It is high time that we start punishing these thieves and vandals a lot harsher, otherwise we will encourage them to even do more.

Please check your direct neighbors' homes at night before you retire for the evening. Even small checks may discover these crimes.l

I am sorry for the couple.

Thank you, for this article to bring awareness to our community. We are a great community and it’s time to pull together.

Thank you, for this article to bring awareness to our community. We are a great community and it’s time to pull together.

Menlo Voter mentioned on another thread that these burglaries are taking place because residents are not turning on their security alarms, and this article seems to confirm this (rather senseless) reality.

Yet, I am still missing something.

How do the crooks know in advance the given home doesn't have an alarm that's turned on?

I don't see how that can be reliably ascertained in all cases, so where are the articles talking about the house broken into that was alarmed, and the police getting there in a few minutes and catching the crooks? Or at least the crooks running away without getting caught?

I haven't seen any.

Thoughtful:

They can't ascertain it with a certainty in advance, but enough people in Atherton don't use their security systems that the likelihood of tripping an alarm in Atherton is low. The odds are in their favor. Crooks talk, they know this from the experience of others that have hit Atherton. I'd hazard the number alarms that tripped in Atherton is extremely low and that's why you never hear of one being tripped and crooks being caught or seen running away. When 95% of a community (an educated guess) don't use their security systems targets that could be hard are rendered soft.

I'd also hazard a guess that one reason people in Atherton don't use their alarms is because when they first start using them the frequency of false alarms is high. The police respond and, if false, issue a false alarm card. After a certain number of these people start getting fined for their false alarms. I suspect at that point many people say "screw it" and quit using their alarms. Not a wise decision, but not surprising, unfortunately.