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Security for our Rigs and Home as we Sojourn · Travel With A Purpose

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, fellow sojourners.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Dave Leighton, and welcome to Travel with a Purpose, a podcast designed to keep sojourners and friends informed, entertained, and inspired.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Today I'm joined by a very interesting young man.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: He is a police officer, Travis Ray.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, Travis.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Hey Dave, how are you?
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm good.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: By the way, Travis is not just a police officer, he's a member of our congregation, and uh we we think the world of him.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Travis, I got a brag on the Prattville Police Department.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm I'm not sure the right word necessarily, but it it's just one of the wonderful things that uh my wife and I enjoy living here in our community of Prattville in Alabama, we have tremendous first responders.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Our police department, our sheriff's department, um uh, you know, our our firefighters, uh emergency med techs, all of them.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's just it's just amazing.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: And uh you you represent part of that, so thank you.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Oh that's a no problem, that's what we're here for.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm proud to be a part of that, and I know our uh our chief aims to please.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he he is also proud of what we have going on in the community, so we're always glad to be able to do something.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: I follow the police department on the Facebook page and uh I I I enjoy seeing uh how the police department interacts in our community at a very personal level, and uh some of the incredible, wonderful young folks that are part of that department.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Seriously, I I I just I do that.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I do appreciate that.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: All right, well enough of that kind of stuff.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: Let's uh let's move on into a little bit about this.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um so Travis, tell us uh a little bit about yourself.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I am currently employed with the Prattville Police Department.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: I've been an officer for eight coming up on nine years, and for about five of five years of that time, I've been a uh investigator.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: So um as far as my division s we have cer certain specialties, um, but most of our investigators are in the general crimes category, which basically means we'll handle everything from an assault to theft of property, identity theft to uh stolen trailer.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: It could be anything property related, personnel related, uh just anything that falls in those those categories will end up picking that up.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so I've gotten the I I guess I should say the chance to investigate a wide swath of crimes.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm I'm thankful, at least in the capacity that I've I've been able to experience a lot.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: I've been able to help a lot of people, hopefully.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um I've been able to kind of get familiar with good many things that I I don't think I ever would have encountered otherwise.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: So what um and we're gonna get to the point today, uh folks, we're gonna be talking with Travis about securing our property, but I wanna I wanted to find out a little bit more about uh this fascinating career.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: What uh how did you get started into the police?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I actually went to went to Troy University at some point in, I guess, maybe my senior year of high school or something like that.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: I knew I wanted to get in into investigations.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: I at least liked the idea.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh now a high school student, you never really a hundred percent know what you actually.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, right, right.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: There's always things about careers we we learn on the other side of it.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I had a uh a friend and an actual brother in the church uh who was I think he was employed with the sheriff's department at the time, maybe.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um he was in law enforcement and he he kind of sold me on the idea, and so I'm like, okay, well, I want to do investigations.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: I know I need to get into law enforcement probably local level and then we'll see where it goes from there.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't really want to set anything too uh too permanent for myself.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: I just wanted to at least get my foot in the door and see where it leads.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of where we're at, is I was uh lucky enough to get on with the uh private police department right after I got out of college and from there um went through training, spent about three years on the road uh as an officer first and then as a corporal.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally I moved on to investigations where I have spent the last five years just kind of getting familiar with that side of things.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know, sometimes I guess probably the most common image somebody has of police officer is something's gone wrong, there's something bad happened, and and the police have to come in and be the heavy on it.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: But that's really not all that you do.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: I I I couldn't give it percentages, but I I I see our police officers in in uh much more of a preventive role, much more in a peacekeeping role, not so much in a uh solving a crime role, although obviously that's a part of it.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: And and I'm glad that we have you guys.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: And that kind of leads me into what I wanted to talk about.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: As sojourners, uh we're on the road.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: Some folks are on the road almost continually, uh, some are on the road maybe just a few weeks out of the year, but uh, for example, my wife and I, we're we're gone sometimes four to six months during the year, not all at one time, scattered out.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a concern of ours to make sure our property is reasonably secured, and I say reasonably because obviously we can't make it 100% secure, but uh reasonably secure.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I wanted to talk about some things from you as a subject matter expert in this, is what are some things to consider when we leave our homes to help keep it safe?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I'll I'll go ahead and turn that over to you.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: So uh as far as things you can do to prepare for being out of town for anything from an overnight trip to I'm gonna be gone for several weeks or several months at a time, even our trips are typically two weeks at a time.