The Holiday Season is High-Time for Stealin’
We’ve all been seeing, hearing, or reading the news stories about increased crime in several major cities across the USA. It’s becoming more commonplace that criminals are brazen enough to steal in broad daylight with plenty of witnesses around, whether their targets are retail stores or places of residence. Many who observe these often frightening incidents are too afraid to come forward or, if they do, can’t provide enough information to help law enforcement. Unfortunate but true, this is the time of year when the probability of being a victim of robbery, burglary, or theft is the highest, with apartment complexes and communities being a favorite target of thieves.
Robberies occur when force or fear is used to take something, and tired tenants busy lugging their shopping bags full of holiday gifts from their cars to their apartment doors are very vulnerable to them. Other than the loss of perfect gifts and stocking stuffers for family and friends, not only will victims feel unsafe at the rental property they call “home”, but they could also be injured too – physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and psychologically – and those wounds are more than likely going to last well past the current holiday season.
Breaking in with the intention of committing a theft (or felony) is considered burglary, and can include violence also. In the weeks – and especially few days – leading up to Christmas, items of value or in high demand are commonly in residences, either stored in closets or hiding places and awaiting their fancy wrapping paper, or stacked under a brightly lit tree that stands 5-7 feet tall (which, by the way, is quite easy to find the exact location of and figure out how to criminally access, even with window-covering curtains or blinds installed). The National Apartment Association estimates that 39 million Americans call apartments their homes, and Gallup polls have found that about 90% of Americans celebrate Christmas. This data can be extrapolated to inform us of a potentially grim statistic – 35.1 million people living in rentals commemorate the holiday, which as we all know is called “the season of giving” and the time of year when the most popular and sought-after products are frequently exchanged – these circumstances cascade into the criminal element’s ideal situation. Popularity plus high demand equals maximum dollar value from online selling apps or “fences” (entities who knowingly pay money for pilfered products, property, or possessions with the intention of later reselling those items for a profit).
One of the most common thefts during the holiday season is specifically called larceny, which is defined as the stealing of physical items. Ring cameras installed all over the country show online shopping deliveries being taken right off of doorsteps, stoops, and front porches by strangers who discreetly stalk delivery vehicles, hop out of their cars, quickly snatch up the just delivered goodies, then toss them in the backseat and move on to the next stop for more five-finger-delivery discount loot. At this time of year, a criminal could walk through any apartment community or by any residential rental building in America and find packages ripe for the picking, or try to break into the mailboxes to steal packages, or even walk right into the main office where many packages are held for tenants and grab ill-gotten gains.
While all of this seems rather bleak, you can help mitigate criminal behavior by being proactive, and having an experienced provider like Guardian Integrated Security provide services for your apartment community or rental housing complex.
