Hi All, I have heard from a couple of sets of victims that prior to the break ins symbols were written on or near their properties. As I left home this morning I noticed the symbol below on the gate post, it was not there yesterday. I have called the local ( Bedfordshire ) police and am waiting for a call from a community office but in the meantime if anyone can shed any light on this I`ll be grateful. We are quite rural with no neighbours for 300/400 yards in all directions and have installed a few layers of security but forewarned is forearmed and I`ll take steps to improve things if an attempt to break in is looking likely. Thank you David
Why would they do that? Perhaps to tell you that they were intending to break in? To tell other criminals that yours was next? A photo of the house on a mobile would be a better and safer way for them to do that.
My understanding of this phenomenon is that it is a haux. Kids are marking properties with a symbol apparently to indicate who lives at the property - family, single woman, single man, etc. The marking is just a bit of unpleasant and unsettling fun. According to folk I have spoken to. You are right to alert the police though and seek their advice. Just in case the game has changed.
I cant answer why but the use of symbols is something I have heard of several times, if my house is being targeted I`d like to know. We may have some local to me police on here who have seen this before and can give some advice. Anyway makes a nice change from all those boring posts about Brexit or motorcycles.
Whether it’s serious or not, in the true spirit of forewarned is forearmed, I thank you for posting David. If it were possible it would be good to know what symbols the other victims became aware of.
I have known marking to be used when dog thiefs are sussing out what breed of dog is there and as a guide to occupancy to help when they come back to get the dog. Wouldn't surprise me if burglary marking also goes on. Be wary.
However, West Mercia Police later revealed the signs were nothing more than utility firms marking what work they were planning to do. A force spokesman said the markings are commonly used by gas, electricity, water, telecommunication and cable companies.
I'd take it very seriously personally, I mean just look at this example, admittedly its subtle but if you look closely you can just about make out the coded markings
OK, great, I'm going to put a 'Not worth stealing' 'too risky' symbol on my gate - cheaper than fitting an alarm, sorry, that should have read, "cheaper than feeding my 5 hungry rottweilers"
looks like beef chow mein to me.. my humble experience of this was probably 20 years ago and it was associated with .... dare i say it travellers and distraction burglaries..
OP here. Easy to be flippant and I appreciate that is what you were doing but being burgled is an horrendous experience and one I hope you never suffer. We were burgled about 2.5 years ago with my wife coming home from work and finding the burglar in the house. Luckily he ran off rather than attacking her. She still gets scared at strange noises etc especially if I am out. I`m going to sand the markings off the gate post so she doesnt see them . After the burglary we invested in 3 layers of security but for the next few weeks I`ll be checking the CCTV cameras a lot more frequently that usual. I hope that I don`t have to come back on here to report that we were burgled while we were out just to prove a connection . There are enough people who confirm that burglers do sometimes leave markings for it to be taken seriously.
In the very early hours of the morning after the burglary I suddenly woke up convinced I had heard a car pull up outside, as I mentioned before we have no near neighbours so no reason for anyone to stop near our house. I didnt want to just sit and wait in case someone was about to break in so I dialled 999 and went outside to investigate while talking to a very calm operater. I had a large heavy torch in one hand and the phone in the other but despite the reassuring voice on the phone I have to admit I was very very scared. Luckily no one there, just my mind playing tricks. Not nice.
Yes the gate is covered but would you believe we are between internet providers and yesterday we kept losing wifi so I cant get anything. All working now and crystal clear. I will scatter some gravel around the gate later so I should hear a crunch if anyone approaches.
We fitted a camera with an audible alert every time it picked up movement it would sound and record, after we were burgled. We would be sat watching the telly, the thing would sound, we would run to the window and see our neighbours cat walking across the car park. It reduced us to nervous wrecks, So we removed it.
I just have sound/mobile push alerts disabled. All the cameras are recording 24/7 (5 cameras) but movement alerts only place a flag/marker on the timeline to make reviewing easier should we need to. I only ever turn on alerts for he driveway cam when awaiting a takeaway delivery
