Last night a few houses in our "secure" community had a visit form the notorious spider man a nickname given to a small time thief due to his abilities to evade capture. Nothing was stolen, but not from the lack of trying. He has in the past stolen small items like chainsaws and strimmer's along with a pair of running shoes, laptop and a tv remote. An odd shopping list and why he is not seen as a threat and more of a nuisance.
This happened at around 4 am this morning with the armed response arriving on scene at 4.30 am which was 8 minutes after this visit on one of the properties. I wish we had more information such as more photos so at least we have an idea how access is being gained into these properties.
Apparently he had visited 4 other properties in the early hours and this must have bene the last one. We have been living in our current property for roughly 8 or 9 years now and have not had a visit yet and do not expect one. I spotted someone years ago looking over our fence and the fact that I spotted them and they knew it could be telling as it could quite easily be the same person known as Spiderman which I suspect it is.
When you are vigilant and on top of your security then the chances are the small time thief knows this and will look for easier targets. Just the last week I got the gate motor repaired and changed all the security remotes purchasing 6 of them. This means the frequency has been changed and these new remotes are not like the old ones and have a unique signal which means no one can tap into your signal.
One of the houses mentioned that they had been having a problem with their gate remote and that often the gate just opens on it's own. This is the cheap remotes that most house have and there are only so many codes and it is quite common another house has your same code in that street. Surely you would change this if this has been a recurring problem as this is the weak point offering the easiest access into your property.
Living in a house in South Africa you learn about the security needs very quickly and become a semi specialist. Having no weak points is a must and our property has an electric fence covering the entire property. The house alarm I do not use as my dog Brock likes to move around and we keep him inside at night. I often have him outside running around in the garden at 2 or 3 am which often ends with him barking when listening to other dogs barking somewhere else in the valley.
Now that it is winter I am not going for a walk with Brock in the early hours because it is cold and no one else in the area has volunteered to join me. Normally if I hear the other dogs in our street barking I turn off our outside lights so I can get get acquainted to the night light in the hope I can spot any movement. If every house was aware and as vigilant as we are then there would be no crime and the reason why we have never been robbed.
What I am going to do is start recording the days of the week and times that these incidents occur and see if there is a pattern forming so we can use his habits to catch him as all criminals have a pattern.
