Calis Beach and Fethiye Turkey Discussion Forum
Other Local Resorts & Areas => Koca Calis & Ciftlik Discussion Forum => Topic started by: quackers on September 19, 2013, 07:20:47 AM
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Yet another breakın. Thıs tıme on Archway 1 between 6.15 and 6.45am. One burglaar wearıng a grass green polo shırt aged 20-30's. Money and camera stolen. Jandarma attended.
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I have just read about another burglary in Uzumlu, burglars entering the property in the middle of the night when occupants in bed !
Very frightening for a single female who is moving to the area in two weeks time!
What can you do ?
Burglaries during the day time when you are out are bad enough, but the thought of going to bed at night and worrying about waking up to find a stranger in your bedroom is terrifying.
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What about having an alarm fitted or maybe taking a wireless one over with you with motion detectors etc? I don't think the DIY type are too expensive these days.
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Thanks Bluwise
I am renting for a while so don't really want to get fitting alarms fitted, but didnt know about a wireless one. I will certainly look I to it, need to be able to sleep at night !
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Definitely get an alarm with motion detectors fitted in my opinion then if someone does come in then the alarm will alert you and hopefully the burglar will leg it.
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Have a dig about Susiepink - I'm sure there are some you could fit and then take with you when you move on. I would feel more secure if I had something that made a hell of a noise to scare off intruders and of course, alert me too.
My friend lives alone and has contacts on her windows and motion detectors in the hall. I believe B&Q do a wireless kit.
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We had a perimeter alarm that linked all the windows and doors - so once one was prised open )or even moved a few millimetres) the alarm went off. It involves chasing out the walls so can be quite a job but boy do they run if they trip it.
The little window alarms used to be 1 lira so won't be vast amounts. Just get one (or two, why not) on each window/door and also we got deadlock levers put on - these make forcing the doors/windows infinitely more difficult and requiring significant noise - not the best thing for a burglar at 5am.
We twice had someone take a nibble at our place - and I swear that when the alarm went off, in the time it took me to jump up *immediately* and go to the window to look (some 2 metres), the burglar had left the garden and I spied him just turn the corner at the bottom of the road - some 40+ metres away.
Moral of the story: They don't hang around when alarms go off.
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We have wındow locks ,door alarms and wıreless free movement sensors. If ıts not annoyıng to your neıghbours leave your balcony lıghts on so any potentıal ıntruder can be seen.
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Thanks everyone for the advice, I will certainly be getting all alarmed up !!! I'm not sure until I get there how remote I am going to be, I know there are only 6 privately owned apartments, and they may all be empty over the winter. I hope not, even having one neighbour will make me feel more secure. I am a bit of a scaredy cat in the dark, might be sleeping with all the lights on !
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We have a wireless alarm, it's really easy to fit and the keypad used to arm the alarm is portable so you can operate the alarm from the bedroom as well as when leaving the property. Like a car alarm it gives a number of audible bleeps when it's turned either on or off, this lets the neighbours know that the system is real, but for good measure, sometimes we let the alarm go off for a few seconds just remind everyone.
I used to wake with every noise thinking that someone was trying to break in but now the alarm really does give us peace of mind.
Our advice would be to fit one even if you are renting a place, you can always take it with you when you leave.
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We've got one the same as George is talking about.
It's important to make sure you get one with battery back up too given the number if power cuts we get, and also at the neighbourhood watch meeting we were told they will cut electricity supply to stop alarms going off.
In our case our trip switch for the electric is in an unlockable box on the wall right by our front door.
It definitely makes you sleep better knowing the alarm will go off.
When John first fitted it we set it, went out, came back 6 hours later and it was going off, and a very sheepish dog quaking on the sofa.
John had checked that the cats wouldn't set it off, but hadnt allowed for the dog sneaking upstairs to eat the cat food.
Have had to relocate the sensors now.
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We also have a wireless alarm. They are available for as little as £15.00 in B.&.Q. and if you don't hang it on the wall, it can be put on a shelf etc., It does make a really loud noise, we always set it before we go to bed and also lock the living room door and the bedroom door, locking doors at night was advised years ago by the Estate Agent.
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There is a chap on Facebook called Mehmet who seems pretty clued up on burglar alarms and the like. I have asked him to come here and share his knowledge. He runs a business in the Fethiye area installing systems so it would be useful to hear what is available.
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I managed to find a wireless motion detector alarm at Argos for £19.99 today, the window alarms were quite expensive I thought at £15, so will leave them till I get to Turkey. I shall certainly get all the windows and doors alarmed, and some door locks fitted, it will be like Fort Knox before I have finished !
