Thieves

[donna]

i have had my place broken into one time in bkk. i was away for xmas one year and on my return i noticed that my padlock was not on my door where i had left it.

after going inside i noticed that it was lying on the lounge room floor with a note, a key (for my room) and 200 Baht.

i read the note and it said: 'i am so sorry for breaking into your house. i tried calling you many times and you did not answer so i HAD to break into your home because i left somethign really important there. i am so sorry. here is 200 baht to buy a new lock and the key to your deadlock'

the cover of my air conditioning unit was off and lying on the sofa.

it appears that this 'important' thing was hidden in my air conditioning unit and i can only speculate what it was. gems, drugs, paperwork? who knows.

but nothing else in my room went missing. i had money lying around. still there. my stereo still there. tv, jewellery etc was all still there.

so i guess in my case it was an honest thief.

[Orion76]

My TGF says if you have dogs the bad guys will just feed them a sedative or poison.

Dogs can be trained not to accept food from strangers. There are several good security dog training schools in Thailand.

A pair of properly trained Dobermans in the garden at night can do a lot to protect you and your property.

Motion detectors that trip flood lights can work as a deterrent too, burglars prefer to work in the dark.

[seonai]

What a brilliant story Donna, had you been in that place long when this happened?

[Nordlys]

How do you teach a dog who is a thief and who is not? My brother's dog gets ecstatic with any visitor jumping on him/her, wagging his tail and the soi dog at my company that we've been feeding for years used to bite just about anyone visiting our office.

[English Noodles]

A wonderful turn of language here.

How do you steal a house??

Sounds like the Thai mentality that foreigners will buy up their land

and "steal" it.

I get your point, however it is a correct terminology

Ahh the wonderful idiosyncrasys of the english language

Not if you speak the Queen's English.

Housebreakers or Burglars would be correct in the UK,

it depends on the time of day, one is in daylight and the other at night,

but cannot remember which is which.

Well I'm from up North, not the home counties Never heard the term housebreaker before......

We always just called them burglars though if it was while you were in the property at the time would be called "creapers"

[Orion76]

How do you teach a dog who is a thief and who is not? My brother's dog gets ecstatic with any visitor jumping on him/her, wagging his tail and the soi dog at my company that we've been feeding for years used to bite just about anyone visiting our office.

Certain breeds are instinctively very protective of the family they live with and tend to be hostile to strangers who let themselves in, other breeds just want to be friends with everybody.

The way you raise and socialize the dog will have an impact how they behave towards strangers but certain breeds are natural guardians and don't need to be taught to growl at strangers approaching the gate.

[donna]

What a brilliant story Donna, had you been in that place long when this happened?

i had been there about 18 months at that stage. i had never received any calls from the person and had no idea. now, the lock had been cut, so someone must have had some big mothers of bolt cutters to get through it. i asked securityif they saw anyone coming in with a bulge in his pants but they just looked at me like it was an everyday occurance.

neighbours had seen nothing.

anyway, i changed my deadbolt and the friendly burglar didnt come back.

[Beachcomber]

Having a padlock on your door is like a big notice

“Hey! There is no one home here”

Beachcomber.

[donna]

sure it is. but better to have than not to have. and my apartment also had security so you would think it was safe!

[sylvafern]

I was burgled once, during the day while I was at work. It was in a small estate with no securtity guards but there were security bars on all the doors and windows and the door was padlocked. Arrived home about 4pm and noticed that tha bars had been cut right through and a piece removed big enough for a person to fit through! They didn't take too much, mostly annoying stuff to replace (like my passport) and sentimental things (e.g. a bracelet I was given for my 21st b/day). Didn't take my laptop even though theay would have had to walk right past it to get other stuff. The maids next door saw it happening but as they were illegal immigrants they were too scared to call the police.

[monty]

I think all the normall deterants will reduce the risk of theft a lot...

Decent locks of course, but mainly light and noise! Silent alarms notifying response teams are utterly useless here.

Movement detectors around the garden coupled to big 500 Watt halogen lights will take care of the opportunistic thief.

A good quality alarm system (meaning no false alarms) with a bloody loud siren had one burglar scramble back over the wall once, who then went on to burglar another house in the neighboorhood without alarm...

[wolf5370]

Good loud alarm, PIR lights, open trap door leading to a pit of spikes inder the door mat, sharks in the moat (though they may get eaten by the locals), mine field in the hall and wire up the door handles to the mains

PS: The definition of Burglary and what constitutes it is dependant on the prevailing law of the country. In the England and Wales (Scottish law differs a little) Buglary requires a theft, otherwise the offense is breaking and entering. Tresspass is actually quite a new law in the UK (surprisingly) one had to do damage on point of entry for it to be illegal (squatters took advantage of this and silly cases like accusing squatyters of breaking grass on the lawn on the way in was sited etc).

House or home breakers is not a legal term in the UK, its just a descriptive one. The offence is burglary - i.e. breaking and entering plus theft.

