Drogheda area burglaries

markc1184

Just a word of warning to anyone in the area that there has been a lot of burglaries lately. Today alone, my house in Finians Park, a house in Ballsgrove and a house in Marleys court have been done. And as the Garda said, they are the houses that they know of so far.

There was a large amount of cash taken from mine and the upstairs was ransacked. We had only left the house to go to Tesco and were home and all within half an hour to 40 minutes. The neighbour seen 2 lads in dark Adidas track suits jumping the wall of the house next to ours just as we drove up the driveway so we must have interrupted them.

My dog was very giddy and had a large chunk of fabric in his mouth so with a bit of luck he has taken a chunk out of one of their legs too.

kbell

****'s, how did they get in, can i ask?

markc1184

kbell wrote: »

****'s, how did they get in, can i ask?

They used a screwdriver or similar to pop the lock open. Couldn't get over how easily the frame of the door moved (uPVC door) with a screwdriver in place and then all that had to be done was slide the lock back.

calex71

I know more than a few people who have been done recently, there is an unmentioned heroine issue in Drogheda and chancers and career crims from Dublin driving up for easy pickings imo.

In every case I've heard of they bypass bulky electronic goods and head straight for the the bed rooms where the cash and gold is usually kept.

@Mark :wonder if u live on the same part of finians my folks do? They have an alarm and a dog but from what I gather these boys seems to be striking at times when ud not expect to be robbed like 6 - 8pm on a week day..... which is when people would take the dog out or go to tesco ... meaning places are being watched. I was down for a few days last week and I have to say where we are you would notice anyone strange hanging around so if we were done I'd point the finger at someone local.

markc1184

calex71 wrote: »

@Mark :wonder if u live on the same part of finians my folks do? They have an alarm and a dog but from what I gather these boys seems to be striking at times when ud not expect to be robbed like 6 - 8pm on a week day..... which is when people would take the dog out or go to tesco ... meaning places are being watched. I was down for a few days last week and I have to say where we are you would notice anyone strange hanging around so if we were done I'd point the finger at someone local.

I live in the zig-zags as we call them, or Finians terrace. We left at 12.05 to head to Tesco and were back before 12.40. Unfortunately none of the neighbours seen much which is unusual. Nothing gets by most of them.

Exactly as you said though about going straight for the cash though. There was plenty of expensive electronics, tvs, laptops etc but that was all left behind. My dog is a boxer/Rottweiller cross so it took a brave person to get into the garden with him! Although if you don't want to get caught a dog is probably the least of your worries.

Lord TSC

Dad caught a guy in our driveway at 3:30 this morning mooching around the cars in Grange Rath. Guy ran off quick enough but fair warning to people to check their cars are locked and empty every night...

positron

Absolute scum!!

Is it time to setup a vigilante justice league of Drogheda?

Lord TSC

Well I'm already patrolling the rooftops in spandex...

calex71

Teamshadowclan wrote: »

Well I'm already patrolling the rooftops in spandex...

:eek: ewwwwwwwwwwwwww


:pac:

borderlinemeath

Teamshadowclan wrote: »

Well I'm already patrolling the rooftops in spandex...

I saw this fella heading into Dunnes earlier, thought he looked familiar.

http://www.mlo.me/upen/l/2011/201112/20111221/20111221132438463_1_8321.jpg

wush06

calex71 wrote: »

I know more than a few people who have been done recently, there is an unmentioned heroine issue in Drogheda and chancers and career crims from Dublin driving up for easy pickings imo.

I think you have enough junkies and scum of your own up there before you start pointing the finger.

kbell

This is unfortunately true, however the recent spate of burglaries here are being orchestrated by a north Dublin gang.
This is from the guard who investigated the attempt to get into my home a few weeks back, the same night that several houses in Marion park and hillbrookdrive area's were targeted.
The elderly lady around the corner who was greeted upon returning to her home by 2 men leaving her front door carrying her belongings, was told to **** off and get out of the way in Dublin accents.

calex71

wush06 wrote: »

I think you have enough junkies and scum of your own up there before you start pointing the finger.

Don't recall saying they didn't have plenty of their own ( I say "they" and not "we" because I actually live in your part of dublin at the moment ) but it's been well reported on in recent times that the fact is crims are travelling outside of dublin to do "jobs" as there is less risk involved for them.

