Convicted Burglars Offer Tips on How to Protect Your Home

From houses in country clubs to those on country roads, homes everywhere in eastern North Carolina are the targets of burglars.
In fact, data from the State Bureau of Investigation shows the number of burglaries in our state is on the rise.
More than 105,000 burglaries were reported in North Carolina in 2006 -- tens of thousands of those were right here in the east.
Nine is On Your Side with ways you can protect your home and your family.
And in this special report, Nine On Your Side's Philip Jones went straight to the source, and talked with a pair of convicted burglars inside a prison here in the east who say safeguarding yourself can be easier -- and cheaper -- than you might think. 
For Eric Watts, breaking into homes just like yours was about more than just stealing valuables.
For him and fellow inmate Michael Steele, burglary turned in to an addiction.
“It was really a thrill, a rush, just going inside of a house knowing I could walk like a cat, and couldn't nobody hear me,” Watts said.
Both of these men fed that addiction for years before getting busted -- and landing at the Craven Correctional Institution.
Watts has four years left to serve of a 12 ½ year sentence.
The earliest Steele can be released is 2026.
Not surprisingly, both men say they regret the crimes they've committed in the past, and both wanted to talk to us to prevent people like them from targeting people like you.
“My thing is, if a person really wants to keep their house from being broke in, use common sense,” Watts said.
He and Steele say you should start with a quick trip to your toolbox or the local hardware store, where you can find a whole host of things that will stop burglars in their tracks.
Watts says putting nails at the top of your windows make them harder to open -- and could keep a burglar from getting in.
“[You] can't raise the window,” he said. “And if it's got the cross in there, and you break the window, it causes a burglar to go through a lot of changes and they don't want to go through that. See, timing is what it's all about.”
Steele agrees.
“Anything that's going to put time on him, he's probably going to leave,” Steele said. “Because now it's taking up too much time.”
These men say time, light and sound are a burglar's worst enemies -- and it's probably easier than you might think to make life hard for a burglar.
In addition to the nails over your windows, Watts and Steele say putting rubber door stops under all the doors in your house is a simple way to slow burglars down -- and potentially keep them from coming in to your home. The best part about it is, they only cost a few bucks at your local hardware store.
And when it comes to sound, these former burglars say alarm systems are great -- but they can easily be disabled.
Your best defense, they say, is man's best friend.
“There's nothing wrong with having a yacking dog -- a dog that loves to yack all the time,” Watts said.
From peppering your yard with lawn ornaments and piling obstacles onto your front steps, to having motion-sensor lights all around your house, Watts and Steele say anything that will slow a burglar down, make noise or cut on a light are defenses.
And if this all sounds pretty simple -- it really is.
As you heard these men say, protecting yourself boils down to exercising common sense.
In addition, they say they like to steer clear of apartments. Because there's usually only one way in and one way out, that gives a burglar fewer options -- and the less options they have, the less likely they are to break in.