Campbellfield “burglary” – maybe an inside job?

We got a call out last week to Campbellfield – the caller was a little concerned we did not cover this area as it wasn’t on our list of suburbs.  Well.. it is now, and yes we do cover it.  Apart from having locksmiths on standby at our inner city and Northcote bases, we have a several mobile vans that are invariably criss crossing the city, able to get to any suburb quickly.

Before I detail this lockout I have to say?  The modern GPS is a wonderful tool.  During peak hour, if you go the wrong way in Melbourne even travelling 5klm can take 30 minutes… so having a GPS that is up to date with traffic data?  It’s a wonderful thing.

OK this week in Campbellfield our distressed home owner customer rang us to advise she believed someone was accessing her house.  She couldn’t say for sure that is was happening… but it appeared small amounts of money were going missing from the house whilst she was at work and the kids were at school. It’s not our place to make judgments on what is happening only to help the client secure their property.  In this case the home owner was a working mother with two teenage kids who would invariably beat her home each afternoon.  It would have been easy to assume the source of the missing change was the boys looking for ice cream money and that changing locks would make no difference.

I didn’t offer up this suggestion which would have been tantamount to accusing her kids of stealing, but I did ask why she thought a robber was going to all this trouble and taking such a risk just to steal small change?  She replied that she trusted her kids, knew they would never steal from the household funds…but she thought a former cleaner who she’d had a dispute with was doing a bit of “get even” stealing… and was trying to do it in a way that she could keep doing it for a long time.

I suggested cctv cameras… but Mr 15 jumped in and said he would just set up the computer in the lounge room to record anyone entering the house using the webcam.  Not a bad idea I thought… as long as the thief doesn’t steal the computer…

My client in the end went for rekeying all locks, a single key to fit them all, back and front doors and that was that. 

I got a call from Mr 15 a few days later saying someone had come to the back door, tried a key which didn’t work… but that the webcam had not picked up who it was.  I said I doubted they’d be back, they likely knew the game was up but maybe his mum should consider that CCTV system after all unless he wanted to set up his webcam outside?  

Many break-ins don’t involve a smashed window or door… the thief is able to gain access via a key that they had from a previous position of a cleaner, former home resident, staff member etc, Some people get robbed after losing their wallet or purse containing their address details… with a spare key kept inside.  It hurts to lose a purse or wallet.  Even if you had no cash in it, you will be up for bundles replacing cards, phones, makeup, even passports… but even as you feel the sting of replacing these items your first call should be to us to rekey your locks.  If someone was dishonest enough to steal your wallet or purse, they are dishonest enough to use your keys to steal from your home. 

Don’t worry that your credit and bank cards are gone and you can’t pay us on the spot – we will do the job immediately and bill you, you can sort out payment once your cards arrive, or via a direct debit.