You also say that defensively like it's a slight on Dublin or something, I've been around long enough and am reasonably intelligent enough to know that not all people or even a large % of folks from north or west dublin are scum, quite the opposite in my experience. Scum is scum no matter where it's born and breed.

spider_pig

2 houses done in here moneymore last night

kitty9

time to whip out the sawn off shotgun.

get ready bitches

Insurance Works

In my day job I am dealing with the aftermath burglaries on a near daily basis, I know you may have heard this before, but these scum are absolute opportunists and if you can make your house a little more secure than neighbouring houses, chances are they will just move on to the next house.
I think at this stage every house should have a burglar alarm, as this is proven to be an obvious deterrent.

We dealt with one burglary last Christmas where there had been 2 adjoining properties burgled, the culprits attempted to gain access to the first house and they could not get through the door, although they did manage to damage it, but when they got in to the second house they stole lots of belongings and 2 cars.

I know it may be too little too late for you but, you really should consider having a burglar alarm fitted, also if your home has been burgled you don’t want the culprits to have free run of your house when they do get in, you should always lock internal doors and take the keys out, that way they can be confined to one room only.

Hope this helps somebody out there.

markc1184

^^^ We had all the bedroom doors locked along with a hot press door. Each of them were basically kicked in. Doors, frames and locks all destroyed on 5 different doors. Over €2000 to fix them all alone. Still waiting to hear back from the insurance to see if they will cover it.

Insurance Works

You may not think it now but you probably did manage to stop them completely clearing out your house by having the doors locked, imagine if they were just strolling about and had free access to everything it would be an absolute free-for-all for them.

What I find the worst part for yourself now can be the way in which your insurance company deal with you, from my experience they do not want to pay out and wherever they can avoid it they will, make sure you have a loss assessor on the case acting on your behalf.

I can tell you one thing for sure, providing you do have the correct insurance cover in place you will be entitled to full reinstatement for all of the damaged parts of your building and all of the stolen contents, so if you are representing yourself in this case just be careful.

MDPolak

Insurance Works wrote: »

I think at this stage every house should have a burglar alarm, as this is proven to be an obvious deterrent.

We dealt with one burglary last Christmas where there had been 2 adjoining properties burgled, the culprits attempted to gain access to the first house and they could not get through the door, although they did manage to damage it, but when they got in to the second house they stole lots of belongings and 2 cars.

Hi everyone. My first post here so please be tolerant

Regarding burglar alarm; it's good to have one but it won't help if they brake in to your house with simple screwdriver and then ask you to turn the alarm off threatening you with a knife or other deadly weapon. You'd be lucky if you're not there at the time of burglary and only come back home later on to find out that your laptop and the camera is gone and your front door has been damaged. Believe me or not but if this happen you will hand over everything they ask for, to protect yourself and your family and you'll do the right thing because risking your life is not worth it. So the question is, wouldn't be better to invest a little bit of your money to make your house more secure and keep the burglars outside or at least increase their attempts to brake in to maximum? There's only a few things to be done:
- Removing weak PVC or wooden front door and installing strong security door which is not possible or at least very difficult to break through. Most expensive thing but if you search carefully on the internet you can find a good offer and get this done for about 1300-1500Euro.
- Replacing regular door cylinder by attested one (anti-snap, anti bumping method) at your patio door + installing some extra surface mounted locks. Attested barrel cost 40-60Euro.
- Securing your windows (mainly at the back) and patio door against smashing by sticking some safety window films. Not sure what the price is but you can find out yourself.

Not that I'm an expert but these extras + house alarm will probably make your life easier.

Insurance Works

@MDPolak
I think that you are very correct in what you are saying there, I think that thankfully in Ireland these days most of the burglaries are opportunists and an alarm can be a simple and effective deterrent, people should have their properties secure as possible, I know i do, but afterall I am involved in an industry that deals with the repercussions of these incidents so I would be a little more security conscious than most.

However the point that I think is most important here is that people never want to feel like a prisoner in their own home.

Scotty #

Neighbours of mine was burgled a couple of months back on a Saturday afternoon. The alarm box had been dismantled (not sure if on the day or previously). They simply kicked in the glass of the patio door. No amount of fancy locks would have prevented it. Plus with it being toughened glass it doesn't 'crash' like a widow so it's not very noisy when smashed, sounds more like a bucket of ice being thrown on the floor.

As seems to be the current MO with burglaries, they bypassed all electronics for a small amount of cash and gold.

Insurance Works

There definitely should be some regulation of all of these 'cash for gold' dealers. They set up meetings in local community centres and halls and everyone and anyone can bring in gold and walk away with an amount of cash no questions asked. I know for fact that this type of business is fuelling burglaries.

