One Burglar Climbs a Tree, Another Just Walks Right In

If you really thought about it like a detective – or if you had one inspect your home – you'd probably find there are more ways in than you realize.

Two Wauwatosa residents learned the hard way this week.

According to police reports:

A resident of the 6900 block of West Wells Street reported Wednesday that between 6:45 and 10:40 p.m. his home was broken into and property was stolen.

He told police he had gone out for the evening and was sure he had securely locked the front door and turned out the lights. When he returned, he noticed a ceiling fan and light was on in his dining room.

Searching the house, he found things missing, rooms and drawers opened, and the back door unlocked.

He thought it was possible he had left that door unlocked, but police would find the burglar or burglars had used other means to get in.

In a spare bedroom upstairs, there was a closet, and in the back of the closet a door leading out onto the roof of a room below. A window pane in the door had been shattered with a brick – one similar to several others in the back yard.

Checking the roof, officers determined that the only way someone could have gotten up was by climbing a tree that had limbs overhanging the eves.

Also on the roof, officers found a comb with the name of a Milwaukee barber shop printed on it.

The homeowner lost a laptop computer and bag, a set of outdated keys, and at least one document from his safe with personal financial information. No one in the neighborhood had seen or heard anything suspicious.

Thinking it's locked doesn't mean it's so

A favorite tree might be the last thing you would think of as an invitation to a break-in. Your front door lock ought to be among the first.

At 6:59 p.m. Tuesday, a resident of the 500 block of North 64th Street reported that some time since 10:30 p.m. Monday someone had entered her apartment, the upper flat of a duplex, and stolen her laptop computer and an iPod.

She had stayed Monday night at a friend’s house and gone straight to work in the morning, returning to find the front door open. She said she uses and locks the rear door and only very rarely uses the front door, and that the common door downstairs was always left unlocked.

She said she thought her front door had been locked but she couldn’t be sure. Police checked it and found that, in fact – the door did not lock at all.

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Editor's note: If you would like to have your home inspected for security and receive tips on upgrades and things to avoid and remedy, just call and schedule an appointment with the Wauwatosa police. It's free. Call 414-471-8430.