Most valuable items to steal?

My house was burglarized a few months ago and according to the police, it was random houses in our neighborhood.

They don't steal the most valuable things. The criminals who burglarize homes have a desired outcome which is not to get caught, so they have to get in and out quickly. What do they target?

Small, electronic devices: iPads, netbooks, laptops, gaming consoles, cameras.

Jewelry and watches: Not so much. They'll tip over jewelry boxes, but unless there's gold or diamonds, not worth the trouble to sift through a bunch of small things I guess.

They'll leave behind guns (not able to sell quickly and without pain), larger electronics like computers and televisions. If they can't get it in one sweep, it usually stays behind.

That's been my experience and my husband is a veteran investigator.

My house in Detroit was broken into twice and my experience was like pyrosama's. It really depends on who your thieves are and how they plan to get rid of the stuff. Would they know good jewelry if they saw it? Would they have someone to fence it to?

pyrosama said:

My house was burglarized a few months ago and according to the police, it was random houses in our neighborhood.

They don't steal the most valuable things. The criminals who burglarize homes have a desired outcome which is not to get caught, so they have to get in and out quickly. What do they target?

Small, electronic devices: iPads, netbooks, laptops, gaming consoles, cameras.

Jewelry and watches: Not so much. They'll tip over jewelry boxes, but unless there's gold or diamonds, not worth the trouble to sift through a bunch of small things I guess.

They'll leave behind guns (not able to sell quickly and without pain), larger electronics like computers and televisions. If they can't get it in one sweep, it usually stays behind.

That's been my experience and my husband is a veteran investigator.

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I saw a TV programme once where they had ex burglars show what they used to do. Unfortunately the horrible thing was that these people just took everything they could lay their hands on very fast. Their theory was just grab everything and get out, sort through it later, sell it all super cheap to get on with it out of their possession, go on to the next easy job. So the couple that they fake robbed were shocked when they stole stuff like their wedding photo (they thought they could sell the frame) they weren't choosy. Just ransack and steal. They went first for the underwear drawer where they said a lot of people kept valuables.

Kaleidoscopes said:

I swear I will not use this info to rob you. c:
I'm writing a novel where the main characters are thieves, and they've burglarized a couple of houses - but I can't figure out what the most valuable items to steal would be - I think jewelry would be one, but i'm not even sure about that.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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It really depends on what the thieves need at the moment, are they in a bind? Are they just bored? Do they need a new Tv? Do they just want enough money to stop stealing? These questions could help you come up with a good answer

Laptops/smartphones/tablets can be a bit "dangerous" to criminals in that if they're turned on or otherwise get Internet access, the IP address and sometimes GPS coordinates are immediately sent to whatever services are being run on it, and an alert owner can call the services and find out this info. There are "where's my ipad?" apps specifically meant to trace such things, but online backup and file saving services such as Dropbox effectively do the same thing. I've heard of this being done on an iphone/ipad a couple weeks after it was stolen, with it having ended up in a third world country.

I presume smarter thieves would know how to shield, disable or erase such devices before using and selling them, but I've heard stories otherwise. There was an Atlanta news story about a gutsy teen who, when her cell phone was stolen, called the number and talked up whoever answered - "This is Kathy, remember me? Where are you living now? I wanna come hang out" and then called the police with the address, who found it and several other stolen phones as well.

When my parents got broken into, the thieves didn't steal all the jewellery, but they took every single ring in the house. Probably those are easiest to shift and most likely to turn out to have an expensive stone in them.

The junkies in my city used to vacuum up bicycles. I don't know if they still do. The police busted their fence, who paid $10 a bike, regardless of the quality of the bike.

Keep in mind an expensive racing bike can be worth several thousand dollars and is super-portable. Bikes are definitely a target.

jjdebenedictis said:

The junkies in my city used to vacuum up bicycles. I don't know if they still do. The police busted their fence, who paid $10 a bike, regardless of the quality of the bike.

Keep in mind an expensive racing bike can be worth several thousand dollars and is super-portable. Bikes are definitely a target.

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You used to be able to buy a bike in Coconut Grove (Miami) for $8. Because $8 was the cost of a rock.

Have them look in freezers and flour jars(people keep valuables in the kitchen thinking it will be overlooked). Garages(usually less secure than the house) are a great place to find valuables that can be pawned: power tools(very expensive), bikes, ATVs, scooters, lawn equipment, outdoorsy stuff(kayaks, camping gear).

gingerwoman said:

Just ransack and steal. They went first for the underwear drawer where they said a lot of people kept valuables.

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I know right? It's where I kept my gun (thankfully that wasn't stolen) and sex toys. Gotta find a new home, how embarrassing.

If you want the criminals to be particularly crafty, have them get in and out of the house without a trace. Photos of vital documents and social security numbers. All identity theft items that they can sell but the police aren't called because the house is left untouched.

Valuable to the thieves means easy to carry, high value/small volume, and easy to convert into cash - fast.

A friend's house was burglarized back in the 1980s. The thieves had piled up the VCRs (at the time still expensive and quite fenceable) and similar stuff... then evidently glanced at the collection of stuff taped off the TV.

The thieves left behind one of the VCRs, but took the complete set of Wizards and Warriors tapes.

jjdebenedictis said:

The junkies in my city used to vacuum up bicycles. I don't know if they still do. The police busted their fence, who paid $10 a bike, regardless of the quality of the bike.

Keep in mind an expensive racing bike can be worth several thousand dollars and is super-portable. Bikes are definitely a target.

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It doesn't even have to be an expensive racing bike. Back in October, a 12 year old girl was killed in South Jersey for her BMX bike - the parts apparently are worth a lot of money.

Neighbor's place, which had nothing worth stealing in it, got burglarized... mostly it got thoroughly tossed, evidently looking for old checks, credit cards, etc. Some of that sort of thing was missing, but the only other item taken was a two-bit television.

Jersey Chick said:

It doesn't even have to be an expensive racing bike. Back in October, a 12 year old girl was killed in South Jersey for her BMX bike - the parts apparently are worth a lot of money.

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That's just disgusting.

Reziac said:

The thieves left behind one of the VCRs, but took the complete set of Wizards and Warriors tapes.

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Man, those are worth gold.

Primary home burglaries here involve jewelry, especially gold, cash, prescription drugs, silverware, video games, laptops and tools. These are opportunity crimes, like dinner-time bandits.

Targeted thefts will be different, antiques, art, specific jewelry pieces and collectables. These involve prior knowledge of the home and contents, sometimes with alarm codes and even keys.

Home invasions are cash, drugs (legal and not) and gold. Almost all of these involve prior knowledge of the home.

Hope it helps.

Jeff

Reziac said:

The thieves left behind one of the VCRs, but took the complete set of Wizards and Warriors tapes.

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Oh, man. I would have stolen those. Duncan Regehr, circa 1983, was smoking hot.

I went right to the end of the thread, so I apologize if my answer has already been said ...

But in my opinion, the most valuable item to steal would be a child.

Patrick.S said:

That's just disgusting.

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It was awful. And the two brothers being charged are only kids themselves being 15 and 17. That said, I hope they are able to be tried as adults. It was a horrible thing.

Here's the story if anyone's interested.