Edmonton man watching TV when thief walks right into his home
Brent McLean was watching TV in his bedroom when he heard a noise in the kitchen.
Thinking it was his roommate, he paid little attention.
When the program The Office ended, he started to shut the house down for the night.
He smelled cigarette smoke, though no one smokes in his home. He heard someone leaving through the back door — and once again assumed it was his roommate.
It wasn't.
Though the back door had been left unlocked, it's the audacity of the burglar that surprised McLean.
"Our house makes a lot of noise," he said. "Squeaky floors and everything, and so this person had been in a lot of rooms.
"So it took quite a while to go around and try to think of what had been there before and what was maybe missing."
A laptop, some jewelry and spare change were stolen in Tuesday's break-in.
"It caught us off guard," McLean said. "We thought if you are obviously home … our car was in the driveway, the lights were on. We were making noise, so it was very surprising to us that someone would have the nerve to walk right in like that."
Though they are typically crimes of opportunity, break-ins like this are not uncommon, said Sgt. Steve Sharpe. Thieves will often try to open doors, hoping they can find an easy way into a home.
"The key to any homeowner is make your home appear lived in, or in fact just demonstrate that someone is home, and has care and control over that home," Sharpe said.
Homeowners need to send a signal to a burglar that someone is home. He advised to keep house lights on, draw and open curtains, shovel your walkway, and have a neighbour park in your driveway when you're away.
Despite the break-in, McLean still feels safe in his home, but he has learned a lesson.
The break-in "will definitely influence our practices in the future. And I guess we'll have to up security around here."
Here are some recommendations, courtesy of AMA Insurance, to help people keep their homes safe.
- Make sure doors, windows and your garage door are always secured, even if you are at home.
- Line basement windows with metal bars and locks.
- Install motion detectors and timers to light up your yard.
- Never leave spare keys in obvious areas like a front hallway or in a mailbox.
- Cover windows to block out views from the outside.
- Keep passports and personal documents in a safety deposit box.
- Never leave jewelry and money in an obvious place, such as a dresser.
- Get rid of packing for big-ticket items quickly, and don't leave it out for recycling.
