FAIRBORN -- John Howard has been burglarized "probably five or six times," he said, in the 20 years that he's lived there.
"Several TVs, missing a lot of video games, video equipment, Xbox 360's, hard drives, controllers. You name it they take it," Howard said.
What the thieves took from Howard, they're looking to take from you. We called around to several different police agencies within the Miami Valley and here are the top five things police tell us they see in their burglary reports.
In no particular order:
-TVs
-Game systems
-Tablets & computers
-Guns
-Jewelry
Notice that except for jewelry, everything on this list can be tracked with a serial number, but only if you write it down before hand.
"Make a spreadsheet list of your TV serial numbers to your computer serial numbers. Print that off and store it someplace safe when you take it to work or leave it with another family member, or if you have a fireproof safe," said Fairborn Police Department Sgt. Paul Hicks. "Then you have it ready at hand if something were to ever happen."
Of course doing this doesn't guarantee you'll get your stuff back, but it makes the chances a whole lot higher.
"You can say yeah I had an iPad that was stolen; well look at how many iPads are sold. "Without a serial number it's hard for us to positively identify to that owner especially if someone is savvy enough to wipe it clean. And you can't say well I had this app on it or had this information that shows it was mine," said Hicks. "If they go wipe it and start using it it's hard to say what belongs to you."
Howard says he now knows to keep all his serial numbers on hand.
"We've taken the manuals on the larger equipment. Most of the time they have the serial numbers on them and we keep that recorded," said Howard.
Now it's your turn, police recommend you do it now before it's too late.
Connect with ABC 22/FOX 45 Reporter Wale Aliyu on Facebook and Twitter.
"Several TVs, missing a lot of video games, video equipment, Xbox 360's, hard drives, controllers. You name it they take it," Howard said.
What the thieves took from Howard, they're looking to take from you. We called around to several different police agencies within the Miami Valley and here are the top five things police tell us they see in their burglary reports.
In no particular order:
-TVs
-Game systems
-Tablets & computers
-Guns
-Jewelry
Notice that except for jewelry, everything on this list can be tracked with a serial number, but only if you write it down before hand.
"Make a spreadsheet list of your TV serial numbers to your computer serial numbers. Print that off and store it someplace safe when you take it to work or leave it with another family member, or if you have a fireproof safe," said Fairborn Police Department Sgt. Paul Hicks. "Then you have it ready at hand if something were to ever happen."
Of course doing this doesn't guarantee you'll get your stuff back, but it makes the chances a whole lot higher.
"You can say yeah I had an iPad that was stolen; well look at how many iPads are sold. "Without a serial number it's hard for us to positively identify to that owner especially if someone is savvy enough to wipe it clean. And you can't say well I had this app on it or had this information that shows it was mine," said Hicks. "If they go wipe it and start using it it's hard to say what belongs to you."
Howard says he now knows to keep all his serial numbers on hand.
"We've taken the manuals on the larger equipment. Most of the time they have the serial numbers on them and we keep that recorded," said Howard.
Now it's your turn, police recommend you do it now before it's too late.
Connect with ABC 22/FOX 45 Reporter Wale Aliyu on Facebook and Twitter.