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: So for two weeks at a time, there are gonna be some basic things you're gonna want to do to be able to at least make your house less appealing.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because I guess broadly speaking, um if we're talking about theft of property, burglary, especially, you know, somebody comes in and breaks into your house, takes your things while you're gone.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: There are a few different types of burglary.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you may just think, you know, somebody kicks in your door, takes your stuff, and that's that.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: When in reality, there's different types of burglars.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's a stranger.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: That that is something that happens.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um more frequently it feels like I end up seeing people who have at least some connection to the person who uh has has had their house broken into.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's something as something as close as a family member or friend.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's a neighbor or somebody who at least passes by pretty frequently and it has at least some connection.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now, again, we do have perfect strangers who go into a neighborhood.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Target of opportunity kind of thing.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: And try to find a target of opportunity.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: So the first category I want to talk about is what they call in the security sector as target hardening.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: It basically means to make your house less appealing.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: So let's pretend there is a perfect stranger wandering through your neighborhood and he he sees he decides, hey, I'm gonna break into a house.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: I need some money, I'm gonna steal some property, I'm gonna go into a house.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: One of the objectives for that would be, okay, I want to make my house less appealing for this bad guy to break into my house.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um So there's a number of things you can do to make your house less appealing.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because unfortunately, there is not there's no such thing as perfect security.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: If somebody is determined enough, they will get in.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: They'll they'll break into Fort Knox, so to speak.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um But most criminals are kind of lazy, and so if you can do enough to deter them or to uh scare them away from your house or just make it seem like it's more trouble than it's worth, that can mitigate uh a good amount of trouble as well.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: So Well now that could be something as simple as having some lights on.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: It could be something as uh as simple as having lights.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I understand people have um a wide range of what they're gonna want to do, what they're gonna want to mess with, and budget is always a concern as well.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um but on the low end of things we have something as simple as leaving lights on or one of those plugs that you can uh use to uh make the lights come on at different times.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, a timer on top of the timer, a lot of smart home features and stuff like that these days.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I I heard somebody say one time, be sure and uh keep the shrubs along your house cut to a height where they're not blocking a window so someone would have a way to access and not be seen or something like that.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: Something like that.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: If you're gonna be out for an extended period of time, uh having somebody cut your grass so that it's that somebody or it's not as apparent that somebody has been gone for a while and may be gone for a while longer.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh because abandoned properties are also very, very likely to get broken into, especially uh properties that are abandoned for a long period of time.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes if somebody sees it enough times and realizes nobody's there, they may get ball.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we have somebody uh pick up our mail, for example.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and that that that's also a good idea.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um sometimes I've heard of people leaving a TV on.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: I've actually heard that uh as far as deterrence, uh the the sound of a voice in a house is more likely to stop somebody breaking in than a light.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: So something like leaving the TV on or again some of some smart home features uh to to turn stuff on randomly so that it makes some some noise.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Something like that can apparently help as well.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um and you mentioned somebody picking up your mail.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I guess that would let me transition into one of my next points.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I I always recommend somebody have a good relationship with their neighbors.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: You need to rely on your neighbors uh in more ways than one.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I've had neighbors tell me that, hey, I'm I'm leaving town or whatever, and I'll try to keep an eye on their property.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'm not home 100% of the time, but if I see something out of the ordinary, then I can at least say somebody's supposed to be over at your house.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: So uh sometimes, I mean, you know, a little bit of uh community effort is free.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean it it takes you know a little bit of your time, but I always recommend knowing your neighbors if you're on good terms with them.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now, some people are in areas where unfortunately not every neighbor is perfect.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so there might be some neighbors that you might not want to tell that you're gonna be out of town.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, people know how to use their discretion and and know who to who to trust and and whatnot on that.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: I've I heard somebody say one time, uh, you know, when when a pilot takes off on a trip, they file a flight plan.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so we should have a travel plan and share that uh with a friend or share it with family members so somebody knows what's going on.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that kind of stuff is always encouraged.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um as far as I I guess if we're shifting towards stuff that would cost they maybe be a little bit more of an investment, um, I always recommend something along the lines of uh either a security system or my big I'm a big fan of cameras.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh security systems, especially ones that use a third party, can be useful for just mon monitoring things like uh doors opening when you're not you don't want them to open, glass breaking on a window, things like that.