How many people that walk through your neighborhood or by your house will have a direct effect on how many crimes happen in your area. My house is on the corner of the main drag. Foot traffic and vehicle traffic is pretty high. In fact, we have a school bus pickup in front of our house.
The 10% rule is in effect here. If there are only 10 people that come by your house a month, then chances are pretty slim that your house will be broken into. If 10,000 people walk by your house everyday, then chances are that a lot of them are going to be criminals and they may go after your house.
At my house, I’m more worried about the stuff I keep in my truck. High school kids that walk by and see expensive stuff everyday in my truck will sooner or later get curious or just find something that is worth value. So I hide everything and try to leave a bunch of (to them) worthless junk in view. I leave trailer spare tires in the bed for all to see. New, they are worth about $200, but to a teenager, they are huge and worth next to nothing.
If you pay attention to the traffic going by your house, you can start to see what they may want and know when you have to keep your guard up more. During the summer, my foot traffic is down in front of my house because there is no school. I also watch who is walking back and forth. There used to be a couple of drug using teenage friends in the area. One lived around the corner from me and one down the street. They always walked by my house to get to see one another. During that time, even the cops stopped to give me advice about keeping things from getting stolen. It was painfully obvious to me that any vehicle burglaries or smash and grab house burglaries being done on the block were being done by those two.
Other foot traffic to notice could be your neighbor’s teenage daughter’s new boy friend. He may be the type of guy she brings home just to piss off her dad. He may just look like a dirt bag/gang member or might actually be one.
One last form of traffic to be especially careful of is younger boys coming to visit your neighbors’ son when their son isn’t home and when your neighbors aren’t home. I’ve had more than one neighbor/friend lose expensive stuff because their son’s friends are burglarizing the house. One neighbor had a dog that was so mean I couldn’t be near it without them around because it would attack me. Even with the dog, somehow they kept getting burglarized by someone going through the side gate, into the yard with the dog, and forcing the back door.
Stay Safe,
Ben