Camera catches thieves breaking into Greenwood home

GREENWOOD, Ind. (WISH) — Surveillance video shows the moment two thieves break into a Greenwood home.

Local police departments typically see a rise in thefts around the holidays, but one department says this year is different.

It wasn’t until their daughter got off the bus and found their house in disarray that a Greenwood family realized their home had been broken into. Luckily, they had a camera inside their home that caught the thieves in action.

Sure enough they see two men breaking in through a back window and rummaging through their home. The homeowner says the thieves broke in around 1:30 in the afternoon while the family was out and stole money, purses and luggage.

Investigations Commander Damian Katt with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department said, “Normally, we do tend to see a spike in daytime burglaries — the porch pirates — and just theft in general and we have really not seen an influx. We are kind of down a little bit, and gratefully.”

The family made a police report, but the Grinches that tried to steal their Christmas still haven’t been caught.

“When people are talking about traveling through the holidays and maybe going to visit family out of town or on the other side of town for that matter there are some really pretty easy things to do,” Katt said.

Experts recommend:

• Having a trustworthy neighbor keep an eye on your house,
• Make sure your mail doesn’t fill up in the box indicating that you are not home.
• If possible, have some kind of security system in place.

“Thieves are looking for a quick, easy target. Security lights or security cameras make it less easy,” Katt said.

Katt says the reason his department isn’t seeing theft cases jump as they usually do this time of year may partially be due to the coronavirus pandemic keeping people home more than usual, giving thieves less of a window to attack. Even if you’re not home, Katt says, it’s best to make it look like someone is.

“Making sure that you are not advertising that we are gone for even a couple hours really,” Katt said.

Police are also reminding motorists not to keep anything visible in their vehicles that may tempt a thief to break in, and make sure doors on the car are locked at all times.