Burglaries near Dean and Franklin

At least three buildings have been broken into in the past few days. In at least two of the cases, the intruders came in during the daytime from the roof and kicked in doors within the apartments when they suspected nobody would be home.

Please keep your eyes open and report any suspicious activity!

Awesome.

Were the buildings on Dean or were they on Franklin?

I know of two on Dean and a cop mentioned another south of Dean on Franklin.

some schmucks tried getting in my apartment windows about a month ago. they were on the roof, climbed down the fire escape and just came right in. My roomie was home (i was not) and yelled "WHAT THE FUCK" and they took off... i wonder if it's related. I'm on Prospect btween Grand/Classon.

seems likely...

can you have bars put on your fire escape windows??

brooklynleather wrote: seems likely...

can you have bars put on your fire escape windows??

Bars, no. They make security gates for fire escape windows that latch shut from the inside.

And if you have an A/C in your window, make sure the top half can't pull down (bolt it or something). We're on the 3rd floor and had someone come in that way last year. They even jumped sideways about 4 feet from the fire escape to the window sill, then hoisted themselves up on their back.

Point being, check all your windows, not just the ones right near the fire escape.

And renter's insurance.

Will there ever be enough burglaries via fire escapes for the city to reconsider the mandate that all buildings must have fire escapes? It seems like there would be not nearly as many burglaries if practically all the buildings weren't equipped with easily accessible exterior stairways.

Chekhovian wrote: Will there ever be enough burglaries via fire escapes for the city to reconsider the mandate that all buildings must have fire escapes? It seems like there would be not nearly as many burglaries if practically all the buildings weren't equipped with easily accessible exterior stairways.

that seems crazy -- you must have 2 ways to exit a home. if you have a house, that means a front and back door. as someone who lives on the 3rd floor, my home must have 2 exits as well -- the main stairwell and a fire escape. It is not mandated that all buildings have exterior fire escapes - but merely a fire exit. big buildings often times have them inside. Think of schools, hospitals, high rises, etc - multiple stairwells.

Get a gate and be sure it works. Bolt other windows (like a previous poster said, including ones with ACs in them). Have renter's insurance.

(edited for embarrassing/sloppy spelling...)

I agree. Lived in a weird sublet in Harlem one summer that had no fire escape. Made me so nervous! I could smell neighbors smoking at 3am (and all my neighbors were elderly, homebound).

Definitely worth having a fire escape, just take the precautions.

Hi, just found this board. So, my building was one of the buildings that got broken into on Dean (Tuesday, broad daylight).

Our building is on Dean, just three doors down from Franklin ave towards Bedford. It's probably the nicest looking building in that area. I actually just moved there two weeks ago. So, the thieves came in. They kicked down the door on the top floor and took a lot of things, valuable electronics and jewelry and trashed the place (not my place). They kicked down the door of my place, but didn't really take anything except for stacks of quarters, even though there were electronics in plain view. They kicked down the last door, and woke up a sleeping guy got spooked and ran.

Cops couldn't figure out how they got it. Roof was latched, and if they came in that way they relatched it afterwards. Our landlord has since ramped up security in the building.

But I think this is really, really serious. My sister lived on Park Place and Franklin from 2004 to 2008 and nothing ever happened. I lived in Bushwick for the past year and nothing ever happened, but I moved to Franklin because I thought it would be safer. Now there's this rash of burglaries? I feel like the area is getting more dangerous, and I'm extremely concerned b/c I just moved there.

Do others feel that this is an increasing trend or just random?
And BE CAREFUL! Lock your windows and double-lock your doors if you live in the area! Consider hiding valuables!

Sorry I live on Dean betw. Franklin and Bedford - are these happening in the large tenement buildings or at the brownstones - or both?

maybe a stupid question, but: how easy is it to kick in a door??? does having an additional deadbolt make it harder to do, or does this not matter? is there any way to make a door impossible to kick in?

crowhillkitty wrote: maybe a stupid question, but: how easy is it to kick in a door??? does having an additional deadbolt make it harder to do, or does this not matter? is there any way to make a door impossible to kick in?

It's all about the frame that holds the door ...absent a good metal frame, it's pretty easy.

But note, most of the burglaries listed don't involve a lot of force. Be smart, not fearful.

If you want to be fearful, you can get one of those old style "cop lock" bars that angles to the floor. ...but they only work when you are home, because you have to set them from the inside.

Is it possible to get an alarm system like ADT, that notifies police immediately? I don't know how much that would help, but it is that or trying to put gates on all your windows, including the fire escape one.

Not sure if anyone's still interested, but a group of 16-17 year old black teenagers, some of whom I believe lived on dean between franklin and bedford, were caught recently by cops while running out of another house they robbed. At least 3 of them confessed to numerous robberies, like more than 30.

But those who got robbed aren't getting their property back.

Fire safety is the most important ,so don't block, bar up, or barricade your windows leading to the fire escape in order to keep thugs out. Make sure that the roof door alarms are working so when and if somebody goes on the roof it's makes a blood curdling noise and possibly the roof runner(s) can be ID'd. There is another reason why roof alarms should be in working order and it can be life or death for children.RIP