Burglars Beware: The Unemployed are Watching

Here's some unexpected good news to come out of this prolonged, crappy recession: burglary rates are down, in a big way!

While crime experts expected a big spike in break-ins as desperate people turn to desperate measures, it turns out the opposite is true. Why? Most likely because more unemployed people are home, which means they can keep a closer eye on their possessions and neighborhood.

Startlingly, some of the biggest crime drops are in areas economically hit the hardest. For instance, Rockford, Ill., a struggling manufacturing community, had a 16.9 percent unemployment rate in August, the highest in the state. Yet they had 1,849 burglaries from January through mid-October, more than 400 fewer than the same period last year.

"We were thinking, 'here we go,'" Rockford deputy police chief Theo Glover told The Associated Press. But the surge in burglaries never came.

Frank Beil, a 71-year-old hospital chaplain from suburban Chicago was laid off in March, and is typical of a citizen working to keep crime down by keeping a close watch. He takes notice when a car drives slowly down the street, or strangers walk along the sidewalk. "You don't know if that might be people staking you out, finding out if you're home or not," he said.

The drop in break-ins nationwide is significant because they were on the upswing in previous years. The number of break-ins rose between 2007 and 2008, and experts predicted they would continue to rise as the economy tanked.

But Patrick Rosario, 33, knows first-hand the power of an unemployed and pissed-off homeowner. In February, two burglars entered his Bellevue, Wash. home and began stacking computer and electronic equipment by the door. They had no idea Rosario, who was unemployed, was in the basement. Rosario realized what was happening and secretly crept out of the house and snuck away ... in the getaway car the thieves had left idling in front of the house!

"I drove to a friend's house up the street," Rosario told the AP. "My neighbor drove by and saw [the thieves] faces and they had big O's for mouths." Cool.

In a dragged-out recession, unexpected good news puts a much-needed positive spin on a bad economy.

Photo courtesy of Jenny Rollo via stock.xchang.