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Because they'll they'll put an automated call out to law enforcement who will be out there to check the property.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: We've actually called people in the midst of breaking into a house because of these things.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um And then my personal favorite is uh security cameras.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because security cameras are um they kind of fall into both of those categories I was talking about.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: They they act as a deterrent if somebody is, say, walking through the neighborhood and they see security cameras on the corners of the house, or even something as simple as a ring doorbell.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they may be less likely to see that house as a target because they know, okay, I'm I'm being watched right now.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um and security cameras these days we have options, I guess I should say.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um you you have ones that have uh that are battery powered that you can just slap up on the outside of your house and they're connected to a cloud service and you can check that on your phone.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the benefit of a cloud storage uh solution is if you say lose power to your house, your cameras still have as long as they still have internet, they'll still be recording.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I'm also a fan of um in-house security, uh not necessarily closed circuit, but uh hardwired.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I actually have cameras myself that are uh hardwired to a uh hard drive.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so you have two layers of it then, an external one, and then you also have the inside camera.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh no, sorry, I don't have the inside camera.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: I have uh mine are hardwired, which means uh they they have power that is connected in inside my house.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: So they they never go out unless my power or internet goes out.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um the the big benefit of that is again I don't have to worry about swapping out batteries.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I get a constant stream for the data because the power cord is also the uh the connection to the server itself.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um I like that kind of system.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's just more of a pain to actually have to go through the house and wire those and things like that.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: So it depends on how much trouble you want to put into it.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: And you can always uh upgrade later.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: You can start simple, get a ring doorbell, or or there's uh various companies that have these doorbells and smart home security.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there's a lot of uh floodlights that you just swap out your floodlight with this floodlight that has a camera in it so that it can at least catch your driveway.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: And something as simple as that can be a powerful deterrent, but it can also be something that helps in the event that something else does happen.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: So well you mentioned ring doorbell.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: We have ring, and and uh we put a camera in the back as well as the front.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um our property has woods that border it, and uh so I have a good view of the majority of the backyard, especially my woodworking shop and some things like that, and my camper when it's parked.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: So okay.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: So those are some good practical things we can do.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: And and that category is prevention.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Prevention.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um I did I do actually feel uh like I left out a pretty important one.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh this is gonna sound it it almost goes without saying, but I'm gonna say it anyway.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure all your doors and windows are locked.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's right.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: And and a lot of people think, oh no, of course I locked the door.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Just double check.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because a lot of people will leave windows open or or various other easy points of entry.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: Sojourners know, as we have aged, that checklists are important, and we'll have a checklist for setting up and tearing down our RV.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: Sounds like you are recommending that we have a checklist for securing our property before we leave.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: It could not hurt, especially uh not just uh your house itself, but if you have any attached buildings, sheds, or anything of that nature, just go double check, make sure that's locked.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um at the very least, you know, if there's something important in there, just m consider moving it if you you're gonna be out of town for a period of time.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh if you have anybody you trust with it or a storage locker or anything like that, however, storage lockers are just as likely to get broken into as a house.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes more frequently, depending on what's going on in an area.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: I never thought about that.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh a good many storage lockers have cameras only at the front and not actually deeper in.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: So that's all also always worth uh considering when you're shopping around for a storage locker, is like, hey, do they actually have cameras on my unit?
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because there's traffic in and out of those things all the time.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: And say it's a month before you go back to your storage locker and you realize it's been broken into.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: If they only have cameras at the front, we have a hard time distinguishing whether or not it's somebody who's supposed to be in there or somebody who's not supposed to be in there.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: So we do lock uh our house and windows, and and then we uh also I lock my uh workshop.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it would hurt my feelings if someone stole my tools more so than the the uh replacement costs.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: I have insurance for things, but uh it would hurt my feelings if they took my tools.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: And then I'll do things like I make sure my uh privacy fence gate is secure.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good idea.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just some simple things, it sounds like.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a lot of a lot of simple stuff.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of it doesn't even have to cost you too much, it's just extra things you can check on.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um that'll give you a little bit more peace of mind, make your house a little bit less uh less of a target for that random.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I stood in my driveway one day and I and I looked at my house and I said, okay, if I wanted to break into my house, what would I do?
