A crime reporter has gone viral on TikTok for her tips on how to stay safe if a burglar tries to break into your house while you’re home alone.
Lori Fullbright, who reports for News on 6 Tulsa, told her followers the next time somebody knocks, ‘don’t get quiet, make noise.’
She added that you should make it seem like there are several people in the house.
The veteran reporter – with 31 years of experience – explained the vast majority of burglars want to hit a house that’s empty.
Her TikTok video, captioned ‘Why you shouldn’t get quiet and pretend you’re not home when someone knocks,’ has already reached over 1.5million views.
Lori Fullbright, a crime reporter for News on 6 Tulsa, has gone viral on TikTok for her tips on how to stay safe if a burglar tries to break into your house while you’re home alone
Fullbright told her followers that the next time somebody knocks, ‘don’t get quiet, make noise.’ She added that you should make it seem like there are several people in the house
‘The next time somebody knocks, don’t get quiet,’ Fullbright advised in her TikTok video posted on March 30.
‘Make noise. Go talk through the door, ‘Can I help you,’ ‘I’m not interested,’ ‘Move along,’ they now know someone’s inside.’
The reporter said it was her 31 years of experience with interviewing hundreds of criminals that led her to issue the advice in the two-minute clip.
Fullbright shared a technique burglars like to use called ‘a knock and a kick’ which is literally knock on the door and kicking it in.
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She said the majority of these burglars tell her they like to hit Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
‘Why? They want an empty house, but they’re not sure you’re gone. So what do they do? They knock. They listen. No footsteps, no voices, no TV, no radio. So what do you think? The house is empty and boom, they kick it,’ she explained.
But if they hear that people are home, more often than not, they’ll move on to an empty house.
‘The vast majority of them tell me that they want to hit a house that’s empty. They want to kick in your door when you’re gone, take all your stuff and leave. And it’s terrible.
If you come home and all your stuff is gone, people go, ‘Oh, it’s a property crime.’ It’s not. It’s very personal, but it’s way worse if you kick in that door and there you are inside pretending you’re not there. Now you’re face to face with the criminal.’
Days after the viral video, Fullbright posted another one in response to some viewers who wondered what to do if they are in the small percentage who come face to face with a burglar
Fullbright said she has seen many cases where staying quiet during a home invasion doesn’t end up well.
‘Someone hears someone knock, and you think, ‘Oh, they’ll just go away If I get quiet and hide’ and bad things happen,’ she said.
‘And I see this a lot with kids. So I would definitely encourage you to teach your kids if someone knocks, don’t get quiet, pretend they’re not there, make a ruckus, because again, the vast majority of burglars won’t come in if they know somebody’s home.’
Days after the viral video, Fullbright posted another one in response to some viewers who wondered what to do if they are in the small percentage who come face to face with a burglar.
‘The most important thing you can do is have a plan ahead of time,’ she said, comparing it to other plans families may have for house fires and natural disasters.
