Residents of Encino, CA, have been on high alert for the past several months as a string of burglaries has rocked the community, leaving residents panicking over how to protect their homes.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the neighborhood of nearly 60,000 in the San Fernando Valley has reported around 20 break-ins in the last month alone. The Los Angeles Police Department believes some criminals are using Wi-Fi blockers to disable alarm systems.
Some residents are considering hiring a private security company to patrol their neighborhoods or taking even more drastic measures.
“In all my years working and living in Encino, I have never participated in conversations where people said, ‘Yeah, I’m going to go get a gun.’ But now they are,” Robert Glushon, president of the Encino Property Owners Association, told the Times.
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The rash of burglaries is especially shocking given that the LAPD says the San Fernando Valley has seen a drop in burglaries over the past year.
And Encino’s burglary spike also contradicts national trends.
The number of residential break-ins has gone down over the past few years: The Council on Criminal Justice found that residential burglaries in the U.S. dropped 26% between 2019 and 2023. Overall, the residential burglary rate has dropped by 84% from its high in 1980.
However, burglaries still affect hundreds of thousands of homeowners—particularly in larger cities, where residential burglary rates were double that of cities with fewer than 100,000 people, according to the CCJ.
The number of burglaries also varies by state. New Mexico had the highest burglary rate, according to 2022 statistics, with 604 burglaries per 100,000 residents, while New Hampshire had the lowest, with 73.5 per 100,000 inhabitants.
How to protect your home from burglars
No matter where you live, there are plenty of things you can do to protect your home.
To find out what attracts break-ins, criminology researchers at the University of North Carolina–Charlotte surveyed more than 400 convicted burglars and found that 83% of burglars check for an alarm system before breaking into a house, and 60% said they’d abort the attempt if they encountered one.
And it’s not like it is on TV: When we think of burglaries, we typically think of break-ins in the dead of night, but most happen between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Burglars in the UNC survey admitted to breaking in through unlocked windows, while only 1 in 8 reported picking locks. When deciding what properties to hit, they considered a property’s proximity to traffic, businesses, and other homes, whether cameras or surveillance equipment were present, and whether dogs could be detected inside the house.
Based on this research, homeowners worried about possible break-ins can take a variety of steps to protect their homes.
Install a home security system
Among the burglars UNC interviewed, 50% said they would discontinue their crime if they discovered an alarm on-site.
Home security systems cost, on average, around $600 a month—though, a self-installed home monitoring system like Nest could run you as little as $231, a good investment.
Even the appearance of a camera on a doorstep can help deter crime and, in the event that your home is burglarized, can provide valuable evidence to your insurance company and the police.
Reinforce doors and windows
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Make sure that windows and doors are locked—especially on the first floor. You can install window sensors and add extra locks or deadbolts to make your doors extra secure.
Double-fortify your garage
Your garage is another possible break-in point, so don’t forget to test your garage door. And make sure that you properly store your tools and ladders so they don’t inadvertently become an aid to a burglar.
Make sure your home and yard are well-lit
Brightly lit homes are less attractive to burglars. Installing motion-sensor lights can be especially effective in deterring burglars on the spot.
Keep up your property’s appearance
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A neat, tidy, and cared-for home is a deterrent for would-be burglars.
“While lush landscaping looks nice, it also can hide burglars,” Bailey Moran of Texas’ Austin TX Realty tells Realtor.com®. “Keep bushes trimmed and good sightlines to windows and doors. A client of mine learned this the hard way when overgrown bushes concealed an attempted break-in.”
Keep the lights on
Set your lights on a timer to give the appearance of being home. You can also leave a TV or radio on to scare away strangers.
Stop your mail
Burglars often check whether or not mail is piling up before breaking into a house. If you’re planning on being away for an extended period of time, contact the postal service to pause your mail.
Keep your travel plans off social media
The Bling Ring famously used social media reports and celebrity gossip websites to determine when Paris Hilton would be out of town so they could burglarize her house.
Let that be a lesson: Don’t advertise that you’ll be away from your home for any extended period of time. Your friends might be paying attention, and so are thieves.
Know your neighbors
Your neighbors are eyes and ears on the ground when you’re not home, and they’re some of the best allies you have to prevent break-ins. By sharing info about suspicious activity in the neighborhood, you can help protect one another.
