Property crime

Property crimes are high-volume crimes, with cash, electronics (e.g. televisions), power tools, cameras, and jewelry often targeted. "Hot products" tend to be items that are concealable, removable, available, valuable, and enjoyable, with an ease of "disposal" being the most important characteristic.

Types of property crime

Arson

Arson involves any intentional fire setting or attempting to set fire. It is also considered arson if one burns one's own property. A frequent motive for arson is insurance fraud, with the fire staged to appear accidental. Other motives for arson include desire to commit vandalism or mischief, for thrill or excitement, for revenge, to conceal other crimes, or as a hate crime. The Church Arson Prevention Act of 1996 was established to protect places of worship.

Burglary

Burglary of residences, retail establishments, and other commercial facilities involves breaking and entering, and stealing property. Attempted forcible entry into a property is also classified as burglary, in the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) definition.

As of 1999, there were 1.4 million residential burglaries reported in the United States, which was a record low number, not seen since 1966. Though, up to 50% of burglaries are not reported to the police. The clearance rate for burglary is low, with only 12.7% of cases being solved in the United States in 2005, and 23% in the United Kingdom.

In the United States, burglary rates are highest in August and lowest in February, with weather, length-of-day, and other factors having an effect on rates. Fall and Winter are peak seasons for burglary in Denmark. Most residential burglaries occur on weekdays, between 10 and 11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m, when homes are the least likely to be occupied. The temporal pattern is reversed for non-residential burglaries, which are more likely to occur at night and on weekends when commercial premises are unattended.

Burglary at single-family home construction sites is an increasing problem in the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, and Japan, and elsewhere in the world, with burglary of tools and equipment at residential subdivision construction sites comprising between 5 and 20 percent of building costs. In the United States, equipment worth $300 million to $1 billion is stolen each year. Large-scale tract developers are hardest hit by this form of crime. In 2019 alone, American homes and businesses sustained nearly $13 billion worth of damage or loss from burglaries. Distraction burglary is a form of burglary where the offender(s) trick or dupe the occupant or distract them, allowing co-offender(s) to gain access and commit burglary. The elderly are particularly vulnerable to distraction burglary.

Some crime prevention programs, such as Neighborhood Watch, have shown little effectiveness in reducing burglary and other crime, though can be effective when at least some community participants are home during the weekdays, thus avoiding any large gaps in the Neighborhood Watch during the peak residential property crime hours of 10am to 11am and 1pm to 3pm.

Extortion

Extortion is the use of threats to obtain the property of another person. Some threats may include: future harm, destroying one's property, injuring one's character or reputation, or death.

Theft

Theft of cash is most common, over everything else, followed by vehicle parts, clothing, and tools.

In 2005, only 18% of reported cases of larceny/theft were cleared in the United States.

Shoplifting is a specific type of theft, with products taken from retail shops without paying. Items popular with shoplifters include cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, and fashionable clothing.

Bicycle theft

Bicycle theft is a crime involving theft of a bicycle. Those looking to steal bikes can use a variety of different methods in order to do so.

• Lifting: If the bike is locked to an insecure structure such as a small sign or tree, the thief is able to lift the bike along with its lock off of the structure.
• Cutting: A thief may use a bolt cutter, hack saw, or angle grinder to cut through the bicycle lock.
• Picking: A thief may pick a lock of locks that require a keyhole.

Embezzlement

Embezzlement is the unlawful taking of property by someone whom it was entrusted to. For example, if a named person trusts their friend enough to allow them to hold their wallet, and the friend goes home without returning the wallet with the intention of keeping the money, the friend would have committed embezzlement.

Larceny

Larceny is the unlawful taking of another person's property with the intention to deprive the owner of it. If the stolen object is above a large value, then it is considered a felony and is called a grand theft. A petty theft is stealing an object with small value which would pass as a misdemeanor. If a person has a lost item in possession, and a reasonable method exists for finding the owner, they must return it or it would be considered larceny. For example, if one finds a wallet with an ID in it, it is their duty to find a method to return it to the owner. Shoplifting and attempted shoplifting fall under this category.

Motor vehicle theft

Motor vehicle theft is a common form of property crime, often perpetrated by youths for joyriding. The FBI includes attempted motor vehicle thefts in its Uniform Crime Report (UCR) definition. About 15-20% of motor vehicle thefts are committed for their auto parts or with an intent of re-selling them on the black market. Crime prevention and target-hardening measures, such as car alarms and ignition locks, have been effective deterrents against motor vehicle theft, as have been practices such as etching VINs on car parts.

Only 13% of reported motor vehicle theft cases were cleared in the United States in 2005.

Some car types are more popular with thieves, with sports cars often being preferred by those stealing cars for joyriding. Sport utility vehicles also have higher rates of theft, with the Cadillac Escalade cited in 2003 by the Highway Data Loss Institute as having the most frequent theft claims in the United States.

Construction vehicles are also often stolen, as they can easily be re-sold in the second-hand market.

Robbery

Robbery is the unlawful taking of property from a person's immediate possession through using force of intimidation.

Vandalism

Vandalism is the willful destruction or damage to a person's property. There are millions of damage every year. Some examples include: breaking windows, ripping down mailboxes, throwing eggs, graffiti, etc.

Mailbox baseball

Mailbox baseball or mailboxing is an activity in which a baseball bat or other object is used to knock over, dent, or smash roadside mailboxes by a passenger in a car. It can be played either as a game, with score kept in a manner similar to baseball, or played simply for aimless fun. In either case it is an act of vandalism and destruction of other peoples' property.

Mailbox baseball is depicted in several films and television shows, such as Stand by Me, The Benchwarmers, Dazed and Confused, Freaks and Geeks, 21 Jump Street, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (season 9, episode 7; "Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda"), Ghost Whisperer, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and The X-Files.

Damaging, destroying or tampering with mail boxes or with the US mail is a federal crime, punishable by a fine and/or up to three years of imprisonment.