In the past few months the Cincinnati area especially Indian Hill and Hyde Park have been experiencing a rash of professional break-in’s targeting the owner’s bedrooms.
The general method is for them to case the house and break in between 5:30 pm and 10pm. The thefts are NOT known to be armed and do not seem to touch any firearms since that greatly increases the criminal charges if they get caught. They are stealing cash, jewelry, watches and designer handbags. These burglaries are being carried out by organized crime gangs mostly from Chile. The criminals are in the US as tourists. Chileans are the only tourists from South America that do not need visas to tour the United States under the ‘Visa Waiver Program’. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visa-waiver-program.html. This problem is not limited to the Cincinnati Area. It is happening across large sections of the United States.
They often enter a owner’s bedroom thru a window or door breaking out the glass to avoid the alarm sensor. To reach 2nd floors they have piled up patio furniture. The Indian Hill Rangers have arrested multiple individuals and were instrumental in getting four individuals recently arrested in West Virginia that were linked to the Indian Hill burglaries. In one of the recent arrests a portable radio frequency (RF) jammer was recovered. The unit was only marginally effective in blocking RF signals and did not prevent alarm signals from being transmitted during a recent test. The jammer unit seemed to have an extremely short range.
There have been many false rumors circulating on social media and text groups. Dial One Security has met with the Indian Hill Rangers multiple times to share notes and debunk these rumors. The rumors include that the criminals have portable laser cutters to cut glass, this is untrue. They are simply breaking the glass sometimes using a small impact tool. Another rumor is that the criminals have “glass break detector detectors”, this is untrue. There is a rumor that a former alarm technician has been involved, this is also untrue. One rumor that is true is that there were some dogs that were abused by the burglars. There is one case that we know of in Hyde Park were this was captured on the resident’s camera system. This particular resident did not have their alarm system on. We do not know of any dogs being abused by the burglars in Indian Hill. If you hear of any facts that seem a bit suspect please email them to Dial One Security and we will fact check them and get information out that everyone can use.
What Dial One Security is recommending:
Confirm and/or upgrade your communications to dual path with one of the paths being a hardwired ethernet cable. Confirm that RF Jamming detection is enabled on your system with proper instructions on what to do if a RF jamming signal is detected, this may be different for different police jurisdictions.. Add glass break sensors, window sensors and motion sensors to 2nd floor owner bedrooms. Add cameras to your home especially around the exterior. Do not store cash, jewelry, or expensive watches in the owners bedroom. Leave lights and televisions on when you are not home, make your home look occupied. Never leave unsecured ladders outside your home. Do NOT post on social media your travel plans or post photos of you on the beach. Criminals are known to check social media to gather information of which homes may be unoccupied. And maybe most important lock your doors and turn your alarm system on.
Dial One Security’s opinion looking forward:
We do not believe that this problem will go away with the capture of a few individuals. This current crime wave may be the result of hundreds of groups of the foreign criminals. With the relaxed ‘Visa Waiver Program’ and the lack of security at the US borders these ‘visitors’ will continue to come to the United States somewhat unrestricted. The availability and capibilities of these RF Jammers will continue to increase and the price will continue to decrease. Our Federal Government will be very slow to modify the ‘Visa Waiver Program’ and the Federal Government does not seem to be willing or able to enforce the current laws restricting the sale and use of these RF Jammers.
Unfortunately Dial One Security believes that the current situation is the new normal.
