The days are quickly getting dark again and that means burglars are making their move. In Den Bosch, the police put it to the test on Thursday by checking doors one evening. Do we really make it that easy for burglars?
Until the evening, local police officer Bart Postma walked through the neighborhoods with colleagues from enforcement and the Farent neighborhood team. They checked fence doors, sheds and cars. Quietly, just like a burglar would do. When they entered, a flyer with a footprint was left behind. The message: now it was the police, but a burglar could also have been here.
“We ended up putting down about a hundred of them,” says the Deuteren local police officer about the fun campaign. “We even opened four car doors in a row in a parking lot. It was in a kind of closed parking space. But we were still able to get to it.”
Electric bicycles
With the ‘burglary round’, Postma wants to make everyone alert again. Because the number of burglaries increases in December. Sometimes it’s as easy as a barn door not being locked. “We walked in and suddenly found myself standing next to two electric bicycles,” he says.
Afterwards there was often a conversation with the residents of the house. The officers and neighborhood teams also appeared to be able to enter quite a few houses. For example, Postma saw two residents watching TV at home. “The door to the kitchen was unlocked. I stood there quietly for a few minutes. I saw their wallets.”
“Then I rang the doorbell and told them what had happened,” he continues. “Then we had a nice conversation and they thanked me for the tips.” The couple has a dog. “They usually lock the kitchen door. Now they thought the dog would bark, but it was sleeping.”
A relief for the couple, fortunately it was not a burglar. But someone could have accessed their things. That is exactly what Postma is trying to make clear. “It’s not to bully, but we do want to warn.”
What can you do yourself?
– Leave a lamp on when you are not at home
– Don’t make it too easy for agile burglars, remove bins and ladders
– Lock doors and windows, this also applies to cars
– Put valuables out of sight
– You know your own neighborhood best. Do you see a suspicious situation? Call 112