Area Residents Seek To Protect Phone Lines From Burglars

East Charlotte resident Kellie, who asked that her last name not be used, recently found out what it’s like to be vulnerable to thieves.

Someone broke into her home and in just moments stole two laptop computers.

“One of the laptops was sitting here on the table, and the other laptop was in the back,” she said, showing Eyewitness News around her home.

Once she got over the shock, one of the first things Kellie did was get an alarm system. She even took her security one step further. Because the telephone line is the alarm's lifeline, she had the phone company move hers into the crawl space under her house.

“The telephone wiring is now there, so that no one can come up and say, ‘There's an alarm, but I have wire cutters so I can bypass it completely,’” she said.

Sgt. Jim Wilson with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said thieves will cut a phone line to buy more time to break in.

“It's something we're aware of. It's common enough that we track it as an MO in burglary crimes,” he said.

While it's still pretty rare in Charlotte, it’s happening enough that people are looking for ways to keep it from happening to them.

Running the phone line under the house is one of them, but some phone companies say it may not be the best option.

Stacy Hale, a vice president with Windstream Communications, said running a phone line under your house costs extra, and it can expose the line to moisture and make service calls difficult.

“It can be done. We don’t recommend you do that,” he said.

He said a better alternative is to get a wireless backup for your alarm, something more people are starting to ask for.

“More and more because people are reporting line cuts and things of that nature,” said Barry Rossen of CPI Security. “Our goal is to educate our customers about what's available.”

Rossen said a wireless backup costs about $200 dollars up front and an extra $10 a month.

For some it's worth the extra money and with 2,800 break-ins in Charlotte already this year, more people are looking for more ways to protect their homes.

“You never know what's going to happen. You don't know if they're going to come into your home,” Kellie said.

Kellie ended up paying about $100 to have the phone line put under her house, but she said it was well worth it.