Sheriff Harrison: Home Invasions, Thefts from Vehicles on the Rise

WRAL published a piece with Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison regarding the rise of home invasions, and thefts from vehicles in southern and eastern Wake county

It appears that most of the incidents are happening when people leave their vehicles or homes unlocked and the criminals are taking advantage of this.

What Can You Do?

• Lock your car, and hide your junk. Seriously. If you leave something valuable in your car (anything they can be resold: textbooks, GPS, guns, phone, iPod, backpacks, etc) thieves have no qualms about smashing your window to get it. All too frequently there are threads on shooting forums about guns getting stolen out of vehicles.

• Lock Your Deadbolt. Let’s face it, most residential doors are a joke. Chances are your door latch extends into a little brass strike plate that’s held into a piece of super thin pine with two puny screws.

We talk a lot about being vigilant, carrying concealed, head on a swivel, etc. Just as important though is not being a good target for a crook in the first place. If you’re working to be the “gray man” when you’re out in public, take a look at your vehicle, and your home as well.

Here are some more OPSEC tips that I wrote about a while back. Simple steps that can help your home not to be a target.