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: And and then followed that up with, okay, how can your terminology, how can I harden that to where it's less attractive?
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um and the other uh a lot of that does go on the assumption that it is a perfect stranger.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: So it gets a lot trickier when you have somebody in your life who you may not think is going to break into your house, but unfortunately we see we see a lot of that.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's um especially uh with elderly victims, they'll have uh a grandson or or something like that.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's somebody who's fallen on hard times or or fallen into some sort of addiction.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: And especially addiction, that'll make somebody go past what you would think is a reasonable thing to do.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: Sad to think about that, but it can be a reality in life that somebody um isn't thinking very well, making bad decisions.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people make bad decisions, and uh so we we have uh things like that happen.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: That gets trickier because I've worked a burglary uh within the last maybe year or two where uh somebody had their house broken into in their PlayStation and I think I can't remember what else was taken, but they had some stuff stolen and did a little bit of digging and it turns out it was his one of his only friends who knew when he was at work.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: So he knew when he was at work, broke into his house, stole his property, and acted like he didn't know what was going on.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes there there are other aspects we have to deal with.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um and that's just kind of something to keep in mind.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, well, that's reality.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, uh thought came to mind.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: We're we're talking about securing our property when we travel, but you know, the problem of squatters has been in the news quite a bit lately.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't hear about it much in our area, but I could see where somebody's gone for a while and somebody just up and move into their house.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, uh that may be a problem in some other places.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh at least uh uh I can speak very locally.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: We haven't had much of an issue because if you own the property, it's pretty easy to get somebody out of there.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we haven't we haven't run into any issues like that.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm at least thankful for that.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: If I come back from a vacation, there's somebody at my house.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: I have no doubt that I would be able to call the police department and have that rectified.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: Start with the police, they'll help you out.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: You can get that sorted out pretty quickly.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um let me let me uh transition then.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so that was talking about prevention.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: Prevention.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: So what's the other category?
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: The second kind of uh I guess half of this I want to talk about is what I'm gonna call insurance.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: So like this would be more after the fact.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: This is after the fact.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: In the unlikely and you know, uh unfortunate event that say something is broken into, something is stolen.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um there are some things that you can do to at least give yourself some peace of mind if something uh like that does happen.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: We deal with a good many break-ins, uh, both homes, vehicles, whatever, where people will have property taken and they won't have any sort of evidence related to the property at all.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um I would always recommend people keep uh as detailed a list of of valuable property as they possibly can.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now, it's not reasonable to expect that everybody's gonna have good documentation for everything, but at least your high value items.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um or items that are more commonly um targets for theft.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Firearms, firearms, jewelry, electronics.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Electronics, anything with a serial number I would recommend taking a picture of and especially getting a picture of that serial number and keeping it on your phone or keeping it somewhere away from the house, so that again, uh on the un uh in the unfortunate event that your house is broken into, and say you have a gun in there and the gun goes get stolen, if you can show an investigator, hey, here is a picture of the firearm and here is its serial number, that exponentially increases the odds of of that property getting recovered.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh because if we just have somebody saying, hey, I have something that was stolen, but I can't really uh I'm having a hard time describing it, I've got no pictures, I've got no serial numbers, there's not a whole lot we can do unless we get very lucky.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um so documentation is is everything for something like that.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um I mentioned cameras in the making your house less appealing to break into.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: Cameras also fall on the insurance side of things because say somebody breaks into your house and they don't mess with your cameras in any capacity, the investigators have a huge step forward on actually being able to figure out who broke into your house.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: So good cameras, good camera placement and camera placement can be essential.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: Just because you have cameras doesn't mean it will necessarily show anything.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: If you only have a camera on your front door and the bad guy breaks into the back door, that that may not do it, uh do what you're after.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: So camera placement and even something as simple as lighting.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um sometimes we have a camera that is it's in the right spot, but because of lighting or because of the resolution of the camera, we can see a bad guy across the street and we can't see a thing about him because it's so far away and it's so dark and he's blurry that it looks like Sasquatch is breaking into their neighbor's house.