Thanks for all your replies
:-*
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We also have a wireless alarm. They are available for as little as £15.00 in B.&.Q. and if you don't hang it on the wall, it can be put on a shelf etc., It does make a really loud noise, we always set it before we go to bed and also lock the living room door and the bedroom door, locking doors at night was advised years ago by the Estate Agent.
I've got a wired in alarm, which I can part set at night, but I'd be reluctant to lock internal doors after being there in the June '12 earthquake(s). I have stopped double locking the front door now as I want to feel I could get out without difficulty if necessary, even if I obviously don't want anyone coming in without difficulty! It's a dilemma...!
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The advice from the Turkish Earthquake Rescue Team is not to get out in the event of an earthquake. Statistics show that you are more likely to be injured by flying glass and falling masonry. Stay inside, pick a strong point within your home, a downstairs loo for example which is a small room, has solid walls and little glass.
Arm your Alarm !
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http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/YALE-HSA-6300-WIRELESS-WIREFREE-FAMILY-ALARM-SYSTEM-PART-ARM-/261276765602?pt=UK_Burglar_Alarms&hash=item3cd54f0da2
We purchased this system 5 years ago, it is easy to install has a back up battery, we then bought extra sensors for doors and windows and a remote for the side of the bed, well worth about £250 for peace of mind.
Mark
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Wendy, the earthquake was very scary I agree, but by the laws of average and statistics a big one is likely to happen once every 50 years and experts believe that was our big one....
The burglaries are happening on average every night, some nights 3 or 4 being done.
Get the alarm, and like was said already the earthquake advice is to stay indoors and crouch down under a table, or by something solid, like a washing machine, end of your bed etc.
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Also if you lock the bedroom door on the inside, leave the key in it if you feel safer. Same if you have a livingroom door where the interior has a lot of windows and the exterior leads into a hall with no windows.
I totally agree with Rimms, better to be safe at home when there are so many burglaries daily than to worry about an earthquake, when the last one was over a year ago.
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If I was a stranger reading this and thinking about buying there I would be very put off by all this.. You could be forgiven for thinking about avoiding it like the plague... Things have certainly gone down hill if you feel like you have to lock yourself in the bedroom....has it got so bad??
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I really don't know if it's any better or worse than it's always been but the reporting of incidents has really taken a higher profile, with the creation of a number of Internet groups dedicated to crime and break in's, people are now being warned about suspicious vehicles or shifty looking characters. I think it's becoming easy for people to get this out of proportion.
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Those were my thoughts R..and maybe some of the reports are duplicated. I am sure this must have always gone on but as there are more and more properties built this will add to the burglary figures... Telling people to lock themselves in their bedrooms is what would scare me and I am sure others....
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And I for one do not want to live in a vılla that is more like a prison. Burglary ıs a fact of life in any country .
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Also if you lock the bedroom door on the inside, leave the key in it if you feel safer. Same if you have a livingroom door where the interior has a lot of windows and the exterior leads into a hall with no windows.
I totally agree with Rimms, better to be safe at home when there are so many burglaries daily than to worry about an earthquake, when the last one was over a year ago.
Wendy, the earthquake was very scary I agree, but by the laws of average and statistics a big one is likely to happen once every 50 years and experts believe that was our big one....
The burglaries are happening on average every night, some nights 3 or 4 being done.
Get the alarm, and like was said already the earthquake advice is to stay indoors and crouch down under a table, or by something solid, like a washing machine, end of your bed etc.
Not sure that we can say another 'big one' isn't likely, but I do get your point, Kayakebab - along with others' about not feeling we have to 'lock ourselves in'. I do feel that, as 'Mercury' says, we are probably putting potential new buyers off with threads like this. I think common sense should prevail - I have door and window locks, and a fitted alarm, which I part-set at night, but I really don't want to feel scared in my own house - or why would we want to go to Calis? Does anyone know if the police are actually trying to do anything about this if there seems to be a bigger speight of break-ins than 'usual'? I'd like to think they were! Its not going to encourage tourism!
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I am sorry to say there is a huge thread on the T.A. Forum about break-in's in Ovacik/Hisaronu. It seems to be a really big problem up there and there are so many complaints that the police do not want to know and don't want to give out incident numbers, so people are not getting paid out on their Travel Insurance. All these cases involve tourists renting villas. One point is, travel insurance will not pay out unless valuables are kept in a safe and lots of the villas in the Ovacik area that are being rented out have no safes, some have no lighting outside or proper locks on door and windows, and sad to say, peoplle writing on these Forums are saying the villa owners don't want to help at all if there are break-ins. It seems to be so bad a lot of people are saying they will not return to Turkey. One guy on holiday in a Villa in Ovacik was broken into twice.
