A home break-in is an offence involving illegally breaking into a house or any building with an intent to steal the property. As per the recent statistics, 473 break-ins are reported by the Police. If you are a victim of break-in crime in Portland, and wondering what you should do after a break-in? Well, this article is just for you!
We understand that in traumatic situations like these most of you find yourselves unprepared and unsure about what you need to do. So, in this article, we have come up with some important steps to be taken immediately after a break-in.
What should you do after a break-in?
After a break-in, the best thing to do is keeping yourself calm rather than getting anxious. We know that it’s easier to say but difficult to do it. However, keeping your cool helps to focus on taking some important steps right after a break-in. Here are some important steps you should consider:
1.Make sure you are safe:
If you sense that a thief is in your house, try to remain calm without making noises. Don’t give any benefit of the doubt to the thief about your presence. This gives you the advantage to keep yourself and your family in a safe place. Make sure you lock the doors and use a strong barrier so that the intruder won’t be able to reach you.
2.Call the Police:
If you are a victim of a break-in, once you find a safe place make sure you call up the police and explain about your situation. Give all the information to the dispatchers such as:
- Name
- Address
- Contact Number
- Description of the break-in scene
Don’t touch anything until the police arrive because everything around you serves as evidence that could help to find the burglars. Lodging your break-in complaint ensures that it gets on record which later helps to claim insurance with ease.
3. Assist the Police investigation.
Once the police arrive at your place, you are safe. The police will start inspecting the break-in and try to understand the whole property crime scene. They will start the primary investigation by asking you all the required questions in detail. All you need to do is co-operate the police investigation by answering all their questions.
If you have CCTV cameras installed, you can produce the footage as a break-in crime evidence.
4. Record all the stolen items.
During a burglary, some of the most common stolen valuables include jewellery, cash, electronic items and antiques. Take extra care and create a home inventory list of all the stolen or damaged items due to break-in. Jot down a thorough description of each item and add the approximate value of them. Make sure you don’t miss out anything in the inventory list as you will be submitting it to your insurance company. Take photos of the whole property crime so that you can also present it as visual evidence to the insurance company.
5. Get in touch with your insurance company.
You should get in touch with your insurance company within 24 hours of break-in. To file a claim, gather all the supporting documents including the police report. Once you submit all the required documents the insurance company will assess your property and process your claim. Till the insurance process is over make sure you don’t tamper the evidence in any way or else it can complicate the process.
6. Clean up everything.
Break-in creates unbearable losses caused due to physical damage to your doors and windows. It’s overwhelming to clean up everything and put it back together after a break-in. Apart from the physical damage if your financial documents are stolen work on getting new documents. It’s better to clean up everything after your insurance company visits your place to analyze the losses. This way it helps you to reimburse your recovery expenses by the insurance company.
7. Repair all the damages caused due to break-in.
Once you finish taking all the legal steps after the break-in, you can start the repair work. It is better to hire repairmen to fix all your broken doors and windows. Make sure you record all the repair expenses, as it helps you to get some reimbursement based on the severity of the damage.
8.Upgrade your security system.
Before a break-in, burglars pre-plan and target the homes that give them the advantage to break-in with least effort. Having a sturdy lock and key system for your property makes it difficult for burglars to break-in. Now there are lots of burglar-proof security system available which you can consider to install to your property.
By doing this, you can reduce the risk and protect your property against future break-ins. Get in touch with a professional locksmith who can upgrade your security to prevent from future burglars.
Call Locksmith Monkey in PDX to secure your property from break-ins:
If you are a victim of a break-in, we understand how traumatizing it is to deal with. We at Locksmith Monkey aim at securing your place by providing emergency locksmith services.
Our emergency locksmith services include:
| Get Keys Out of Locked Car | Unlocking a House Without a Key |
| Get you in to your Locked Office or Business | Opening locked car trunks |
| Removal of broken keys | Re-key or Repairs of a Broken lock |
| Lock Repairs in case of a Break-in | Get you in to your Locked House |
With effective security solutions, we help you to figure out what works best for you. Don’t forget to get in touch with us immediately, if you face any break-in. Contact us and we will be there for your rescue.