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard to say.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: So those are other things to consider.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um if you do have a camera system, double check your video, double check what it looks like at night, because it may be worth putting up additional lights to to give yourself a little bit more coverage.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: And external lights also um potentially have a a deterrence kind of effect.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's easier to break into a house if you're perfectly pitch black outside but if there's a s like uh a floodlight or something like that on your driveway it at least looks less inviting for somebody.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm looking to make my house lived in or occupied continually.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: That can help.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then um and and all of the preventive measures and then uh uh if in fact um I suspect there's been a break in or theft of property um that's the insurance side of things um and not necessarily when we use the word insurance we think about filing a claim well certainly that would be a now having insurance having insurance would be a good idea or at least uh if if you are concerned about property left um double check with your insurance policy see what is covered yeah because that could also be helpful to know versus trying to file a claim and realizing that you weren't covered for X, Y, or Z.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: So that's also something worth looking into.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: And that helps trigger the thought in our mind though too about uh you were mentioning about an inventory of what we have and pictures of what we have that would be good for an insurance claim as well.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: That that would also be helpful for that.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well that'll be another podcast on another day talking about insurance um okay and I guess one last major thought on the on the insurance side of things um if you do want things to be investigated as well as they can be if again you've had a bad day and you found out that somebody has broken into your property it's tempting to go in and try to figure out what's wrong.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: We always tell people to if you see say you you you come home and you see your front door is ajar.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: We never tell any but we would never want anybody to go into that house by themselves.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah I was I was going to ask you about that because uh uh y okay it's would be rare but they could still be in there.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: They could be in there.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: But more importantly there's some evidentiary things that you guys are going to be looking for that I certainly don't want to interfere with.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: So we want the crime scene to stay as intact as possible.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: So um if you do realize your your property storeship whatever has been broken into we always encourage people to call 911 we'll get officers out there they will clear the residence basically make sure there's not a bad guy still in there and then we don't want to touch anything until an investigator has actually had time to come out and process it.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes there's fingerprints that may be on property on a door on something and if a homeowner comes in and starts touching everything then that contaminates the crime scene which can we we can lose valuable um evidence there.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: So we never want to do that.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: As tempting as it may be of if somebody realized their house has been broken into and they just storm in there we can lose a lot like that.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: Okay that's that's good advice.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: By the way something came to mind when you mentioned about the uh police department or whatever coming out um part of that preventive thing too it doesn't hurt to let the local law enforcement folks know I am going to be out of town part of that again that uh prevention aspect of it.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's right um so for I can only really speak to my local department but we actually offer uh extra patrol so all you have to do is call the front desk of the police department say hey I'm gonna be out of town for a couple of days could I request extra patrol in my residence?
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: That residence will then be added to a list um and officers on every shift are going to be reminded hey we have uh extra patrol requested in these areas these people are out of town or whatever so they're not gonna make a big deal out of it but officers will at least check um you can always put in some special requests and they may be able to accommodate you there.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes that visibility of our law enforcement folks is extremely valuable which by the way we have a a highway patrolman that lives in our neighborhood and he'll park his cruiser on the side of the road.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah and uh we we always appreciate it he's one of our favorite neighbors but he's a he's a great guy.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: Anything else brother um so while what we talked about today applies to your home or your uh okay a building on your property most of these tips or at least some of these concepts can be applied to your vehicle a lot of people make those same mistakes on their houses they will on their vehicle.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: So say you have a sojourner who is out and about and they are away from their vehicle for whatever reason.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody goes on a hike and they come back.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: You still want to make sure you lock your vehicle you still want to make sure nothing uh important is in plain view because just on the topic of vehicle break-ins um we have two major types of vehicle break ins we see and and a lot of this would also apply to a vehicle that you left at your house.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: Sure a lot of people uh get comfortable and they don't think okay well I I don't need to lock my car.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Most of our vehicle break-ins, a good ninety to ninety-five percent of our vehicle break-ins are unlocked vehicles because a lot of people will go through a neighborhood and pull on door handles.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: And when they pull on the door handle if it's unlocked they'll go through the rummage and they'll they'll take whatever they're after.