Put simply, the possible burglar will knock on the victim’s front door. If no one answers, the burglar (or burglars) will look for a way in the house. If someone does answer, the burglar will say they are looking for a friend and leave.
I bring this up because an incident occurred in Robla last week involving two people knocking on doors. Neighbors noticed this and contacted police. When the officer attempted to contact the individuals knocking on the doors, they ran dropping property along the way. Both were eventually caught.
These individuals used this technique; they knocked on the door and when no one answered, they broke into a side window. Thankfully, the neighbors in the area noticed the suspicious activity and notified police.
Captain Daniel Hahn sent out a message earlier this year regarding this new trend:
Remember, when someone knocks on your door to make sure they know you are home. Don’t open the door if you don’t know them….but let them know you are home. Most burglars will say they are looking for a friend and leave. They don’t want to break into your house if you are home. Let them know you are home and call the police to report suspicious activity!!
Let’s be sure to keep an eye out for this, and notify police if it occurs to you.
If anyone has experienced this, we’d love to hear about how you’ve handled it.
This happened to me about a year ago when I first moved from an apartment to a house. As soon as I opened the door, the guy started walking back to a truck parked at the curb, saying, “Sorry, I think I have the wrong house. Does Harold Smith live here?”
A year later and a little wiser, I now have a security screen door for a little protection when opening the door and would immediately call the cops to report suspicious activity.
Our block has also learned through 4 break ins within 2 months, to turn the alarm on whenever we leave (if we have one)and lock all windows and doors even if we’ll only be gone a few minutes. 2 break ins were within a few minutes after the resident left in their cars implying that the crooks are specifically watching for cars to leave then knocking on the door and going from there.
This is on a friendly block with several retirees around throughout the day. All attempts were around 10 -11 am when people are out and about on the street. Very bold in
my mind.
Two weeks after a Neigborhood Watch organizationally meeting neigbors noticed 2 kids walking around, knocking on doors and reported suspicious activity so Cops were in the area when they broke a window and set off an alarm and the kids were caught. I was impressed with the arrival speed of muliple cop cars and the K9 unit considering all the budget cuts.
I’m learning to be more suspicious. Neither the guy who knocked on my door nor the kids “looked” like crooks. They were clean, nicely dressed and polite. BAS
Glad things have turned out better for you and your neighborhood.
Our neighborhood has experienced the same type of thing, and fortunately the police were there to stop it (didn’t need the K9, though). Still, we’ve had close to 2-4 break ins over the course of six months; some in abandoned homes.
I’ve been fortunate enough to not have to experience the “knock on door” trick, but I’ve my place of residence was burglarized a couple years ago. What was strange (or not) was they didn’t take anything. I guess all they were looking for was money.
Our neighbors have always looked after one another, so I think that’s been a good deterrent.