Insurance Works

Anybody that is concerned about the security that their front door gives to their home should definitely check this video out


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctvzx04UKZM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Lantus

A few points on burglaries....

1/ A house alarm provides pyschological comfort but not much else. Research in the UK has shown that most burlgars pay little attention to the alarm. They can be either bypassed and are generally ignored in todays society by neighbours and passers by.

The average burglar spends 3 to 4 minutes in a property and so even ones connected to eircom phone watch or whatever its called wont be any good unless you can be there in an instant.

By all means get one if you like and hopefully get cheaper insurace but dont rely on it.

2/ Most window locks and frames are pretty useless and can be forced and removed without much effort. Secondary locks are essential espeically on patio doors. When the crims are just breaking the entire glass to get in no amount of locks or alarms will help you as these are determined people who will probably hurt anyone that gets in their way. There are highly toughened glass panels available though to combat this.

To the person who locked all their internal doors. This is a common mistake. If the external boundary can be breached then nothing will stop them. Take great care claiming on your insurance for such a small sum. your annual insurance premium may increase by anything from €300 to €1000 PER YEAR on top of what your allready paying for making a claim like this. Factor this into any decision.


Basically dont keep anything valuable on view and dont tell anyone about any fancy stuff, gold or otherwise. (you'd be amazed at how mnay people brag about stuff like this.)

Build up good relations with neighbours to keep watch.

Invest in good secondary locks and where you feel an alarm.

Most burglary's are opportunity driven. open windows and easy picking opportunuties are where they strike first.

Scotty #

Good post Lantus.

I agree strongly on the alarm. I think the main advantage is peace of mind while you sleep. Knowing you won't wake at 5am with someone standing over you with a boiling kettle of water looking for your PIN number. Internal siren when getting an alarm fitted is a must.

Unfortunately, locks will only keep honest people out.

Insurance Works

Good advice Lantus

Fussy Eater

Having fairly recently moved to Ireland one of aspects of daily life that has struck me most is the amount of bloody house alarms that set-off. Really irritating. No wonder they're ignored.

kormak

and if you are unfortunate enough to get burgeled... don't depend on the Cops doing too much!!
They're about as useful as a nun with big boobs! (Trust me, it's happened me twice in the past.)

Scotty #

Not really a fair comment Kormak. Most burglars are in and out in 2-4 minutes. The burglary get reported 1,2, maybe 5 hours later?

When the Guards do arrive they will take a list of what's stolen and will do a forensics exam. What more can they do?? What do you feel wasn't done the twice you were robbed?

Have a look at the latest statistics. Detection rates are actually pretty high.

kormak

Scotty # wrote: »

Not really a fair comment Kormak. Most burglars are in and out in 2-4 minutes. The burglary get reported 1,2, maybe 5 hours later?

When the Guards do arrive they will take a list of what's stolen and will do a forensics exam. What more can they do?? What do you feel wasn't done the twice you were robbed?

Have a look at the latest statistics. Detection rates are actually pretty high.

The last two times I was burgled, once in my parents house and once in my own house.
On both occasions the Gardai took nearly 6/7/8 hours to arrive onsite.
I would expect them to arrive a little more timely than this. Stolen goods change hands VERY QUICKLY!!

On both occasions they speculated who it could have been and how they "might" have gained entry without very little examination of the scene.
I expect them to me more thorough in their seraches instead of just speculating...

They took statements and then I never heard from them again... When I queried weeks later I got blunt responses back!
I cannot go into too touch detail for obvious legal reasons but let's just say it wouldn't (or should I say doesn't) inspire confidence in them. (I'm speaking purely out of persoanl opinion here of course!!)

spider_pig

our house was done last night the house was ran sacked
the guards just came and had a look around took few minor details name address etc
we even knew who did it as they were caught by the girlfriends brother who lives directly across from us had seen flashes of lights coming from the rooms knowing we were away for the night caught two fellas who live 5 doors up in the act
one has just been arrested doubt much will be done tho his word against ours no finger prints of noting taken so no proof really is there
slap on the wrist and out in an hour id say

MugMugs

Robbed by your neighbours? A new low.

markc1184

Antares wrote: »

Robbed by your neighbours? A new low.

Mine turned out to be a neighbour too. From 2 doors away. He got 6 months for it.

highlandseoghan

Tougher sentences is needed in this country. I have read so many times of criminals being up in court on there 15 - 30 conviction. First offence maybe give them a short sentence but if the same person is back in court for serious offence they need to be given a tough sentence. There just going into court knowing how the system works and an hour later walking straight back out free to do it all over again.