[StateSix]

PS: The definition of Burglary and what constitutes it is dependant on the prevailing law of the country. In the England and Wales (Scottish law differs a little) Buglary requires a theft, otherwise the offense is breaking and entering. Tresspass is actually quite a new law in the UK (surprisingly) one had to do damage on point of entry for it to be illegal (squatters took advantage of this and silly cases like accusing squatyters of breaking grass on the lawn on the way in was sited etc).

House or home breakers is not a legal term in the UK, its just a descriptive one. The offence is burglary - i.e. breaking and entering plus theft.

That is incorrect. Burglary is covered under section 9a and 9b of the Theft Act. 9a states you are guilty if you enter a building with the INTENTION to steal, while 9b states you are guilty if you have already entered a building as a trespasser and then actually/attempts to steal something. If the police catch you in a house before you have stole anything you would still be charged with burglary (9a). There is no offence of breaking and entering under English and Welsh law. The building does not have to be a house either, sheds, outhouses and caravans are covered.

Similarly, tresspass is a civil offence, not a criminal one (there are slight variations). If damage was caused upon entry the offenders would be charged with criminal damage.

[Sheryl]

On my last visit to Thailand I noticed that most houses had security bars on the windows...even in some of the gated communities.

With so many farangs owning houses in Thailand but staying only part of the year I was wondering if they had problems leaving their houses unattended for several months at a time..

Are thieves a big problem in Thailand...even in the nicer areas?

What measure do people take in order to protect their property when they are gone?

Are gated communities that much safer from thieves than houses along the soi's?

Can you protect your belongings with insurance in Thailand?

Yes, they are a problem, especially if the house is left unoccupied for periods of time.

Mine has been broken into twice, both times while I was away, although I did have someone coming in daily to clean and check on things. Thje first time it happened because I had put bars only on the ground floor (contractor assurred me no need forthe second story -- WRONG!). Second time, by then I had bars on the second floor except for one window which was completely blocked by a large heavy wardrobe. Somehow they got in there, although it required squeezing through a space not more than 6 inches in diameter. Thuief was either a contoronist midget or had a sdmall child as accomplice. So now I have even that window, and the bathroom windows, gated.

The other thing I do which is helpful is I use timers (available in home pro) to turn lights and radio on and off in the evenings. Also I moved the padlock of the front door so that it is inside (I exit from the back when leaving for a long time), that way from an outisde glance it is not obvious that no one is home.

And I never keep large amounts of money in the house, and what little jewelry I have I take with me when I go away. Both times I was robbed they get very little, and I credit the 4 year gap between robberies to word having gone around that there's not much worth taking. Mostly they want cash and gold/jewelry; Thais tend to keep these in their homes but most farang do not.

[egeefay]

On my last visit to Thailand I noticed that most houses had security bars on the windows...even in some of the gated communities.

With so many farangs owning houses in Thailand but staying only part of the year I was wondering if they had problems leaving their houses unattended for several months at a time..

Are thieves a big problem in Thailand...even in the nicer areas?

What measure do people take in order to protect their property when they are gone?

Are gated communities that much safer from thieves than houses along the soi's?

Can you protect your belongings with insurance in Thailand?

Egeefay, I hope your trip to HH went well for you and you got the TT3 amended as discussed. On security, nothing beats having someone you can trust watching the house full time. Since you will, apparently, only be in your house part time if your wife has family that she can trust (i.e. no wild parties etc.), then perhaps you could arrange for a house sitter when you are out of the country. Security guards are more for show and if you are not going to be around, not a good idea. A security system makes sense and I have one myself, but there are always war stories of alarms going off and thieves still getting what they came for. Nothing beats having someone you can trust watching the house for you.

Yes. Thank you. My wife got the TT3 from the Bank in Hua Hin.

[verzenden]

I recently read a story that told the best place to keep your valuables is in the kids room(s). They did an investigation with if i remember well 25 'expert' burglars. They said it was a place they never looked. This investigation was held in England. But i do have my doubts on this one since all the burglars interviewed where inprisoned, so could not have been the real 'experts' though

[egeefay]

Here's a some good tips on safeguarding your house against thieves

http://www.thaiproperty.com/security.htm#P...rity%20features

[jdinasia]

Nice ON TOPIC link

[GuestHouse]

A couple of things to look out for.

Keep tools locked away, especially ladders.

If you have corregated roofing, the type held down to the roof frame with u-bolts, then consider going up onto the roof with a roof ladder and bending the ends of the bots over.

Unscrewing these bolts and lifting the roof tiles is a classic Thai burglary trick.

[gisele]

So what about someone breaking in if you are in the house, has this happened to anyone?

We have bars in the house we are renting now but I really don't like it, feels like a prison. We are about to build a house with windows/sliding doors the whole front facing the beach, and I don't want bars. Discussing this with the architect he felt an alarm system would be sufficient. Apart from televisions and the like, we don't keep much of value in the house so I am more worried about our persons than anything else.