Police After Con-man Impersonating Cops

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Our unending fascination with “Cops” must be due to the edgy dangerousness of their jobs. After all they are law enforcement officers who are often public bouncers and deal with the craziest of crazy situations. There’s also the whole “power of the badge” and the flickering blue lights that gives them authority over civilians.

It’s no wonder they have their own TV shows, movies and many dramas that depict them as both hero and villain.

With all the fanfare that comes with being a police officer, there is also the pressure of such an often difficult and stressful job. Next time you see a cop, thank him or her. They will appreciate it.

Impersonating a police officer is sometimes committed in order to assert police-like authority in order to commit a crime. Posing as a police officer enables the offender to legitimize the appearance of an illegal act, such as: burglary, making a traffic stop, or detaining.

In New York Police are hunting a con-man who pretends to be a cop while stealing from at least seven businesses cops said. The man sports an imitation police shield and NYPD jacket as he swipes items off the shelves and then returns the goods to the cashier as though he had previously purchased them, officials said.
It is not uncommon for police impersonation to occur when someone is driving and is being pulled over by a fake cop. It’s just as distressing when the criminal knocks on your door trying to gain entry.

This is a difficult scam to protect yourself from and just as tricky to advice on due to the fact that we are trained to obey authority coupled with the fact you don’t want to resist a real officer of the law.

My best advice is to always make a phone call to your local authorities or the state police whenever or wherever you are in a situation where you have the slightest inkling the “cop” may be a fake. Never let someone into your home who holds a badge or ID until you call their superiors to confirm their arrival.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security expert to Home Security Source discussing Home Security on NBC Boston. Disclosures.

Home Burglary News: Barefoot Bandit Busted

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Colton Harris Moore stole a bicycle at the age of 8 and never looked back. Now 6 ft. 5 in. and 19 years old, has been busted.

He was arrested in the Bahamas after a boat chase that came to a halt when cops shot out the boats motor.

This 19 year old has never taken a flying lesson but stole a plane in Indiana and crashed it off Abaco Island and he has been hunted ever since. Then, law enforcement suspected him of stealing a 44 foot boat from a marina in Abaco.

This young adult has achieved celebrity like status with over 20,000 Facebook fans. However, Harris-Moore isn’t one to be celebrated. He steals as much from the average hard worker as he does from the dot-com rich.

But because of our sometimes warped thinking society and how fame has become an elixir, his mom hired a PR firm and got a book deal to write about her son.

Be in charge of your home security to keep burglars away:

  • Make sure your home has a “lived in” look.
    • Use indoor timers for lights, TVs and automatic shades.
  • Install security cameras that can be remotely monitored.
  • Install a home alarm system monitored by an alarm company and the police.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.

Highway Killer” Gets Life

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Evil takes many forms. One of its forms is as Adam Leroy Lane. Lane was a truck driver from North Carolina whose route traveled up and down the east coast and attacked or murdered women in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

Apparently when the urge struck, he’d veer off the highway and stalk neighborhoods and jiggle door knobs until he found one unlocked with a woman inside. In all the cases, the killer picked his victims at random and attacked them at their homes near interstate highways that he traveled.

In July of 2007 Lane was arrested after he broke into a 15-year-old girl’s room in Chelmsford Massachusetts in the middle of the night and tried to rape her. The girl’s father heard her scream and held the masked and gloved Lane in a headlock until police arrived, authorities said.

Nice job Dad. Who knows how many more he would have killed.

Lane was carrying knives, a belt with Chinese throwing stars and choke wire during the attack. Police also allegedly found in the cab of his truck a copy of the movie, “Hunting Humans,” which is about a serial killer. “I study them until I’ve got their pattern and it’s easy to do the rest,” says a line from the movie Hunting Humans.

He was recently sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars for the attacks in Pennsylvania under a deal that spared him from Pennsylvania’s death penalty. Too bad.

This is exactly the breed of predator I’ve been screaming about my entire life. The always has been, there is, and there always will be Adam Leroy Lane’s jiggling another door knob.

Live your life and don’t worry about it.

BUT:

  • Lock your doors and windows day and night because you are smart.
  • Beef up the lighting outside your home because you are aware.
  • Install home security cameras because you want a layer of protection.
  • Install a home security alarm because you want your 15 year old to sleep through the night without some freak coming into her room and attacking her.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing Home Security on NBC Boston. Disclosures.

Police Arrest Six People in Ritzy Robbery Ring

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Burglars broke into more than 50 homes in the high end areas of Miami and Palm Beach. Most of the victims were out to dinner and some were victims of home invasions.

