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Burglary & Thefts in a Small Town of New York

July 22nd, 2011

There have been some crimes and burglary attempts that were reported by the police of Nassau County and Lynbrook police departments. This is to remind us that even in small towns where its less populated, burglars and thieves can be present. Just recently in the area of Cedarhurst, New York a group of suspects broke into a home and kept 12 people hostage. They forced them to the ground at gunpoint and raided the area, the police reports.

Around 1 in the morning, four or five males concealed their identities by wearing bandanas over their face broke into the Cedarhurst residence. From the police reports, two suspects had handguns while they stole and robbed the victims while they were lying on the floor. They ravaged through their pockets and stole cellphones, jewelry and cash. They also stole even more money and jewelry from two safes that belonged to the residents.

In several nearby towns, other reports of burglary were also announced. The burglarized areas consisted of an IHOP restaurant; another home in Franklin Square and another home in North Valley Stream. Other thefts that were also reported were a GPS unit that was stolen from a parked car in Lakeview and another one in West Hempstead. Several items were also stolen from an unlocked car parked in West Hempstead.

Sometimes burglaries as threatening and frightening as the first one mentioned above cannot be escapable or avoidable. In cases where your life is on the line, it’s more important to survive than try to save your belongings that could be replaced later on. However in most cases such as car thefts, those can be preventable. Take for instance the unlocked car parked in West Hempstead. Perhaps if you took the time to make sure your vehicle was locked, then this type of incident won’t happen. You also have to remember, thieves are always looking inside vehicles to whatever they can grab. If they see something valuable insight, like your GPS device on the dashboard or even a cellphone lying on the seat, then your car will be more prone to car theft. You have to make sure you keep all your car valuables hidden or inside the compartment after use. It only takes a few minutes, even seconds for a thief to steal your valuables. All we ask is for you to take the time before you leave your car, to make sure they’re locked and that your valuables stay hidden and unseen.

Thousands of car thefts occur every month around the country. It’s just the simple things we forget to do like making sure we lock our doors or making sure the windows are rolled up all the way. There are so many professional car thieves out there, that if they see just one hint to gain access into your car, they’ll take advantage of the opportunity. In a worse case scenario, you’ll find that your car has disappeared.

MESA's Hitch Hiker Safe MHK1

We recommend you purchase MESA’s Hitch Hiker Safe. This particular hitch safe stores and secures all your car valuables into a safe while you’re out of your vehicle. It has a lightweight and portable design, but does not sacrifice its overall durability and strength. It has an all-steel construction built to withstand physical attacks. It also comes with a UL Listed group II combination dial lock that restricts unauthorized users from gaining access inside the safe. One of the great features of this travel safe is that it attaches to your existing standard hitch. You can also use it as a stepping stool for roof cargo access. It’s definitely the ultimate resolution so you can enjoy your outdoor activities. We just added MESA’s featured video of the Hitch Hiker Safe onto our product page. You can check out all the features and specifications there.

 

 

 

 

 

Source: http://rockvillecentre.patch.com/articles/crimes-nearby-dozen-people-robbed-in-cedarhurst-home

Police Officer’s Home Raided and Guns Stolen

July 15th, 2011

Just last week during the Fourth of July weekend, a home was burglarized and guns were stolen.  The victim of the crime is from DeKalb County, Georgia as the local Channel 2 Action News team came to report. The suspects broke into his DeKalb County Home and stole a multitude of guns. The unusual thing about this crime scene is that the person who was burglarized was a police officer.

The investigative reporter to get the inside scoop was Aaron Diamant who caught up with the Department of Homeland Security Inspector Loucious Sheppard. He had at least five different guns stolen from his home in Ellenwood in addition to his service weapon. Out of the possible victims to be burglarized he did admit it was unexpected and unlikely. “It’s not supposed to happen to me,” Sheppard said. “I would think that’s awful bold for somebody to break into a police officer’s home.”

The burglars raided Sheppard’s home when it was the most vulnerable. That’s because Sheppard was on vacation in Arkansas as the thieves broke into a basement window early Saturday morning and raided his home. He gave Channel 2 a break down of how the suspects destroyed the double-locked door that lead to his bedroom where his guns were kept.

“My gun was right here by my bedside, on the mattress right between the mattress here,” Sheppard explained. “I had another firearm in that drawer over there.” The thieves apparently didn’t just steal his guns and firearms, but they also stole other valuables. Sheppard told Diamant that the thieves stole at least five guns, his service weapon, a few electronics, thousands of dollars in savings bonds, two safes full of personal documents and records, even his pickup truck in which he’s spent tons of work on.

“Material things, personal items like that, that can be replaced,” Sheppard said. “It’s just the fact that you have someone out there with serious fire power that can cause some hurt and harm to someone out there.” Diamant made a good point asking Sheppard if his DHS vehicle parked on his driveway made him a primary target to the suspects. “I don’t know,” Sheppard said. “I hate to think that, but you never know.”

