A Mothers’ Day Burglary
I felt gutted, as if the home that was broken into was my own. Dear friends of ours were robbed on ‘Mothers Day Sunday’. The family, a mother and her sons, went for Sunday Mass followed by a celebratory lunch, and when they came back much of the front door was kindling and their closets’ contents were strewn all over the floor.
I will not say where this robbery took place or whose house it was, to protect their privacy and the secrecy of investigations, but suffice to say it was in a crowded suburb of the Lebanese Capital.
“I was afraid to stay at home alone, so all my children came and our neighbors too. We couldn’t sleep, I barely closed my eyes,” said the stunned mother of four. “It was a Sunday but we managed to find someone to fix the door but not the lock, so I couldn’t lock the door all night.”
She appeared ok on the surface talking normally, saying the usual things: that it’s unlikely the culprits will ever get caught, expressing her lack of confidence in the abilities of the police, but that was all a façade. She felt violated, her family’s safety had been compromised, her belongings and all the memories attached to them, taken and in broad day light too, on a day that should have ended better.
Her daughter was equally shaken, married and living in a different part of town; she rushed to her family home the minute she knew what had happened. “Its like they knew where to go, they rifled through my late father’s drawers, stole gold, stole a laptop, my brother had given my mom a pair of earrings for Mothers Day, that too was gone, they left her without a single piece of jewelry. Everything of value that they could carry they took,” said the daughter.
As if it was not enough to loose so much that they could ill afford to replace, they had to suffer investigators’ questions, neighbors’ voyeurism and finger print powder stains all over their most personal possessions.
They did not just loose a few valuables they lost their home, as surely as if a Tsunami had hit and washed it away. That is the impact of a burglary on victims, it extends far beyond the loss of valuables it is a much deeper loss of peace of mind and I feel the penalty should reflect the gravity of the crime.
They are like strangers now in their own home, as they wonder about from room to room, discovering what the burglars have taken and what they left behind. They wonder if they will ever feel safe again.
A few precautions
It’s a sobering thought when you think about it, this could happen to any one of us at any time. There are of course a few precautions to take. Primarily, in a country like Lebanon where most people in a community tend to know one another and where anonymity is reserved for the hermit in the cave, it’s essential not to be too conspicuous when spending your money.
People watch people, that is our nature and most career criminals know what to look for: a lot of big ticket purchases in a short period of time, for example, a new car, home entertainment system. They also know what to avoid: a building bristling with security features or at the very least an intercom system with a locked heavy steel door is an instant turn off.
Even the thickness of an apartment door and the type of lock is important. For first and second floor apartments, securing verandas and balconies is essential.
For buildings with a perimeter wall its good to install lights at intervals all along its length. To further dissuade would be burglars a good idea is to install a spot light to keep the main entrance well lit at all times. Alarm systems can be complicated especially for individual home owners to install, but motion detectors can be purchased off the shelf and can give a deafening alarm when tripped, enough to wake up the neighborhood.
So, keep in mind the times we are living in, Lebanon has a lot of unemployed, frustrated young people and no revolution to keep them busy, burglary is always a risk. Also a good idea would be to take out home owners insurance, so at least you can afford to replace material things. As for peace of mind, that will take longer to recover.
I will not say where this robbery took place or whose house it was, to protect their privacy and the secrecy of investigations, but suffice to say it was in a crowded suburb of the Lebanese Capital.
“I was afraid to stay at home alone, so all my children came and our neighbors too. We couldn’t sleep, I barely closed my eyes,” said the stunned mother of four. “It was a Sunday but we managed to find someone to fix the door but not the lock, so I couldn’t lock the door all night.”
She appeared ok on the surface talking normally, saying the usual things: that it’s unlikely the culprits will ever get caught, expressing her lack of confidence in the abilities of the police, but that was all a façade. She felt violated, her family’s safety had been compromised, her belongings and all the memories attached to them, taken and in broad day light too, on a day that should have ended better.
Her daughter was equally shaken, married and living in a different part of town; she rushed to her family home the minute she knew what had happened. “Its like they knew where to go, they rifled through my late father’s drawers, stole gold, stole a laptop, my brother had given my mom a pair of earrings for Mothers Day, that too was gone, they left her without a single piece of jewelry. Everything of value that they could carry they took,” said the daughter.
As if it was not enough to loose so much that they could ill afford to replace, they had to suffer investigators’ questions, neighbors’ voyeurism and finger print powder stains all over their most personal possessions.
They did not just loose a few valuables they lost their home, as surely as if a Tsunami had hit and washed it away. That is the impact of a burglary on victims, it extends far beyond the loss of valuables it is a much deeper loss of peace of mind and I feel the penalty should reflect the gravity of the crime.
They are like strangers now in their own home, as they wonder about from room to room, discovering what the burglars have taken and what they left behind. They wonder if they will ever feel safe again.
A few precautions
It’s a sobering thought when you think about it, this could happen to any one of us at any time. There are of course a few precautions to take. Primarily, in a country like Lebanon where most people in a community tend to know one another and where anonymity is reserved for the hermit in the cave, it’s essential not to be too conspicuous when spending your money.
People watch people, that is our nature and most career criminals know what to look for: a lot of big ticket purchases in a short period of time, for example, a new car, home entertainment system. They also know what to avoid: a building bristling with security features or at the very least an intercom system with a locked heavy steel door is an instant turn off.
Even the thickness of an apartment door and the type of lock is important. For first and second floor apartments, securing verandas and balconies is essential.
For buildings with a perimeter wall its good to install lights at intervals all along its length. To further dissuade would be burglars a good idea is to install a spot light to keep the main entrance well lit at all times. Alarm systems can be complicated especially for individual home owners to install, but motion detectors can be purchased off the shelf and can give a deafening alarm when tripped, enough to wake up the neighborhood.
So, keep in mind the times we are living in, Lebanon has a lot of unemployed, frustrated young people and no revolution to keep them busy, burglary is always a risk. Also a good idea would be to take out home owners insurance, so at least you can afford to replace material things. As for peace of mind, that will take longer to recover.
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