Typically, thieves cleaning apartments or private houses (popularly known as “housekeepers”) are divided into professionals and newcomers on tour. Both the first and second can work individually or in a group. As a rule, if professionals take up work, they carefully monitor the apartment for 3-5 days, study the daily routine of residents and neighbors in order to have enough time for a thorough search of the housing.
Sometimes newcomers are given a tip by envious acquaintances, colleagues, neighbors or friends. In this case, guest performers can also stay in the apartment for a period of 30 minutes and up to 2 hours. According to the FBI, an average of 8-12 minutes is spent on one apartment theft, and most of the time is spent on finding valuable items.
Despite the seemingly short time period, thieves manage to find and search all the generally accepted hiding places of average citizens. First, "housekeepers" search boxes, vases and bowls. Then check the drawers of tables, sideboards and cabinets. Then, next in line are disks, books, beds. Next, the contents of the kitchen, bathroom, restroom and pantry are viewed.
Some places for hiding places seem cunning to citizens, but in reality they are generally accepted and well known to seasoned criminals. Let’s make a rating of the places in the apartment where the robbers will seek values first of all.
Master bedroom: drawers, wardrobes and hiding places under the mattress
In 56% of cases, the first bedroom is the main bedroom for finding values. Most citizens hide their jewelry, savings and expensive gadgets right there: in drawers or cabinets among linen, shoes or clothes, and also under the bed mattress. Last place is the favorite cache of many. Yes, this place is considered quite safe while people are asleep, but during waking hours the cache becomes vulnerable. In addition, it will take only a few seconds for the robbers to verify it.
Bathroom and toilet: first-aid kits
A first aid kit can be attractive to burglars for various reasons. First, a number of prescription drugs may be resold on the black pharmaceutical market. Secondly, among hygiene items, citizens often hide their savings or family jewelry. Thirdly, some medications can be used by the robbers themselves (for example, if the thief is a drug addict).
Living room: drawers and everything in sight
The guest room is a convenient place to search for documents, car keys or credit cards. If thieves do not find any valuables in conspicuous places, they will turn their attention to boxes that can be quickly opened, cracked, scanned, or shoved to the floor. In addition, the living room is most often located close to the front door, so if the robbers suddenly panic, it may be the only place they can check.
Citizens often install portable safes in living rooms to store valuables. If it is not screwed to the floor or does not have a low level of security, then they can easily take it with them to crack it later, or open it immediately in the room during the robbery. It is recommended to refrain from storing valuables in small safes near the entrance doors and, if possible, mount portable models in the walls or tightly weld to the floor.
Kitchen: cereal boxes, tin cans and freezer
There is an opinion that the empty industry, banks and a freezer as a hiding place were popularized by the film industry, as a result of which many people use them to store jewelry and cash, and some even use their phones, tablets or laptops.
The robber is also kept in mind by this cache. Thieves do not hesitate to check cans, bottles, freezers and even baskets with dirty linen. This is the "work of the robber" - to foresee and know where the citizens hide their values.
Cabinet: shelves
Expensive office equipment, valuable souvenirs can be taken from office rooms.Table drawers and shelves will be checked by criminals for important documents, savings, gadgets, Rolex watches. A selection of business book publications will not survive - books will be gutted when searching for internal caches and most often scattered across the floor.
Children's room
Modern children abound in expensive gadgets, game consoles, personal computers, DVD players, and laptops. And cabinets, mattresses and pillows on the bed can contain the "accumulation" of the baby, deposited from pocket money, which parents often give out to children.
Safe
A safe is a good idea for storing valuables only if it cannot be taken with you for later retrieval of the contents. Portable models motivate criminals to take this kind of “gift wrap” for robbers with them.
Burglary is fraught for citizens with the following consequences:
- loss of family jewelry, documents and cash;
- disabling room furniture;
- damage to property and disorder in the rooms.
The loss of values can be avoided only if there is non-standard thinking when organizing hiding places. Professionals are also advised to leave a small amount of money in one of the above places in order to keep the thieves from destroying furniture and a more thorough search of the premises.