The perps may have had a network in place of valets, waiters/waitresses or others who had an idea of who the victims were, their addresses and what their schedules were. Most importantly, someone on the inside of this network would inform the thieves when the victims would be gone from the home.

The thieves would enter the homes through locked or unlocked sliding doors generally in the back of the home. Their targets included high end jewelry, watches, gold and diamonds. Losses could be as high as 2 million dollars.

Getting the stolen jewelry back is often next to impossible. Jewelry is the quickest and easiest to fence.

“Police have dubbed the six people arrested for their participation in a burglary ring spanning three counties as the “Dinner Crew Set.”  Home surveillance video captured one of the thieves in action — a masked man with a two way radio.”

It’s obvious that most of these homes did not have home alarms or home security cameras. Many of these burglaries could have been prevented with simple investments that equate to a dollar a day for your family home security.

It’s amazing to me how people go out and spend all this money on expensive items but don’t lock them in a safe or protect them with a home security system.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to ADT Home Security Source discussing Home Invasions on Montel. Disclosures.

Safety Tips: Home Burglary Prevention

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My AC is on, that means it’s summer time. It also means that occasionally the windows may be open, and because we are in the yard the doors sometimes are unlocked. As a result we are slightly more vulnerable to the bad guy. But this doesn’t mean that your guard should be down.

The FBI reports that more burglaries occur during the summer months than any other time of year and that every home is a potential target. According to U.S. Department of Justice statistics, an American home is broken into about every 15 seconds. The best defense against burglary is prevention. With planning you can help make your home unappealing to burglars.

Patrick Fiel, public safety advisor of ADT Security Services said, “There are a few simple, yet important, steps homeowners can take to make their homes less of a target.” To help homeowners secure their homes this summer, Fiel and ADT recommend the following home burglary prevention tips:

· Secure your garage. Garages can provide intruders with easy access to your home. If you have an automatic garage door opener, make sure you protect the remote control and never leave it visible in your car. Also, be sure to lock the door that leads from your garage to your home. Many people do not lock this door, creating a weak point in their home security.

· Equip your home with strong doors and locks. Exterior doors should be made of steel, other metals or solid wood, which are able to withstand more of an impact than hollow-core doors. Deadbolt locks offer the best protection from picking and prying. Always make sure to lock your doors and windows when you leave home.

· Never hide keys around the exterior of your home. Thieves look in mailboxes, under doormats and above doorways for keys. Do not make it easy for them to get into your home. If you will be out of town on vacation, leave emergency house keys with a trusted friend or neighbor.

· Consider a monitored burglar alarm system. A recent Rutgers University study found that alarm systems are an effective deterrent, making a home less attractive to intruders. Make sure your burglar alarm system includes a loud inside alarm, detectors at all exterior doors and motion sensors. It’s also important to have monitored protection which links your home to a monitoring center where trained professionals can quickly notify first responders. Most insurance companies also offer a discount of up to 20 percent off homeowner’s policies for monitored alarm systems.

· Never let burglars know you are away from home. As you plan for vacation, you may be tempted to post updates on social networking sites, including specific dates and times of your vacation. But criminals have been known to troll these sites for vacant homes and unsuspecting victims. Always keep your vacation plans as private as possible and have a trusted friend or family member collect your mail and check in on your home while you and your family are away.

Fiel said, “As summer starts to heat up, we hope these tips will help you prevent home burglary and protect your possessions before, during and after your vacation.”

Mr Fiel certainly knows his business. It’s your businesses to take responsibility for yourself and your family and make sure your home is safe and secure. It’s not enough to use the old adage “why do I care if my stuff is stolen, insurance will pay for it” because insurance doesn’t reimburse you for the hollow empty feeling of being violated. For many people who are burglarized, they often never want to step foot into their homes again.

Furthermore, in the heat of the summer many burglaries can turn into home invasions if the burglar didn’t know you were home. That’s when things can get violent.

Know your options. Don’t sit back and say “Its cant happen to me”. Sit back and say “American home is broken into about every 15 seconds, mine won’t be one of them.” Enjoy the summer months, relax, have fun and be safe.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to ADT Home Security Source discussing Home Invasions on Montel. Disclosures.

Burglary Raises Fears; Is It Safe to Leave Home?

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This is so awfully crazy that I just have a hard time believing someone can be so deceitful and so stupid at the same time.

“A one-time Royal Caribbean sales staffer, who used information about clients’ trips to burglarize their homes while they were cruising, is definitely fodder for chatter. And nothing’s more on topic today than this debate: Should we worry that information about our own travels away from home could fall into the wrong hands? While today’s consumers are well versed in the dangers of “virtual” robberies — identity, credit card numbers — this situation reveals the possibility of more physical theft, in which individuals with access to cruise lines’ reservations systems can match trip dates to home addresses and identify houses to burglarize.”

