Recent crimes happened inside a garage; Expert offers safety advice

Two crimes in Colorado Springs this week had one thing in common – the garage proved to be a weak point of opportunity. One expert offers homeowners’ advice on how to keep their properties safe.

On Monday night, two people were found in a garage near Airport Road and South Academy Boulevard. Police said one of them threw a knife at the homeowner, and the two intruders got away. On Tuesday morning, homeowners found an intruder hiding under their car in the garage, near Union Boulevard and Austin Bluffs Parkway. The intruder was arrested.

“It’s unsettling of course,” neighbor Alan Hassebrock said. “My wife and I have been talking about what kinds of things we need to be doing in preparation, in case that would happen to us.”

Gary De Jong, owner of American Overhead Door, said the most common way crooks break into people’s garages is with the remote.

“Your remote is in your car, you leave your car unlocked, somebody goes in, takes it off the top of your car, they also go in your glove box, take your registration. Now they know where you live, they have access to your house, and also, they know you’re home or not,” he said.

His best advice for protection is technology. He said there are gateway systems that run at about $75 that hook onto the Internet and send out phone alerts when the garage door has been opened.

“Then you can call your neighbors, have them take a look, call the police,” he said. “There’s also a sensor that you can put next to your bed, and it will go off and buzz if your garage door opens in your home.”

A common piece of advice tells homeowners to remove the red cord, an emergency release, from the door to avoid break-ins. But De Jong said homeowners should never do that.

“That is completely an unsafe act. That red cord is, in case somebody trapped underneath the door, you can get that door up,” he said. “Federal standards UL 325 does not allow you to take the cord off, so I would not take the cord off.”

Police advise homeowners to keep their garage doors locked when not in use and to call police before entering the garage if anything seems out of order.