CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- In the first nine days of November, Charlotte saw more than 80 reported home burglaries.
Police warn that number will continue to grow.
On Facebook this week, several Madison Park homeowners have posted photos of the aftermath; broken doorways, snipped wires, and shattered windows are among the damage left by burglars.
NBC Charlotte teamed up with CMPD Thursday to think like criminals, in order to protect you against them. We used the Dilworth home of a WCNC staff member as our staging area.“I can see everything they’ve got in there,” CMPD Crime Prevention officer Jonathan Frisk immediately pointed out.“There’s not even a lock on here,” he continued. “It would be easy to break this glass, somebody could hide in here.”Officer Frisk says homeowners should make sure nothing is blocking windows or doors. Burglars will use anything — shrubbery, trash cans, fences — to hide behind as they break in.Recently, 86 inmates serving time for burglary were recently surveyed about their methods.Most listed being deterred by lights, cameras in plain sight, and dogs.Don’t have one? For only a few bucks, just pretend you do. “You can get a large sign that says large dog or dog bites, beware, something like that,” Officer Frisk said. The same goes for security system signs, even if you don’t pay for the services.“Just having signage could potentially save your house from getting broken into,” Frisk added.And when you’re away, especially over the holidays, don’t advertise it on social media.“A lot of people use the Nextdoor app,” Frisk said, “but by asking someone ‘hey can anyone come get my mail,’ or ‘can somebody watch my dog,’ if someone sees that they're going to know you're gone.”CMPD also runs a crime map that is updated every day. You can access it by clicking this link.