MugMugs

highlandseoghan wrote: »

Tougher sentences is needed in this country. I have read so many times of criminals being up in court on there 15 - 30 conviction. First offence maybe give them a short sentence but if the same person is back in court for serious offence they need to be given a tough sentence. There just going into court knowing how the system works and an hour later walking straight back out free to do it all over again.

Where do we put them though?

positron

Antares wrote: »

Where do we put them though?

This is the thing. I have thought about it a lot about this - apparently it costs the state 72,000 or so euro to keep a person in prison. What the flip? Isn't that double the average industrial wage for someone does 40 hours or more of hard work per week, many hours of commute and associated costs, might be supporting a family, puts up with crappy health service and the criminals in the society and pay the tax and levies etc, where as someone who knowingly broke the law and made some hardworking lad / families life miserable, get either just a slap on the wrist, or some minor fine, or a very minor jail term, or in the very extreme cases, a longer jail term, but only to be put into an 'open prison' after a year or so, and provided with free accommodation, food, entertainment, education and what not! And if they decide to walk out of the 'open prison', hmm, that's okay, because we don't have enough resource to go and find them. :rolleyes:

If I were in charge (let's all hope I won't be, EVER), I would seriously suggest outsourcing our prison system. Just the thought of spending a few months in some flea infested dark jail cells of South East Asia or arid sub-saharan Africa would put the fear of law into our local scum.

/sorry for ranting..!

MugMugs

positron wrote: »

/sorry for ranting..!

I don't think you're ranting and it's relevant to the topic at hand.
I spent an afternoon in Dundalk court and was appalled by what I saw. I've had one speeding ticket in my life and for everything else, I've never been caught

I don't have a record and I don't really plan to either but if lets say my car tax was out by a few months or I did something stupid some night when pished.... I'd be screwed to the wall.

Personally I think we need to introduce work camps and if you don't work and don't hit your quota then you lose luxuries. Not basic luxuries, but stuff like TV, Magazines etc... and if you persist in non compliance then your sentence keeps getting longer.

We do need to get tougher.... I agree..... A spell in South East Asia though? Maybe not !

Point is, there's no real deterrence for these guys.

Antares

Antares wrote: »

I don't think you're ranting and it's relevant to the topic at hand.
I spent an afternoon in Dundalk court and was appalled by what I saw. I've had one speeding ticket in my life and for everything else, I've never been caught

I don't have a record and I don't really plan to either but if lets say my car tax was out by a few months or I did something stupid some night when pished.... I'd be screwed to the wall.

Personally I think we need to introduce work camps and if you don't work and don't hit your quota then you lose luxuries. Not basic luxuries, but stuff like TV, Magazines etc... and if you persist in non compliance then your sentence keeps getting longer.

We do need to get tougher.... I agree..... A spell in South East Asia though? Maybe not !

Point is, there's no real deterrence for these guys.

It's not just the courts, the Gardai have a part to play as well. We called after an attempted burglary, two came down in a squadcar and one got out and took a statement on the street. Meantime a neighbour came running out having disturbed probably the same person in her house. Still neither of the Gardai checked the back garden and later that night someone around the back got broken into.
As well as that the Gardai love easy targets. I've seen plenty of times where people will be sitting drinking in town for hours on end hassling people and nothing done about it. Few people keeping to themselves though and the Gardai love to pick them out instead.

MugMugs

Deleted User wrote: »

It's not just the courts, the Gardai have a part to play as well. We called after an attempted burglary, two came down in a squadcar and one got out and took a statement on the street. Meantime a neighbour came running out having disturbed probably the same person in her house. Still neither of the Gardai checked the back garden and later that night someone around the back got broken into.
As well as that the Gardai love easy targets. I've seen plenty of times where people will be sitting drinking in town for hours on end hassling people and nothing done about it. Few people keeping to themselves though and the Gardai love to pick them out instead.

I won't discredit your claims but to be honest, most dealings that I've had with the Gardai were quite positive with the odd exception to Driving issues etc..

I don't think the system will ever be flawless but think we should make our local Representatives stand up and notice the concerns that we have.

highlandseoghan

I would do away with all the luxuries they get in prison. No tv no magazines no gyms nothing 4 walls and a 2 hour walk about. Minor convictions I would give community service, let them help clean the streets, scrub graffiti of walls, clean our rivers of all the crap there is loads that they could do to free up badly needed cells for real criminals that attack people and break into peoples properties. Feed them the bare essentials and water. If there willing to do the crime they can do the time in the worst conditions. Why are we treating them to so much when there is decent ordinary people less well off than what they get locked up.