“A Royal Caribbean employee abused her position with the cruise line to identify customers away on cruises and then conspired with her husband to rob their homes during the first nights of their vacations. She was caught, arrested and charged with multiple counts of burglary, and the cruise line has since fired her.”

The bad guy is always looking for a way to steal from you. They will stop at nothing to take what’s your and make it theirs.

Contrary to what some might suggest, I’ve never thought it was a good idea to place your name on a “stop mail” list at the post office. Because some crack head postal employee now has a list of opportunities.

It’s the same thing with stopping delivery of your newspaper. Once you are on that list, it is known you are away.

The best case scenario for both issues is to have a trusted friend, family member or neighbor grab your mail and newspaper for you.

Never list your vacation plans on social media. The last thing you need to be doing on Facebook is telling the world you are 2000 miles away.

Do all the fundamentals like invest in a home alarm system that sends an alert to local law enforcement that your house has been broken into. Monitoring is generally a buck a day. I spend more than that on cookies.

Set yourself up with home security cameras. Mine can be accessed from my iPhone and online. It’s kind of addicting, and I’m always checking out the scene at the homestead when I travel.

Put lights on timers to give your home the “lived in look”.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to ADT Home Security Source discussing Home Security on NBC Boston. Disclosures.

Brazen Burglars Broke into the Same House Three Times in a Week

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In the first hit they made off with a television and four-figure sum of cash, plus a key to the garden shed.

They came back, let themselves into the shed, and took garden tools but were spotted by the returning home owners.

The GazzetteNews reported the homeowner investigated after noticing the shed door was open, and saw four people in the park behind the house, two of them were holding the tools stolen from the shed and the group ran off.

The burglars then made a third attempt on the house and caused damage to the property.

Local law enforcement well aware of the ongoing break-ins assembled a team of detectives to thwart the property crimes and to try and break the pattern.

Their strategy is to visit well-known suspects, keeping tabs on their whereabouts and doing what they can to “divert” these individuals from crime.

“They also work closely with victims, providing them with support and giving them advice on home and personal safety.” “Anyone who has had to deal with a burglary will know that it’s not just the financial loss that is difficult; more often than not, items of huge sentimental value are taken, so it also has a huge emotional impact too.”

“This is completely unacceptable and the teams will be doing all they can to prevent this from happening to residents in our communities.”

Bravo to all involved in the effort to preserve the sanctity of citizen’s rights to safety and security.

But what’s missing in this story is the homeowner being proactive and doing something to keep the burglars out in the first place. Often a home alarm monitored at a dollar a day will do the trick. In my case, first my cameras see them coming day and night and that notifies me with an audible alert. Second, once they get close enough the German Shepherd lets me and them know she is ready. Third, the doors and windows are all locked. Fourth they need to get through the home alarm system and if they trip it, the local police are called.

If they do make their way in, the Shepherd knows what to do next. Me? If I’m home I’m taking the family out of there as quickly as possible and heading to safety, then pizza.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to ADT Home Security Source discussing Home Security on NBC Boston. Disclosures.

Crime Prevention: Sheriff Offers Variety of Security Programs

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Talk about proactive law enforcement. “The Clay County Sheriff’s Office in Jacksonville Florida area will help residents “burglar proof” their homes, offers a vacation house watch program and will make presentations on a variety of crime prevention topics. The Sheriff’s Office Community Relations Section will send a deputy sheriff to your home at a specified date and time to conduct a burglary prevention survey. These deputies have been specially trained to assist residents in making their homes much safer places to live, according to the release.”

Now that’s exactly what every municipality on the planet should require of their law enforcement. Many do, but with budget cuts etc, programs like this often suffer.

Check this out; they have a “House Watch” program. A deputy will check your home daily when you are out of town or on vacation. That’s a first! I’ve never seen an official declaration of the local law offering it up in this way.

They also give presentations on the following topics:

Starting a neighborhood watch program.

Reporting a crime: My guess is what to look out for and how to document it.

Computer Safety: Certainly how to keep kids safe.

Computer Crimes: This is probably preventing viruses, hackers etc.

Robbery Prevention: When thugs use guns at convenient stores, gas stations etc.

Burglary Prevention: Home safety tips, Home security alarms etc.

Auto / Vessel Theft Prevention / Boating Safety

Child Safety / Stranger Danger Presentation

Bicycle Safety / Rodeo

Holiday Safety

Residential Crime Survey

Commercial Crime Survey

This just warms the cockles of my heart. If I was you I’d print this out and take it directly to your local police and ask them what they are doing that might meet or beat the offering in Clay County. This is a fantastic way to foster safety and security in any city or town.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to ADT Home Security Source discussing Home Invasions on Montel. Disclosures.

