New Haven Independent

That’s right: Burglars.

“In the Mind of a Burglar” is a 45-minute show that NHPD’s genial Officer Joe Avery (pictured) unveiled Tuesday. He plans to bring it to senior centers, all the community management teams, and, to use his phrase, “anyone who will have me” during these spring and summer months. Why? “As the weather gets warmer, people tend to leave their doors and windows open more often, and, along with that, there is a dramatic spike in home burglaries.”

As the NHPD’s neighborhood service officer, Avery is well known in the community as the coordinator of the city’s block watches, of which there are now about 300 active. In that capacity, he has for years been advising the watches, community meetings, and citizens at a whole variety of venues on tips to make their homes more secure during the warm months when burglars tend to strike.

What’s new about “In the Mind of a Burglar” is that Avery attended an institute in Kentucky about a year ago, the American Crime Prevention Institute. There he had a chance to interview a panel of eight career burglars. What he learned he’s incorporating in this presentation, the first one was planned for the Dwight Management Team meeting Tuesday night. He hopes to teach Elm City home and condo owners to think like burglars and case out their own homes, so they just might never have to report that their premises have been burglarized.

In a brief interview at police headquarters immediately after the press conference in which he, Assistant Chief Stephanie Redding, and Sergeant Kevin Costin (on the far right in the photo, supervisor in charge of the NHPD’s robbery and burglary unit) announced the initiative, Avery previewed the background to and contents of “In the Mind of a Burglar.”

Independent: This institute you attended was in Kentucky? Tell us a bit more about it.

Avery: Yes, sweaty Louisville, in August. Whew. But it was a real opportunity to pick the brains of these people, professional burglars. I learned what burglars fear, what they look for when they case a block, what attracts, and what deters them.

Independent: Let’s start with something of their psychology.

Avery: Well, the last thing they want is to meet you. They are shy, to say the least. These are often, of course, drug-dependent people out to get small items like laptops and cameras and jewelry they can get rid of on the street. They want to get in and get out without seeing you. As though they’re people-phobic. Mind you these are not robbers who confront you physically — they are often very quick. You know the five-minute rule that they have?

Independent: What’s the five-minute rule?

Avery: If you leave the door open, the window unsecured, the entryway or garage door open while you’re enjoying the barbecue in the backyard… in other words, if you let them get in, a burglar will be in and out within three minutes. That’s all it takes. No large items are involved. Where five minutes comes into play is that the burglar knows he has easy five minutes before anyone will bother him. Even if the house is empty and he has tripped the alarm. The alarm first goes to the security company. The security company calls the designated numbers; if they don’t pick up, they call the police. The police dispatcher gets some one over there…..and that’s at least five minutes (!) if you’re lucky, and usually a lot longer. The burglar is out of there.

Independent: So are you doing this “In the Mind of a Burglar” because there is a particular spike in burglaries in New Haven in addition to the season?

Avery: No. In winter, every winter, houses are shut down more and more secure. In spring and summer, they open up. The public then makes it very easy for burglars. I mean how many of us leave ladders against the side of the house? Leave the trash can by a window? Let a bush grow high to conceal a burglar? If you case out your place and make it difficult for a burglar, that’s your best defense. Think like a burglar for a few minutes and you won’t have to confront a burglary. Nationally, a burglary happens every 11 seconds. Through preventitive steps, seven out of ten would not happen.

Independent: You’re famous and beloved in New Haven for working with the block watches. What is their specific preventitive function?

Avery: In Kentucky, we heard these people, and they told us that when they case out a neighborhood, they tend to avoid those that are organized. Even if a particular house might appear empty, if they read the signage and know a block watch is operating, a neighbor well might be looking in. Block watches are critical. We have 300, and I hope to organize 80 to 100 more in the next year or so. I think people are starting to realize that the police can’t do it all. I get three or four calls a week about starting block watches. The people are organizing themselves, and that’s excellent.

Independent: Tell me about lights, alarms, dogs, and locks.

Avery: Burglars avoid the light, so interior lights with timers on are excellent. Likewise exterior lights and motion sensitive ones also are effective. Alarms can give a false sense of security because, as I said, even if they’re tripped and someone gets in, your laptop is gone. Noise is also good. From a radio or television playing when you go out. The burglars told us they often go up to a door and listen closely if they hear music. They can’t tell really if you’re in or not, and it’s a deterrent. As to locks, use the strong dead bolts. And make sure there are locks on front entry doors, patios, and garage doors and you use them. Oh, and window locks. Yes. Many people in this city live in old houses, with the window locks and latches painted over, and that is asking for trouble.

Independent: You forgot dogs.

Avery: Ah, dogs. They don’t have to be huge or profoundly fierce, or trained attack animals, but they do have to be noisy and suspicious if someone were to break in. Sometimes the burglars said they worked in teams, and one guy plays with the dog while the other guy cleans you out. I had a wonderful black lab, Gunner. But he was so sweet, he’d play ball with a burglar and lick his shoes. I did not count on him for protection.

Independent: What else are you doing this summer beside the road show?

Avery: It’s not just me or the show alone. It’s a multi-pronged approach. Two other things, for example: Sergeant Costin and his unit are going to aggressively be pursuing the investigation end, after a burglary has been committed. They’ve had some success with stakeouts and discovering in Westville recently that one guy was responsible for a dozen or so burglaries. As Sergeant Costin said, burglars have changed their methods and don’t take their loot to pawn shops much any more, where you have to put down your name. Shoplifters do that, but burglars get rid of the stuff on the street. So we’ve changed our methods of apprehension, too, but prevention is the message here. To that end, we’re also going to be more active than ever before with our E-mail Crime Alert Program too. If people send me their email at [this address], I’ll periodically notify residents of clusters of burglaries in neighborhoods and make people aware of increased risks. If you’re a senior citizen and don’t have email, connect to a block watch, because there is somebody at least on every block watch who has email that I’m in touch with. Right now I have about 5,000 individual residents on the E-Mail Crime Alert Program.

Independent: Any parting thoughts?

Avery: Just one. Sometimes people in poorer areas of the city don’t have the same amount of disposable income to buy locks and to do the things to make their doors and windows secure. Or they’ll say, “I’m a renter, I’m transient, let the landlord do it.” And then the landlord does not do it, or does not do it in time. The point is that all these steps need to get taken by everybody in the city, owners and renters alike, because poorer areas of the city, say like Fair Haven, have just as many burglaries as the more well-to-do. So, this summer, lock your doors, everyone!

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