In any case, Sheppard is more worried about the guns and the hands they belong to now. Any person in their right mind who breaks into an officer’s home and steals their firearms probably doesn’t have the greatest intentions. “Certainly, if it’s in the hands of some adolescent or teenager, that makes it even more likely that they’ll do something stupid,” Sheppard said.

This report is just the type of incidents and stories we talk about here on Security Base. It’s important to keep all your valuables locked up and kept in a security safe. We also talked about how vulnerable your home is during vacation, especially during the past Fourth of July weekend. You can never be too careful, and even for an officer such as Sheppard, he was unlikely victim, but even he was targeted and a victim to such theft.

It’s unfortunate that his guns and firearms were stolen because if he had kept them in high quality gun safes instead of leaving them out on the bed or in drawers where no protection or security is present, he could have prevented these thieves from stealing his guns. To make matters worse is that he did have his own safes that kept confidential documents, but those were also stolen along with his pick-up truck. These types of break-ins and raids take more than just a security safe for protection. In order to maximize your security for your home, especially when going on vacation, you have to plan ahead. Invest in a home security, make sure your doors are locked with high security locks, keep in touch with neighbors, family and friends about your home, and make sure to keep all your valuables are hidden away from the obvious spots a thief would raid.

We’ve discussed and provided lots of different ways to protect your home. We don’t want you to be a victim or witness the same incident Sheppard did. Enjoy your summer, but also remember to stay safe and protected.

Watch the video of Sheppard showing what the thieves stole and how they got in by clicking the link below.

Source: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/28442690/detail.html

Dumped Safe Left Unopened In Bushes

July 13th, 2011

An investigation is being made in Springfield Oregon where a safe was dumped behind some bushes. The only thing is, the safe was capable of withstanding the attacks from the thieves, who seemed to become frustrated and left it stranded. Investigators are now trying to search for the rightful owner of the safe. The home safe was behind a McKenzie Meadows apartment complex.

The residential safe was found when a group of kids found it on Monday evening. Sgt. Richard Jones responded, “It appeared that somebody had been trying to break into the safe. There were pry marks on it.” Some of the neighbors around the area say they’ve encountered and seen some suspicious activity going on around the neighborhood. A resident of the neighborhood, Alberta Hurt, commented saying, “This neighborhood is not known for very good things. We had someone who’s described as a Peeping Tom tried to open up a screen door.”

The thieves who stole the safe, seemed to have difficulty opening it up and plus the safe had not been reported missing to the police. Not until the next day came around and everyone in the neighborhood was asked if they were missing a safe. During the investigation, there had been some leads, one of them named Anginetta Newton whose daughter’s safe had been missing. She claims that her daughter’s safe was missing in her storage unit, which is only a few yards away from where the safe was found. She said the safe was empty and was moved into the storage unit on Friday. Another lead claims to have the rights to the safe saying, “I’m going to go down to that police station and I’m going to open up my safe and let them know it’s mind,” says safe owner Sherrell McClain, who claims she has the code to support her claim.

The KVAL News team is closely following the investigation as neighbors and other people around the area who have lost their safe walk into the Police Department on Tuesday afternoon to see if it is theirs. The detectives have kept the safe at an offsite location and the difficult challenge is to find whom the reported missing safe belongs to.  Another issue that arises is that the combination lock was dismantled after being stolen, which means McClain will have a difficult time proving the safe was hers with her code. The only way the police will go about the investigation is to identify the true owners of the safe by the contents that are contained inside.

It’s very fortunate that the safe was not broken into. It seems like the safe that was stolen was of great quality. Even forced attempts of prying it open and a destroyed combination lock left the thieves confused. It’s real life stories like these that have us believe that home safes can keep thieves away, especially those made of high security and steel. The only problem is finding out whom the rightful owner of the safe belongs to. You can imagine how difficult this process has to be, which is similar to one of the other stories we’ve wrote about (Large Amount of Safes & Valuables Found After Japan’s Natural Disaster).  We hope that the police find the rightful owner and that the process goes smoothly, as well as capturing the thieves who left the safe behind.

Source: http://www.kval.com/news/local/125458648.html

Heavy Duty Safe Uses Tear Gas As Last Attempt To Deter Thieves

July 5th, 2011

In Irwin, Pennsylvania a church was burglarized after a group of thieves raided and broke into the church building. In the church building contained a safe where they cracked open the safe and stole thousands of dollars. The police were notified, but the crime scene also suddenly turned into a HAZMAT incident.

Reports were made from Channel 4 Action News with reporter Jennifer Miele. She reported that more than $7,000 was stolen from the Immaculate Conception Church’s administration building. The police investigated the crime scene and reported to Miele that the thieves entered through a basement door then took the elevator up to the main business office. The main business office contained the safe then they also brought it back down to the basement through the elevator.

