MONTGOMERY COUNTY -- It happens to thousands of families in Montgomery County every year. Burglars breaking into houses, in your neighborhood, violating the place where you should feel the safest. ABC 22/ FOX 45 is Fighting Back for your family by exposing exactly what the bad guys are looking for why it's so easy to break in.
âThey started ransacking dressers and pulling out jewelry and money and anything they took their hands on,â said burglary victim, Barb Tollinger.
Home break-ins in Montgomery County happen more often than you think. According to FBI statistics, in 2011 there were 1,378 burglaries in the Dayton-area. That's almost four break-ins a day! 2012 well surpassed those figures with 1432 Dayton-area burglaries in the first six months alone, which is almost eight a day. Numbers for all of 2012 haven't been published yet.
âWorking class neighborhoods are getting hit hard,â said Montgomery Co. Sheriff Phil Plummer.
But Plummer adds, no neighborhood is immune.
âThey go up to your front door, knock on your door. If no one answers the door because they're working, they'll walk around to the back of your house and kick your back door in,â he said.
Police say a burglar's break-in M.O. typically stays the same. Their favorite entry is the back of the house, which was exactly what happened to Barb.
âIt's just wrong. It makes you mad,â she said.
The crooks hone in on cash, jewelry, electronics, anything really that's hot on store shelves.
âThey kick the door in go right to your bedroom, grab a pillow case take your jewelry and out they go. It's that quick,â Plummer said.
In fact, the sheriff says a professional burglar can get in, out and away, in about three minutes.
âThey started ransacking dressers and pulling out jewelry and money and anything they took their hands on,â said burglary victim, Barb Tollinger.
Home break-ins in Montgomery County happen more often than you think. According to FBI statistics, in 2011 there were 1,378 burglaries in the Dayton-area. That's almost four break-ins a day! 2012 well surpassed those figures with 1432 Dayton-area burglaries in the first six months alone, which is almost eight a day. Numbers for all of 2012 haven't been published yet.
âWorking class neighborhoods are getting hit hard,â said Montgomery Co. Sheriff Phil Plummer.
But Plummer adds, no neighborhood is immune.
âThey go up to your front door, knock on your door. If no one answers the door because they're working, they'll walk around to the back of your house and kick your back door in,â he said.
Police say a burglar's break-in M.O. typically stays the same. Their favorite entry is the back of the house, which was exactly what happened to Barb.
âIt's just wrong. It makes you mad,â she said.
The crooks hone in on cash, jewelry, electronics, anything really that's hot on store shelves.
âThey kick the door in go right to your bedroom, grab a pillow case take your jewelry and out they go. It's that quick,â Plummer said.
In fact, the sheriff says a professional burglar can get in, out and away, in about three minutes.
- Tonight on FOX 45 News at 10 and ABC 22 News at 11, Fighting Back Reporter Liza Danver talks to a former professional burglar about what his fellow thieves look for when they're casing a neighborhood and looking for an easy target. Then Thursday morning on ABC 22 Good Morning and FOX 45 In The Morning, we give you the inside scoop on what you need to protect your home and family from being the next burglary victim.
