Villa Broken Into

[patti]

Oh if only!! About 12 yrs ago there was an English ex-policeman complete with ex-police dog who used to patrol our area every night at various times (free of charge, he said it kept both him and his dog alert) we did not have any problems. Alas both he and dog are no longer with us

[pjeriksson]

http://www.algarveresident.com/story.asp?XID=32972

Carvoeiro burglaryUpdated: 03-Sep-2009

Two men were caught by GNR police while attempting to burgle a villa in Carvoeiro.

The individuals, aged 18 and 19, had broken into the property in the Vale de Milho complex in the early hours of August 28 and were arrested while trying to steal valuable items.

The youths are suspected of several burglaries in the Carvoeiro area and one was even arrested in June and had to report regularly to the GNR.

[patti]

If these are the same youths we have been told about the latters punishment was that he had to report to the police every other day instead of once a week. Still leaves his evenings free!!

[EMM]

No different than the UK then !

[Bristle Si]

Vermin!!

No second chance in my world!

Trouble is the western world has become far too lenient. I'd follow the Saudi line.....off with their hands! And to anyone that thinks that i'm jesting....i'm not!!

[EMM]

Statistics I have seen show 94,000 recorded burglaries in the metropolitan police area alone in 2007/8.
Home office statistic for England and wales Broken down by police Authority.
Thats 3 times more than all of Portugal
(violence against the person 172,000 recorded incidents also in the met.)

Where would you rather live ??

That's not the issue. I was merely pointing out that Portugal is not a totally 'safe' place to live, immune from crime, that's all. Some people are so touchy on this forum.

And if it is far worse in UK that Portugal in terms of numbers of crimes, there are only 10m people in Portugal; the UK has 6 times the number of people, so in terms of these type of crimes/head of population there's not actually much difference.

My point is that we all need to be just as vigilant in Portugal as when we're at home in the UK; it is no longer a safe haven from this type of crime.

Population in London 6million . number of burglaries 94,000. population in Portugal 10million number of burglaries 30,0000.
1 third of those in London . !!

3 years ago on our large (unenclosed )development in Allbufeira we we have our apartment we had a spate of breakins, the management company installed CCTV and employed 24 hour roving patrols.
We NO longer have a serious problem and the owners despite a few grumbles are happy to pay.
Crime prevention is more effective than punishment and maybe it is up to the owners of areas such as ADM to employ their own security. It is also the responsibility of owners to ensure that they have adequate locks, safes and working alarms.
Renters should ask if that is a concern.

[Michael Crane]

I went and bought some 2x1 to fit in the channels of the doors and window according to the GNR they forced the shutters on another villa and broke the glass so I suppose if they are desperate! and I didn't realise they have to catch them in the villa outside is no good

Fitting a bit of wood does an excellent job of stopping the inner door from sliding across, but the static outer door is reliant solely on the lock on the slider. If you look closely you'll see that this is often just a hole in the frame and it relies on less than 1/4" of soft aluminium - which can very easily be forced out. The inner slider is secure but the outer one is not.

Also, on the patio doors a spade (something that anyone could walk around with without causing suspicion) can be used to lever out either door! If you never open the outer door/window (the 'slave') it's a good idea to physically screw it into position. Also, clamps or similar can be screwed to the tops of the sliders to stop them being pushed up popped out of the bottom runner.

Shutter bolts should be bolted (not screwed) to the frame so they cannot be popped out, and the bolt should go as deep into its keep as possible.

In the vast majority of cases it is the opportunistic thief that you should be aware of - and that means being vigilant and mindful of the ways in which one can easily gain access to your property while you sit peacefully by the pool. Get one of your party to see if they can get in while you sit by the pool - and if they can . . . . .

Finally, back to a piece of wood. Have a nice heft piece by the bed and if you catch a thief in the act - wallop 'em hard with it!

[JohnaLynne]

I did get a bit of 4x2 Michael which I kept in the bedroom
What amazes me is the EU dictates what and how things are done in respect to loads of things in our lives! the doors and windows would not pass specifications in the UK in regards to locking, mine at home are 4 position locks and you cant lift them out the channels! it's so sad that owners/renters have to go so much trouble on what should be their stress free holiday spoilt by mainly Drug Addicts most of whome so I was told are not from Portugal

[EMM]

The suspects during our mini crime spree a few years ago came from a certain city in the NW of England.
One was caught on a balcony as they were climbing from one to another looking for open patio doors.

[Glenhayl]

My daughter arrived in Carvoeiro on Friday with her friends. On Saturday they went out for the night and arrived home early hours of the morning to find our property had been broken into. They telephoned the GNR who after an hour telephoned them and said that they had arrested 3 people on suspicion of theft not far from our property. They informed us that these people usually work with 5 people and said that the remaining 2 would be unable to do anything without the other 3. Our property is near Hibiscus Gardens, just make sure that everything is locked and alarmed.

[EMM]

They are obviously looking for " new arrivals " as they know that we are all in the holiday mood when we arrive and that security is not uppermost in our minds.
We know the area well and would not have thought it to be that vunerable as there are usually plenty of people about .

[Glenhayl]

Apparently according to the GNR they have 1 person checking the back of the property, another checking the front, 1 checking how many people are staying there and checking when they go out and another 1 is checking for hire cars. They have it well organised.

[martin.cork]

From what i have read and heard over the past year the GNR know who these people are.
Surely someone can unofficially post photos of these criminals on this website,
especially if they have been previously convicted.
We will then know what to look out for.
Has any person got descriptions of these criminals ????
Are they using transport ????
Carvoeiro is not a city, its a village,
visitors bring much needed cash to the Algarve/Carvoeiro and the least that can be done is that they are in safe accomodation.

[Glenhayl]

We were told by the GRN that they are illegal immigrants

[patti]

The ones caught breaking into a villa on VDM were Portuguese and came from Poco Partido,
but I understand from the police that there are quite a number of illegal immigrants in and aroun CVO