DAVENPORT, Iowa — The holiday shopping season is in full swing, and with that comes the opportunity for some grinches to take advantage. News 8's David Bohlman sat down with Scott County, Iowa Sheriff Tim Lane to examine the facts, and find ways to keep you from falling victim.
A study published by Porch, a software company which partners home owners with home services companies, found that in 2021, an estimated $130.5 million dollars in goods was lost to holiday burglaries.
Scott County Sheriff Tim Lane said that's likely because the opportunity to steal grows around the holidays.
"What is being taken is particularly just things have value to be sold in order to get the cash" said Sheriff Lane.
According to one report, the most likely items to be stolen over the holidays include jewelry, computers, clothes, portable devices and money. Criminals can track a person in many ways, one way is through social media.
"People can stalk you on social media, and stalk your property and your vehicle all at the same time, they can do it rather quickly," said Sheriff Lane. "It gives them an idea of whether you're home or not. Where you might be, whether you're on vacation, whether you're with family, people broadcast that stuff. They also include pictures of what's inside their home. So in the background of family photos, you can see other items that are inside the house and how the house is laid out."
News 8 reached out to four different police departments in the WQAD viewing area to get a pulse on how big of a deal holiday burglaries are in our hometowns. We reached out to two departments in Iowa; Davenport and Burlington and we reached out to two departments in Illinois; Rock Island and Moline. In the graph below you will find the number of burglaries reported in each respective city in November and December for the years 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021.
The number of burglaries remained relatively consistent since 2018. The biggest disparity is the number of burglaries reported in Iowa compared to Illinois. Another notable disparity is the value of the burglaries. According to the FBI Crime Data Explorer, Illinois saw an average loss of $2,197 per burglary, and in Iowa that number is $1,147.
News 8 asked Lane his thoughts on why there would be such a big difference. "I think it is the way the reporting is done. When there is theft or burglary, in the initial report there is an estimate on how much of a loss there is. That estimate is merely that, just an estimate. Frequently when you go back and you get a sum total of the exact loss it is frequently quite a bit different."
The FBI says sometimes the offender is a stranger to the victim, but in many cases, based on the reports filed by the four police departments, the offender is someone the victim knows.
Sheriff Lane has this advice, "keep your items hidden. That includes what's in your vehicles, what's in your garage, and what is on your front porch. And if you can do that, that's probably 90% of it."
Catch the raw and unedited conversation with Sheriff Tim Lane below:
Watch more news, weather and sports on News 8's YouTube channel