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g609055-i10906-k6621701-Hisaronu_and_Ovacik_villas_Robbers-Hisaronu_Mugla_Province_Turkish_Aegean_Coast.html
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Contrary to popular belief not everywhere is a burglars paradise in The UK either.. We have moved to an area where it is possible to leave you doors and windows unlocked and in fact we forgot out back door had been left unlocked for over a week... People leave their windows open day and night all Summer.. We have spoken to most of the neighbours and they have lived here some of them for over 20 years.. Not one break in... Its peaceful too which helps...Maybe its because it is on a park home site but the whole area surrounding us is a low crime area too. It was one of the stipulations when coming back to The UK that I wanted to feel safe in my own home especially now we are coming up to pension age.. We lived in Fethiye over there and that was quite a low area for break ins...When we first went we had 2 attempted break ins and I swore I wouldn't move there full time but we did of course and were never troubled again.. We only heard of about 3 after that and one was the policemans house across the road.. We didn't however live in a holiday area...
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Not sure if you have Facebook Wendy but there is a group for Fethiye neighbourhood watch which Pauline Elliott has started and several of us coordinators are helping her.
We're having regular monthly meetings and the Police and local consulate and Istanbul consulate have attended.
The Polis are being extremely helpful and are giving us their full backing and support, the Jandarma unfortunately don't want to be involved and were having problems establishing why this is and Pauline has written to various officials to try and resolve this.
It really is a huge problem at the moment and many different avenues are being looked into to try and establish how and why, any patterns, who else may have had access to these properties, know where people are etc.
Members of the group have set up a surveillance system of alerting others to strange characters lurking around, cars going slowly, methods being used to alert others etc.
Neighbourhood watch signs to put on your gate can be ordered through your local coordinators at just 5tl each.
So, there really is a lot going on behind the scenes.
As a group it's been decided that because of the huge volume of break ins, in holiday rental properties, sometimes. 3 or 4 a night, the onus for security is on the owners to ensure their tenants are safe, and we don't have sufficient resources to deal with the rental properties, for a number of reasons, for example... The property gets broken into, they go back to the UK and we are unable to get them to complete incident forms.
The incident forms are the key to us seeing if there's patterns, reporting quotas to the Polis and we can only do this if they're completed.
Another thing that happens.... People renting sometimes don't even know their address. In fact many properties on the much targeted back roads don't even have sokak numbers, a possible reason for being targeted as they know they're unlikely to be reported.
The people staying there don't speak Turkish.
The call centre is not in Fethiye, it's in Mugla, so burgled person phones up, they don't speak Turkish, they can't give a sokak number because they don't know it, or there isn't one and they don't know what's nearby
With the best will in the world the Polis cannot send a patrol round to try and catch them in these areas.
As a result of neighbourhood watch were getting the message out to people to increase their security. Not many of the burglaries happen to Turkish people, not because Brits are being targeted, but because Turkish peoples houses are so secure they're harder to break in to.
Measures people can take include:
Learn at least the basics for ' I've been burgled, there's a burglar in the house, My address is, or I live near' write it down and keep it handy.
( if you rent your property put this in the welcome pack, ok it's not what people want to read but..)
Beware of the dog signs
Top and bottom bolts on doors
Locks on outside gates
Make sure your metal bars are done properly, some are so easy to remove
Don't advertise on Facebook where you're going or check in where you are
Don't brag in bars about where you live and how much jewellery etc you have ( it happens! )
Don't leave even the smallest of windows open, however high up
Ask transfer companies to collect you from a landmark
Get out of taxis a little bit earlier and walk the rest
Get an alarm
Get window and door alarms
Don't give spare keys to anyone you don't fully trust or know well and if you have to, eg for a property maintenance company - don't use a company that has them hanging on the wall with an address tag on them.
If you rent change the locks when you move in
Don't leave tools, garden tools etc outside, they could be used to smash their way in.
Lock interior doors when you're out ( or in , we do ) to contain the burglar in one room if possible
Just basically make it as hard as you can for them!
Loads more ideas people can add I'm sure.
P.S.
I didnt mean to give the impression another earthquake couldn't happen, just trying to show the likelihood of an earthquake big enough that you might might need to get out compared to the likelihood of being burgled.
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Thank you very much for taking the time and trouble to send such a full reply, Linda. I have found the Facebook site, but won't be able to attend the next meeting, I'm afraid. Good luck to you and let's hope the Polis are able to catch a few of them, which might, hopefully, deter others!
Thanks again.
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You're welcome Wendy. Hopefully see you at the following meeting instead.
All welcome, the more the merrier, please look out for the group and invite your friends and hopefully see lots of people at the meetings.
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FHS - your post looks suspiciously like an advert.
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This won't last long in here H.. I wouldn't worry:-)
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Someone will nick it :-)
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FHS - your post looks suspiciously like an advert.
Advert removed