Another break-in in South Durham subdivision today (Raleigh, Cary: HOA, houses)

[majidmo]

This is 3rd time in less than a month that our subdivision experienced a break-in. We are located close to SouthPoint mall with about 100 houses in $250k-$350k range. We border American Tobacco trail. I am wondering if other subdivisions in the area are having similar experiences. HOA board is not willing to do anything about it except forwarding recommendations from DPD. This is becoming so ridiculous that we are thinking about moving to CH. Don't like that idea but it appears it is just a matter of a few years if not months till our turn arrives.
I appreciate if you could share your own experiences in Durham or CH and if your subdivision in the past has taken any measure to improve safety and if it did work or not.

[evaofnc]

Couple years ago I lived in a neighborhood that took Neighborhood Watch to the extreme. Neighbors would take turns going on the watch. They would walk around the neighborhood fairly late at night with their flashlights and one neighbor would have two wooden dowels that he would knock together intermittently to "let criminals know we're in force." That was seriously what they said haha.

Anyway, we never had break-ins. I always wondered if it was because of the over-zealous neighborhood watch or because there weren't any criminals around in the first place.

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

What exactly are you expecting your HOA to do?

[jimmyz80]

Get everyone to do the obvious things first. Home alarm system with monitoring and a sign/stickers. Illuminate your home entrances at night. Even get a few volunteers to put up a few cameras around the neighborhood.

[Voltige]

We had a break-in during our first weeks here in "uber safe" Cary! All of our important document (wills, birth certificates, soc sec cards, etc) were stolen. They were in a lockbox in which the thief probably expected to find jewelry

anyway, this stuff happens everywhere. We are more careful about locking doors and closing the garage door, etc.

[lm_walters]

We had quite a few break-ins in our neighborhood several years ago. Our HOA was very proactive and would send alerts to everyone about how the homes were broken into and asked residents to watch out for any unusual activity. They also arranged for the Durham County sheriff's department to come out and make a presentation about how to keeps one's home safe. They highly recommended everyone get security systems which most everyone did. The sheriff's deputies would also drive through the neighborhood regularly. The break-ins stopped and I'm not aware of any happening since. If nothing else, your HOA should provided detailed information about the break-ins so everyone knows what's happening.

[zinner]

The police should catch them if it's the 3rd time. Kind of less than random at that point.

[VickiR]

I'd tell everyone to keep their front door and back door lights on. I'd also contact the Durham Police Dept. and ask them what else they'd recommend. And, I'd ask them to patrol the n'hood a bit more. Seems that the police would be doing this anyway since they may have a better chance of catching them if they continue this pattern. But...

[boardmember10000]

Are these daytime break ins? And if so are they in between school letting out and folks coming home from work?

Our HOA has sent out Facebook alerts when things like this happened. It helps keep people on alert.
If you are so inclined I've seen deals on wireless video camera setups the past few weeks from Tiger Direct and Newegg.

[majidmo]

Originally Posted by North_Raleigh_Guy

What exactly are you expecting your HOA to do?

Many have made suggestions from installing gate at entrance to video camera and signs that syas camera is installed. Hiring private security was another suggestion.