Renting and Securing an Apartment

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The time has come to leave the nest. The little birdie has to spread its wings and fly on their own whether they like it or not.  The process is often overwhelming and difficult and the results can end up being great or awful. But knowing what you’re getting yourself into ahead of time can save you all kinds of headaches down the road.

Check the crime climate of the city/town/neighborhood you are considering moving to.  Often we make moving decisions based on convenience and price.  However consider spending a little more (or even less) if another location is safer but less convenient.

Protect your identity. Landlords almost always ask for a Social Security Number in order to check an applicant’s credit prior to considering them for a move. It is generally not an option to say NO. However by investing in a credit freeze or credit monitoring you can reduce your risks that the Social Security Number will be used for identity theft.

Check out potential roommates. I did the roommate thing throughout my entire 20’s. I had the best and the worst roommates of all times. Some, I am friends with today and others, I wish I never met. There are numerous considerations to be made. The most important consideration is your personal security. Do a background check before signing a lease with a potential roommate.  Determine if they have any type of a criminal history. A background check may also determine if they have even been bankrupt.

Ask the landlord about options for installing an apartment security alarm for maximum safety. Apartment security systems today are easy to install for a do-it-yourselfer or certified alarm dealer. Often they require minimal wiring which means the landlord should have a problem with it. Wireless home alarms are even easier and only require batteries and two sided tape. If the landlord opposes an apartment security system, then the apartment is the right fit for you.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston.

How Secure is your Mobile Phone?

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I love my iPhone. The fact that I have a full web browser and can access all my data anytime from anywhere is fantastic. Plus my iPhone allows me to peek in on my home security system with an application that’s connected to my home security cameras. If I’m on the road I can log in and see the family doing whatever activities in our outside the home.

If you don’t have a phone that you can integrate with your home security system I strongly recommend considering an iPhone. Besides being the coolest thing to be able to show someone live video of your home base, it is incredible peace mind to check in.

And consider if that phone fell into the wrong hands what could come of it? In my case not much due to the fact I’m pretty well locked down.

If you have one of the popular brands below pay attention:

BlackBerry:

The Blackberry is easily the most popular Smartphone on the market and, according to cellphones.org, the most ‘natively’ secure. Just by having a Blackberry, you are one step ahead but that doesn’t mean you don’t still have to enable your security settings.

Enable your password. Under General Settings set your password to ‘on’ and select a secure password. You may also want to limit the number of password attempts. Test to make sure that your password works by locking your phone to confirm.

Encrypt your data. Under Content Protection settings, enable encryption. Then, under ‘Strength’ select either ‘stronger’ or ‘strongest’. Though ‘strongest’ is the most secure, ‘stronger’ has faster encryption/decryption. Under the Content Protection settings you will also have the option to encrypt your address book.

When visiting password protected internet sites do not save your passwords to the browser. Anyone who finds your phone and manages to unlock it will then have access to all of your account data and your identity will be stolen. It may be annoying to have to enter your password every time but the extra 30 seconds is certainly worth avoiding identity theft.

iPhone:

The iPhone, which has captured over 25% of the Smartphone market, the second highest share in the industry, has notoriously poor encryption capabilities. As such, enabling the included security features and adding apps that allow you to secure your information is key to being a ‘safe’ iPhone owner.

Enable the Pass code Lock and Auto-Lock. Go into your phones General Settings and set the 4-digit phone pass code to something that you will remember but is not ‘significant’ to you. That means no birth dates, no anniversary dates, no children’s ages. Then, go back into General Settings and set the Auto-Lock. Although you can choose from 1 min to 5min, the quicker your phone locks the safer it is from those who might be tempted to tamper with it while you aren’t looking.

Turn your Bluetooth off unless you are using it. Bluetooth allows you to easily connect to a hands-free head set or to send files from your phone to a computer. However, this also works the other way. A tech savvy hacker with a laptop can easily hack your phone from the Bluetooth connection if it’s on.

Download Simple Vault 1.2. Simple vault adds a second layer of protection to your iPhone by allowing you to password protect each of your apps. It also allows you to store your sensitive information right on your phone, unlike other security apps which send it to you over the internet when you access it

General:

Whenever possible, wait till you get to your computer on a secured network before accessing sensitive information. When responding to important work emails or checking your bank account balance it really is best to wait until you can access this information from a secure network. Anti-virus and anti-malware software as well encryption capabilities for computers are miles ahead than what is currently available for phones. So ask yourself before you enter your credit card number to that online store: Is it worth identity theft for me to do this now or can it wait till I get back to the office/home?

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing Mobile Phone Spying on Good Morning America