Suspicious activity on Beauval road

[Katnap]

Hi All

I was broken into yesterday and I'm pretty sure that there was also another attempted break in today. The police were at my flat dusting for prints but I had seen 2 guys hanging around on the pavement outside a property 50 meters up the road,. I told the policewoman and we went up to see and sure enough the front door of a property was ajar!

What is even more alarming is that a young lady came to the door after a while and said she was fast asleep. There was a dog in the property and I have a feeling that they popped the yale lock and were going to go in but realised there was a dog and left........

Scary stuff all so please please watch out for your neighbours and any suspicious activity, its that time of year where this type of crime is on the up!

Thanks

[dimples]

Did you see that there was another burglary the same day as yours but just up from the knocked down police station , just wondered if they're related ?

Keep well and I'm so sorry this has happened to you , it's just so heartbreaking

[Katnap]

Yes I did see that and I imagine that they are related.

I was told that there were 2 people in my flat during the burglary (both were wearing gloves with different patterns) I imagine it is the 2 guys I saw (as in above post). Apparently there have been quite a few up and down Lordship Lane as well.

It seems to be opportunistic, checking doors to see if they have 'give' and then getting in. Both of my neighbours were in when the burglary happened so they must be used to gaining entry quietly! Yale locks are apparently incredibly easy to 'pop', anyone can do it so unless you use multiple locks you are vulnerable it seems.

[Katnap]

Any thank you Dimples :) I'm fine just annoyed!

[dimples]

I keep looking out ,glad to hear your reply :)

[redjam]

What time of day was this, Katnap? I'm making a mental note to keep my door latch on in future while I'm working at home during the day - I always assume no one would try to break in if I'm actually in the house, but this shows that perhaps I've been rather naive.

Very sorry to hear about it and hope you're OK. It does leave you feeling very shaken and angry.

[Katnap]

Hi

It was between 10:30 and 11am I would say on Thursday morning.

its alarming how easily you can pop a yale lock. Even the police said that they buy things from amazon to open doors this way if they need to gain entry to a property if someone has fallen ill for example.

Thanks

[James Barber]

If you have a mortified lock do use it.

If you only have a Yale type lock add a second proper lock.

Worth checking these risks

http://www.locksmiths.co.uk/faq/security-advice-for-your-home-top-13-tips/

[apbremer]

MUST be a deadlock~ie can only be opened with a proper key.

[Katnap]

I completely agree

We live in a flat so are not the only people in it. Human error this time in not locking the bottom door lock. Lesson learnt.

[Mugglesworth]

Here's some advice I got from a policeman a few years back:

Many people use deadlocks at night and often keep the keys well away from the door. This can turn a secure house into a death trap if there is a fire during the night and the door cannot be used. The addition of one or two old-fashioned bolts to the door will give security without making the door unusable in an emergency. Yes, a door secured by bolts can be kicked in but most thieves will want to avoid creating such noise in the middle of the night.

[LondonMix]

In the middle of the night, we leave the key in our deadlock. We have an alarm though so even if someone fished it out (very unlikely as you can?t see it is in the door from the outside) and opened the door, they?d set off the alarm.

Its very dangerous not to have the key at hand.

[Sue]

Mugglesworth Wrote:

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> Many people use deadlocks at night and often keep

> the keys well away from the door. This can turn a

> secure house into a death trap if there is a fire

> during the night and the door cannot be used.

Yes, this happened to one of my brothers.

He was very very lucky to get out alive. Was rescued from a balcony.

[bethdate]

Hi all,

The ground floor flat we live in and also the flat above us have been broken into today. We live close to where the police station used to be too and the whole thing happened around midday when we went out to get our Christmas tree! It seems the burglary was also carried out by two people and the police have found glove marks in both flats. Sorry to hear that it's been happening quite frequently recently in East Dulwich - it's a really horrible thing to go through.

[Angelina]

I just can't imagine that poor woman asleep to only be woken up by men inside her home. Horrors.

[twister]

We live in the area of Beauval Road and were broken into while we were sleeping a few years ago now. It happened to be the day my husband came home after being away on a business trip for a month. I had been by myself for the month and just using the Yale lick, I now lock the door at all times even when we are all in the house.

[Katnap]

The woman was lucky. They didn't get in because of the dog I think. She only woke up when me and the policewoman rang her doorbell. She had no idea why the door was open!

[sandyman]

Do you or the police have any ideas how they make their getaway? Do they have a car or do they take things small enough to get into a rucksack and walk away with them? I often see people just sitting in their cars doing nothing during the day. I wouldn't assume they are up to no good but if burglars are using cars I'll keep a sharper lookout.

Katnap Wrote:

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> The woman was lucky. They didn't get in because of

> the dog I think. She only woke up when me and the

> policewoman rang her doorbell. She had no idea

> why the door was open!

[bethdate]

After our break in, we noticed abandoned plastic bags at the bottom of the stairs. It seems the thieves were only looking for smaller items. We had a brand new bike in the hallway which was completely untouched! With this in mind, I would assume that they were on foot.

[Katnap]

I think that mine might have been on foot, they took an expensive watch from a filing cabinet, mont blanc pen, 2 laptops, a bottle of vodka, jack daniels and a large black umbrella! I guess they used that to walk from the property as it was raining???

[bethdate]

It's so strange that they took your umbrella. Amongst other things, they stole my partner's glasses (very annoying!) and a Solvenia fridge magnet - so odd!

[Sue]

bethdate Wrote:

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> Amongst other things, they stole my partner's

> glasses (very annoying!) and a Solvenia fridge

> magnet - so odd!

Jackdaws?!

[twister]

We have sash windows and the police advised us to check them as often when you get burgled they open the window so they can come back later. When I checked after we had be burgled they had unlocked all our sash windows. I now have locks and restrictors on them.

[TheCat]

I work from home. Hv had a few phantom knocks this week.......

[fazer71]

Sorry to hear this, scum bag burglars.

IMHO

Alarm systems are a must have.

Wireless dial up ones are pretty cheap these days I paid a few hundred and installed it myself really anyone can do it the bell box can just go high up near the front door even if it's ripped off the internal dialler calls the number you program in.

I?m away for weeks at a time so it dials my neighbours first, they?re happy to look out while I?m away.

For me the worst thing is turning up at a ransacked property I?ve had that a few times.

When the alarm goes off the burglars don?t hang around.

I also installed two IP cams inside networked unlike cctv, I can access live and recorded video anywhere in the world over the web they record on movement and will send me an email, also a couple of hundred quid and just plugged into a router.

No brainer for the peace of mind!