A popular time for home break-ins is midday during the week. Here's an article about this growing trend:
http://www.wilx.com/home/headlines/89214737.html
It's been some time now since Shirley Schneeberger's home was broken into. No matter-- she's still on edge.
"It's the feeling," she explains, "when you know someone's been tracking through your house. The items were replaceable, but that feeling... someone's been in my home, without permission..."
Now her rural Olive Township neighborhood, along with a few others in southern Clinton County, is being targeted again.
"Over the last two weeks we've had a rash of daytime break-ins of houses," says Det. Sgt. Fritz Sandberg of the Clinton County Sheriff's Office. "Mostly these break-ins are happening around 10 a.m. To 3 or 4 p.m., while people are at work, kids are at school."
Sandberg believes the thieves will knock on your door, and if you're not home, they'll break in the back and steal whatever they can find.
"Electronic products, tv's, cameras, jewerly," he says.
We've all been taught when we're little that if a stranger comes to the door, pretend you're not home. But detectives say that might not be the smartest thing to do in this situation.
"We've had an incidents where people elect not to let someone know they were home. Then they go around in back and enter that way. Now we have a homeowner in the house, and a robber too. It's a bad situation," Sandberg says.
He says letting the person know you're home-- while staying safe-- can fend off potential burglars. Also, know your neighbors and pay attention to unusual cars. That's something Schneeberger echoes.
"Out here, you need to be vigilant. When someone drives into your driveway and you don't know who they are, you need to go see."