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: The less common type of vehicle break in is a legitimate break in where somebody will see something they want inside the vehicle typically and they'll break the window.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: Usually it's like a bag or something like that that looks like it may hold something valuable.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: If they see that they'll break the window, grab the property and run.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's less common but I would still encourage anybody uh to take a bag with them or at least hide the bag inside you know a lot of us sojourners have a toolbox on in the bed of the truck.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: And um I have had I'm guilty of on occasion forgetting to lock my toolbox.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately it's not been a problem but uh I kind of fuss at myself when I see that I go oh gotta learn to lock that toolbox.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: I lock my truck and I'll hit the alarm and then the toolbox is open.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yep that's that's that's always on your uh like you said your checklist my checklist yeah um so making sure that uh just you do something as simple as locking your vehicle or if you do realize hey my vehicle's been broken into same thing with the house don't touch it until we've had a chance to come out and look at it.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: And you know I've heard them say especially at holiday times like Christmas don't leave packages visible in the vehicle uh put them in the trunk or cover them or something like that.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's correct.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I'm bad about um I'll carry my iPad with me to church and then when we go inside a restaurant to eat lunch after church I'll leave it laying on the seat and I have learned no cover that up at least cover it up.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: Or put it down under the seat or something.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: If somebody just sees a jacket they may not pay too much attention to that realizing there's an iPad or something under it.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: So because it's even less common for somebody to just break a window and then start rooting around for the hope that there is something in there.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: Usually if they're gonna break a window they see something they want.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: Camera again or firearms you know and we have a good many firearms stolen out of unsecured vehicles every year.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's unfortunate and a lot of those people some people do have serial numbers.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people again don't have serial numbers they'll have a vehicle broken in an unsecured vehicle and they'll have a firearm they don't even have a serial number for and I'll just say that those cases have a lot less likelihood of actually being pursued successfully.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: So we've secured our vehicle we've secured our house and let's make sure we don't leave things laying around the house.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah uh you know ladders tools lawn mowers uh well you know somebody could easily grab yeah i i I I've always understood that the biggest target of items to be stolen are things that somebody can turn around and sell uh they're the they're looking for something they can get rid of fast not something that they're gonna maintain possession of necessarily a lot of that depends on the motivation for the theft a lot of people do just want to make a quick buck now sometimes they'll sell it to a pawn shop sometimes they'll just try to sell it to somebody on the street um Facebook Marketplace is a big one so we we've had plenty of people's property get stolen the victim will say hey there's my my whatever on Facebook Marketplace um but uh every now and then we do actually end up with people who will hold on to stuff they'll steal something because they just want it and so they'll steal on especially pistols that's a really common thing firearms we'll have people steal them and then just keep in their possession for however long.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah and and I was talking with you before we started the show that I had two pistols stolen out of my truck and and fortunately they were recovered and uh I'll be picking them up soon by the way uh when we're in the area where they were uh by the way you you said Facebook and that triggered a thought in my mind sorry about the pun there about firearms but um uh it it made me remember I wanted to ask you um we're always posting pictures on Facebook and other social media about our travels and such we need to be careful about that because people do monitor and oh so and so's gone hey they're way over in Arizona somewhere or whatever.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah I'm and I'm not a big fan of social media just general general rule of thumb but a lot of people will put way too much of their business media because they may have friends and family members who are interested but like I said uh we have many break-ins that are somebody who at least tangentially knows uh the victim yeah so something as simple as posting about a vacation on Facebook somebody who is just on your friends list that you forgot about sees it they realize okay house is house might be unguarded maybe I'll go go see what I can do.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah so yeah if you do put it on social media try to have a closed group don't put it on something that's yeah just you know any and everybody just uh try to be careful with stuff okay you know a lot of that is just common sense things think think about things before I hate to say think about a cr like a criminal would think but sometimes that's you know what what would be attractive about this so let me lessen that target.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because none of this is a hundred percent guaranteed yeah um uh it's it's unfortunate that it is something we have to to consider but none of it's guaranteed but at the very least it's a numbers game.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so you can do things to increase your odds of everything going your way.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_01: Well Travis you've given us a lot to think about and um I might have you back on the show again later on to kind of remind our folks about these things.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: So okay.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: No anytime.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: Well thank you very much for being a guest.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yes sir all right well friends uh this wraps up our visit with Travis Ray um if you have questions or comments or something you wish to share or you have a topic you'd like to explore please contact me my email is sojournersevangelize at gmail.com that's sojourners evangelize at gmail dot com.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host Dave Leighton and remember we give all glory to God as together we travel with a purpose.