house is easy. Even if they dont make it into the house, they may clean out your garage.
• If you lose a garage door opener, or have one stolen, immediately unplug your opener until you change the code. All garage door openers have changeable or programmable codes. Even if you buy a replacement remote, change the code on the opener itself.
• If you leave cars parked outside at night, take the garage openers inside your house with you at night. It may be an inconvenience at first, but you’ll get used to it. If someone got a hold of it from out of your car at 3 or 4 a.m., would you hear the door open?
• If you have an old, outdated garage door opener, buy a new one. Most are affordable now and are easily installed. Most new ones have hundreds if not thousands of random access codes making it difficult for a different remote to open your garage door.
• Remember that having alarm systems for both homes and cars is like having someone watching your property all the time. If a crook uses an old garage door opener to get into your garage and then enters your home’s interior, what do you think he is going to do when that ear piercing alarm goes off?
• PLEASE consider getting involved in a neighborhood watch group. “Watchful” neighbors “watching out” for each other have by far, substantially lower incidents of crime than neighborhoods that don’t have watch groups! Call your local Law Enforcement agency and speak to a crime prevention officer who can assist you with starting up your own group.
We are not giving away information here for crooks to profit from. We are sharing with you the methods that crooks are already using. That many crooks are using right now as you read this!
A lot of people have become victims from this, but YOU DON”T NEED TO! These tips are to help you avoid the losses others have already suffered.
Crooks use whatever means they can to make money from unsuspecting victims.
We all need to use whatever means available to avoid losses from these crooks.
Use common sense and Netcops tips to prevent these “avoidable” losses.
Many more crime prevention tips for your home, business, and vehicle, can be found throughout “CopTalk”, the book we wrote for YOU!
Take care and Stay Safe!
Mark Lambert