O you got caught robbing a house for the 100th time ok its time you went to this lovely prison, we will feed you lovely food let you watch tv have fun and learn anything you want - Where is the justice in that?

MugMugs

I think we still have meet general human rights mate.

highlandseoghan

But what about human rights for the people that get attacked while sleeping in there beds, People that get held up at gun point. Some of these attacks leave hard working decent folk shook up and in fear for years. If there willing to go out and do damage to other peoples property or to another human well I don't think they should have any rights.

MugMugs

highlandseoghan wrote: »

But what about human rights for the people that get attacked while sleeping in there beds, People that get held up at gun point. Some of these attacks leave hard working decent folk shook up and in fear for years. If there willing to go out and do damage to other peoples property or to another human well I don't think they should have any rights.

http://www.un.org/en/

Talk to them about

Scotty #

Antares wrote: »

Robbed by your neighbours? A new low.

Not at all. I'd say a huge percentage of burglaries are by neighbours or people who are known to the victim.

highlandseoghan wrote: »

Tougher sentences is needed in this country.

I agree but not sure that will work. Look at the US. Murder rates in states with the death penalty are no lower than those that don't have it.

positron wrote: »

apparently it costs the state 72,000 or so euro to keep a person in prison. What the flip?

Prison Guards are among the highest paid civil servants in the country. I watched a program on Strangeways the other night and it took 12 guards to move one inmate from one cell to another because he was so uncooperative, not violent, just wouldn't do anything he was told. Dentists, doctors, guards, teachers, councillors, chefs, administrators, wardens, maintenance, etc, etc, etc..... all adds up. I'm surprised it's not more tbh.

Antares wrote: »

Personally I think we need to introduce work camps and if you don't work and don't hit your quota then you lose luxuries.

I'd be all for this. SME's could be set up that might even turn a profit and might give proper employment to inmates upon release.

highlandseoghan wrote: »

O you got caught robbing a house for the 100th time ok its time you went to this lovely prison, we will feed you lovely food let you watch tv have fun and learn anything you want - Where is the justice in that?

Full dental and medical care, 3rd level education, temporary release for family occasions, gym access... sure they have a higher standard of living than most of us.

The thing is, if you treat people like animals they will behave like animals. I do think items like Playstations and TV's inside cells are a bit on the luxury side but there does have to be a balance. The treat threat of prison needs to be more of a deterrent than it currently is. We need 3x -5x times as many prison spaces than we have at the moment but we just don't have the money to fund them.

positron

Scotty # wrote: »

Prison Guards are among the highest paid civil servants in the country. I watched a program on Strangeways the other night and it took 12 guards to move one inmate from one cell to another because he was so uncooperative, not violent, just wouldn't do anything he was told. Dentists, doctors, guards, teachers, councillors, chefs, administrators, wardens, maintenance, etc, etc, etc..... all adds up. I'm surprised it's not more tbh.

That is just about everything that's wrong about current prison system. Chef to cook for prisoners who sit around doing nothing? Give them a kitchen and tell them to cook for everyone, and for the homeless - like a soup kitchen, manned by prisoners. Prison system with telly, library, sports activities, chef and laundry sounds like a nice hotel - and free education too, what's there not to like about Irish prisons? :rolleyes:

spider_pig

Scotty # wrote: »

Full dental and medical care, 3rd level education, temporary release for family occasions, gym access... sure they have a higher standard of living than most of us.

addition to the list... they get paid too for doing noting i think its €1 0r 75cent a day which u can save up for the shop or u can save it up and when you get out its yours so nice little sum of money if your doing some long time it really is like a holiday camp

highlandseoghan

Just heard this and I am shocked. Straight away this is money that could be saved or put into the country to get people back working.


Footballs for prisoners cost taxpayers €80k in past 2 years
Figures from Prison Service show the cost of new balls has increased from almost €36,000 in 2010 to nearly €46,000 last year. The expenditure was part of a €770,000 sports budget for the prison system in 2010 and 2011.

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

kormak

highlandseoghan wrote: »

Just heard this and I am shocked. Straight away this is money that could be saved or put into the country to get people back working.


Footballs for prisoners cost taxpayers €80k in past 2 years
Figures from Prison Service show the cost of new balls has increased from almost €36,000 in 2010 to nearly €46,000 last year. The expenditure was part of a €770,000 sports budget for the prison system in 2010 and 2011.

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

how else do you expect them to get all that heroin over those high prison walls?