Keep your home safe from holiday thieves

By Officer Rogelio Avelar
Officer Rogelio Avelar
Officer Rogelio Avelar

I have been a police officer with the Lemoore Police Department for four months. I was born inMexicoand moved to theUnited Stateswhen I was eleven years old. I moved to Tulare and attended Tulare Western High School. After I graduated high school, I attended College of the Sequoias in Visalia. In 2013, I found my passion for law enforcement and completed the College of theSequoiasPoliceAcademy.

As a Lemoore police officer, I am currently assigned to the patrol division where I get to interact with the community.

As the holiday season approaches, most of us decorate our homes. We buy expensive decorations and take pride in the hard work we put into making our home stand out from the other houses in the neighborhood. Spending our hard-earned cash on decorations we only put up for a few weeks. If you enjoy decorating your lawn, whether for different seasons or just the holidays, you may become a target for thieves. Here are a few tips to keep your property safe and to help law enforcement identify your property if it gets stolen.

Choose heavy items for lawn decorations. The heavy items will keep thieves from having a quick getaway. If you have items that are not heavy that you still want to put out in your yard, secure them as best as possible by tying them down. You may also want to invest in motion-activated lights for your home. The lights can help detour thieves from targeting your property. They can also help you and your neighbors identify anyone that may be on your property that should not be there.

Neighbors should help each other by calling the police if any suspicious activity is observed in the neighborhood. By working together everyone can help minimize the amount of thefts that occur in the neighborhood.   If you see anyone that is on your property or your neighbor's property that does not belong or seems suspicious, call the police. Try to get a physical (i.e. height, weight, age, and race) and clothing description. Do not try to confront them. Many thieves carry weapons and get can violent if they are confronted. They will hurt anyone who stands in their way to avoid going back to jail. Your safety is of utmost importance. 

You may also want to consider adopting a dog. Dogs not only make loving companions, but they protect their owners and home. Thieves will be less likely to approach a home that has a barking dog.

 If you have any property in your yard that you suspect could be stolen. Mark it with a number that you can later identify. This will help us identify your property if we later find it. There are two ways of reporting a crime with the Lemoore Police Department. We have online reporting at theLemooreCitywebsite, www.lemoore.com. Under the Lemoore Police Department tab, you will find a link that says online reporting. By going through those steps, you can file a police report in the comfort of your home. You can always call the Lemoore Police Department and have an Officer respond to your house to take the report.

Feel free to contact me with any questions. I can be reached by the Lemoore Police Department non-emergency daytime phone number of (559) 924-9574 (Monday-Friday 8a.m.-5 p.m.) or by utilizing our after-hours non-emergency phone number of (559) 924-5333. If you try to contact me on a day I am not working, feel free to leave me a message. My voice mail number is (559) 924-9792 and my e-mail address is rogelio.avelar@lemoorepd.com

 

On a side note, the Lemoore Police Department is sponsoring an event called Coffee with a Cop on Friday, November 14th at Rebekah's Espresso, 111 E Hanford Armona Road. The event will begin at 6:30 a.m. and is a good opportunity to get to know your Lemoore police officers, ask some questions, and get your day started with some good conversation. Visit the Lemoore Police Department's Facebook page for more details.

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