Crime Moves Indoors

With Labor Day behind us, a veteran East Hampton police officer remarked not so idly this week that, judging from past experience, crime was getting set to move indoors.

Many of the minor vandalisms and petty larcenies committed during the warm months - the cellular phone thefts from cars with rolled-down windows, the pocketbook-snatchings from unattended beach towels, the robberies in unlocked motel rooms - die a natural death, so to speak, as it gets colder. And then where do the bad guys turn?

Often, according to the police, to unoccupied houses, which, of course, the South Fork has in abundance. The many second homes left vacant here, especially during midweek, are tempting targets for thieves, not only the home-grown variety but also out-of-town pros.

Of all the ways to protect against burglars, awareness is the most important. It's surprising how many city residents drop their guards and leave their doors unlocked once they arrive in "the country." Once upon a time no one thought twice about doing that, or about leaving the key someplace other than under the flower pot or the jewelry somewhere else than in the top dresser drawer. Nowadays, it's as much a signal that no one is home as forgetting to cancel the newspaper delivery.

Crime can be discouraged and break-ins avoided, sometimes simply by leaving a car in the driveway (though not covered), a radio playing, or an outside light on. Think about it.