Opinion: Having your house broken into now sadly normal

I never thought it would happen to me, but it seems to have become acceptable and inevitable that your home will be broken into, writes Kylie Blucher.

Housebreakings and car thefts are now sadly the norm. (File picture)

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When did it become acceptable that it was inevitable that your home would be broken into?

I’ve had this feeling for the last two years, but if I’m realistic, I never actually thought it would happen to me.

I live in a suburb that I love. We live in a lovely home, not flashy, but perfect for me and my girls. We love it and I have always felt safe here. When my partner moved in, he was probably more security-conscious than me and we installed cameras.

We have a very unpredictable family routine. By this I mean both my partner and I work full-time, but in a flexible work environment – so either of us could turn up at home at any time.

My 20-year-old comes and goes at all times of the day and night due to university and work commitments. My youngest is nearing the end of high school, and right now has a pretty erratic schedule as she prepares for exams.

We have dogs, we have cameras, and we have our doors locked. And we are not ignorant. I work in the media, my partner’s business has supplies stolen most weeks. We know what is happening across our suburb, our city and our state. I want to share our experience – not because it is anything special (sadly), but because the realisation is we have become the norm.

To me, “special” in this context means the gut-wrenching heartbreak of Lee Lovell, losing his wife and his girls’ mum Emma following a home break-in. “Special” is when Russell and Ann Field lost their son, daughter in-law and unborn grandchild – unimaginable pain that no one should experience. So, to be clear, no one wants to feel “special” in these circumstances, and please don’t think I am comparing my experience to theirs.

Our story begins when we went to bed very early for us on a Friday night, about 9pm. Both girls were home, and my 20-year-old had her bestie staying over. They had been out, but got home before midnight.

My 20-year-old woke up sometime after midnight for water and went to the upstairs bathroom. My partner was up not long after hearing her and decided to shut our upstairs balcony door, because he was hearing everything – including the possums chattering.

Just under two hours later, I woke to, “They are stealing my f**king car!” Our bedroom is directly above our garage and my partner went to the balcony and started screaming expletives, hoping this would scare them. The tactic had zero effect. We watched one car, then the other, roll out of our garage.

As we ran downstairs, I was on the phone calling the police trying to remind myself to stay calm.

Nine Queensland managing director Kylie Blucher

The first thing we saw was the front door propped open by a pot plant, garage open, back sliding doors open. Handbag, wallet, laptop bag gone. We ran upstairs to find the girls sound asleep. We could at least breathe.

Does this sound familiar to you? Sadly, I’m sure it does.

The police officers involved in our case were outstanding. The first officer arrived within seven minutes. All three who came to help were kind, empathetic, and sadly experienced in dealing with our circumstances.

I have an app on my phone that allows me to track my car and so for the next two hours we provided updates to police on its location. Both of our cars, along with another stolen car from Ashgrove, spent that time hooning and driving in convoy at high speed across Brisbane – from Paddington to Sunnybank to Logan, back to Nudgee, through the city to West End, out to Sunnybank and down to Logan.

Police were trailing, but unable to engage. The thieves were driving erratically. The strategy was to not alert them to the fact they were being followed. This probably worked. No one was hurt.

What floored us was the reality of the limitations our police are working under. Did you know there are no pursuit laws in Queensland? Police have told me that unless the police helicopter is up, without my car app as a tracker the police are unable to track, making the chance of apprehending criminals near impossible.

Over the weekend, a 15-year-old boy was arrested and put into custody in relation to our break-in. The two other offenders are known to police. They are 14 and 16, but will not be arrested. There is not enough evidence for charges to hold up in court.

For us, we have lost our cars and our property. Our home has been violated, and we will spend thousands of dollars to improve the security of our home. But frankly, we all know, if they want to get in they will.

We will be punished with our insurance costs. But most importantly we have lost our sense of feeling safe in our own home.

What is the solution? To be clear, I am a political moderate. I have a deep social conscience. But when I grew up, our parents held us to account. My parents would know where I was at 2.30am – in my bed! And if I did step out of line, there were consequences.

I worry about the future cyclical implications of the “adult crime, adult time” policy, but frankly sometimes extreme measures are required.

If we are considering extreme measures, perhaps we should be considering not laying all of the responsibility at the feet of these kids.

Is it time to consider parents being held accountable for the crimes of their children?

Kylie Blucher is managing director of Nine Queensland