Thieves behind residential break-ins often take victims’ valuables, but along with that they often steal the sense of comfort they feel in their own home.
Calgary police put out a warning this week about a recent uptick in residential break-ins, CityNews spoke with some Calgarians whose homes have been targeted.
One woman says when the criminals showed up, her family was asleep in their Deer Run home. Any red flag was likely drowned out by the hum of the family’s air conditioner.
The first clue their home was targeted?
“We got up nice and early to go to work and I noticed that my purse was not on my kitchen table,” says the woman, who did not want to be named.
Not long after, she learned her car was gone.
She says her family, in a way, sort of opened the back door for the thief — leaving it unlocked after letting their dog out around 3 a.m. It was about 49 minutes later that video surveillance showed her car being driven away.
“I’m still shaken up,” she says, reflecting on the incident a few weeks ago. “My head is on a swivel all the time.”
She says they have since put up cameras and added new locks to their gates, as well as ensuring no doors stay unlocked.
RCMP Cpl. Troy Savinkoff has been to hundreds of break-ins over the course of two decades. He says it’s hard to see what criminals leave behind when they flee a scene.
“They’ve had a complete stranger going through their things,” he says. “(Valuables) are one thing, property is one thing, but the powerlessness and victimization you feel when someone has been in your home is really impactful.”
Another woman, who also asked to remain anyonymous, has lived in her quiet northwest Calgary cul-de-sac for nearly two decades.
Up until recently, she felt safe inside her Citadel home, but that changed when a neighbour’s home was targeted.
‘Right away, I did freak out,” she says. “It’s upsetting.”
She adds she is now taking precautions she never thought was necessary.
“Now even during the day I lock up, because you never know,” she says.
Savinkoff says residential break-ins are often a crime of opportunity and sometimes protecting a home means making it less inviting than a neighbours.
“They are looking for a quick easy-in, easy-out,” he says. “If you put up just a few extra precautions, quite often that would be enough to have them move on.”
Calgary police said this week they have heard from more than 30 people in the last several weeks whose homes were broken into. Most of the break-and-enters occurred between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. while residents were at home sleeping.
Police say more than 20 vehicles have been stolen in connection with the break-ins.