The police also reported that the thieves knocked over a refrigerator during their theft so that they could get to the safe. When investigating the crime scene, they first believed that the fridge leaking Freon that smelled like a burning chemical caused the chemical leak. They called in a HAZMAT team to handle the situation as they figured it was a dangerous chemical. However, it wasn’t the fridge after all.

The smell was actually tear gas, which is a part of a last minute trap from the older safe. If the safe was forced open, then the safe released tear gas for a last counter attack against theft. “After doing some research on this particular safe, these safes were equipped with a fail-safe,” Police Chief Joe Pocsatko said. “If someone breached them, tear gas would be released.”

Miele had also reported that investigators found water bottles scattered around the opened safe, which they believe the thieves used to rinse their eyes and throats after becoming exposed to the tear gas. “If it hit their skin, it probably burned them,” Pocsatko said. “I was in there myself – eyes started burning. We couldn’t go back in until the fire department ventilated the building.”

Investigators believe that as many as three or four people were involved because the safe was large, heavy and extremely heavy-duty. The police have yet to find the suspects.

This is a particularly unique incident since the safe that was broken into also had a last minute “booby” trap. Unfortunately, the suspects were still able to walk out with thousands of dollars. The main thing is that no one was hurt during the crime scene and that the safe was capable of using its tear gas mechanism. We hope that the church can recollect it itself and hope they get their money back. As for the suspects, we’ll hope that they get caught and learned their lesson for the next time they decide to open up a safe.

 

Source:  http://www.wtae.com/r/28408038/detail.html

 

Don’t Let Thieves Steal Your Identity During Your Summer Vacation

June 23rd, 2011

We’ve talked about securing your personal valuables at home while you’re out having fun during your summer vacation. We also posted some great information about the specifications and features of the different types of safes. We wanted to point out before you have fun and enjoy the sun and remind you to keep safe and protected while you are out enjoying your time with your family and friends. You have to protect yourself from identity theft and to make sure you properly secure all your important records and documents, especially if you’re traveling this summer.

The most targeted victims to identity theft are travellers. You’re enjoying your time spent elsewhere, laid back and relaxed, that’s when you’re at your most vulnerable state. You don’t want to get pick pocketed and have your wallet stolen only to ruin your vacation. Save yourself the hassle and be fully prepared when you’re in an unfamiliar area. Here are some great tips to stay safe and to keep you from any troubles.

 

    1. Minimize Belongings – You want to minimize the amount of things you bring with you. The more you bring, the more there is to worry about it and for thieves to steal. Only bring the identification and cards that you need with you. Keep your cards to a minimum. You most likely won’t need your passport if you’re just traveling within Canada. If you’re traveling across the world, you don’t need to carry all of your credit cards. The more credit cards you have, the more hassles you’ll carry with you. If a thief steals your wallet, then they’ll have a lot of options.

 

    1. Create Copies of Your Identification – You should always store and create copies of your identification that you’ll be taking with you. Take it to your local print shop or use your own printer to scan and photocopy your identification. Also write down and keep record of your passports, credit cards and numbers. Store these copies in a safe place at home and if you need anyone to access them while you’re gone, make sure you trust that person just in case you’ll need them.

 

    1. Don’t Keep Everything In One Place – Just like losing your wallet, you’ll lose everything inside it. Never keep all your identification information in one place. If you happen to lose your passport or driver’s license in the same wallet or purse, then you’ll have a hard time proving who you are. It’ll be a major inconvenience for yourself and difficult for you to enjoy the rest of your vacation.

 

    1. Use Security Safes As Much As Possible – If you’re staying at a hotel, you may want to utilize the hotel safes and lockers they have in the rooms to place your important belongings such as jewelry, wallets, cell phones and other valuables. Maybe you decide you want to travel the city and are gone the whole day. There’s no real reason why you should carry more than one identification with you, so you may want to leave your passport or health card in the safe. This will prevent it from getting lost or stolen.

 

    1. Have Contact Information From Neighbors, Friends and Family – You want to keep in touch with anyone you are close with. There are plenty of ways to communicate long distance such as email, chat, phone, or private messages through social media like Facebook. You don’t want to publicly reveal that you are on vacation because people will find out and know that you aren’t home. It’s always good to contact someone so they know you are okay and they know you.

 

These are easy and simple tips to protect you this summer, yet we often forget how easily someone can steal our identities and gather confidential information. These are just some precautionary measures so that your safety and summer fun isn’t ruined. By following these tips, you’ll be able to relax and kick back. Have tons of fun this summer, but also be safe. Save yourself the hassles now, and enjoy the rest of your summer.

“Security is our Business, Safety is our Concern” – Security Base

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