The Top Six Items Stolen from Homes

Prevent thiefs with home security system

It doesn’t take much in terms of time and effort for a determined and skilled burglar to take some items from your home. Eight to twelve minutes could be more than enough, and then your precious valuables could be gone.

However, there are specific measures that you can employ to make things extremely difficult for them, and the first thing to do is to know what attracts these offenders the most.

In this way, you will know what not to leave lying around the house and what to keep in the most secure places in your home.

One thing is common among these items, and that is, they can be stolen in the shortest time possible. So imagine a burglar searching your home and grabbing anything and everything within reach that they think will have the most value.

Remember that these items are usually stored in areas where they can be easily seen, and it makes them even more desirable and easy for the perpetrators to get.

Cold Hard Cash

There is nothing more convenient than stealing cash and yes, everyone wants it including small-time or big-time burglars.

Statistics and findings gathered from the Department of Justice and the FBI show that cash is on top of the list of typically stolen items in the home.

This makes sense because once the offender has them, they can be immediately used without the need for having to trade or pawn them like the other items. Stolen cash is likewise hard to trace.

So where do you usually keep your money? In your wallet or purse of course and they know this too.

Besides, aside from the cash, the burglar is sure to find some credit or debit cards in there that are equally useful.

Keep your money and wallet in a secure place. A safe which is bolted to the ground or the floor is one of your best bets. Make them fireproof and high quality, especially when you have a huge amount to secure. It would also be good to put them in a place that is least expected for such a storage.

Firearms

This may come as a surprise, but statistics from the Bureau of Justice disclose that as many as 172,00 firearms were declared stolen from 2005-2010 on average.

In 63% of the home burglaries, at least 1 firearm was stolen.

As it turns out, burglars yearn for this particular item as they have a high resale value on the streets especially for well-known criminals in the neighborhood whom others would seek for any hot merchandise.

Another reason is that they can use it to further their criminal activities.

Now the trouble about this is that 9 out 10 burglars would usually claim the weapon as their property.

If you do not want your own weapon to be used in this way, keep your guns in a secure and safe box that is well-concealed. It should not be loaded and ammunition must be stored in a separate location. Should you have a weapon stolen, make sure to report the same to the authorities immediately.

Electronic gadgets

Included in the top 6 list of commonly stolen items are electronic gadgets.

Well, it is what almost everybody desires in these high-tech times from Kindles, cell phones, video consoles, cameras, to iPods.

Related to its towering desirability is its ease to pawn and sell to just about anybody.

This is especially true for video games or consoles as pawnshops, avid gamers, and gaming outlets would typically accept them without any questions asked, legit or not.

The same goes for iPads and iPods because they are used almost all the time and they are usually left anywhere in the house.

Unless they have a serial number, these particular items can prove difficult to trace or recover. Thing is, they are also most expensive and you can really feel a sense of loss when a burglar would take away any of your gadgets. As such, make it a habit to keep these electronic gadgets out of sight and into drawers or closets as much as you can.

Laptops or tablets

This is a separate list from other electronics because laptops, netbooks, and tablets have been made lightweight these days with the advancement of technology.

They can be quite expensive as well, and this is why they are in-demand for acquisition by the burglar’s potential market.

Besides, an offender is sure to easily find one as almost every household has these items that just sit out there in the open.

It is easy to carry, and no one would suspect for it to be stolen as this is a common item to be carrying around.

In this case, you can install a laptop tracking product available on the market today. Such tracking products can provide a broad spectrum of features that can help in the recovery of the item. It can even provide an image of the culprit taken through your device webcam.

Your laptop can also be fully locked to block access to sensitive personal or financial information saved in your computer.

Expensive jewelry

Jewelry will always be in the list of most common stolen items. They can be so highly valuable that in 2012, the DOJ recorded $1.8 billion worth of jewelry stolen from homes.

Most of the time, they are kept in same places that offenders almost have this intuitive knowledge as to where they could be found.

For instance, the first area that a burglar would go to is the master bedroom as this is where jewelry is typically kept.

Moreover, they are considered to be a burglar’s favorite as they are easy to pocket and convert to cash later on. To keep your jewelry safe, hide them in the most unexpected places like an empty shampoo bottle. You can likewise choose to have a diversion safe installed.

Prescription drugs

Last but not least on the list is medications as they are truly one of the top items that get stolen from homes. You see, there is a huge black market for medications ranging from anti-depressants to pain killers and certainly, burglars want to have loads of them.

For the burglars who target such drugs, they rarely go empty-handed. Recent reports from the Mayo Clinic and the Olmsted Medical Center divulge that almost 70% of Americans take a prescription medication, while more than half of the population take two of them.

The medicine cabinet is one of those places that they would normally search so instead, store them in a different location such as on a faux book.