Protecting Your New Gifts

CALHOUN COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)- By now, all of the gifts have been passed out and everything from flat screens to firearms have found new homes.

Now the task is keeping them.

Calhoun County Sheriff Greg Pollan said one of the first things people should do is take pictures and make notes about their new big ticket items just in case someone tries to steal any of them.

“Write those serial numbers down because if you are unfortunately a victim of a crime, sometimes it’s very little that we can do to trace it,” said Sheriff Pollan. “We can’t enter weapons or anything like that on the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) if we don’t have the serial number. You’d be surprised how many people don’t, so we strongly encourage that. It takes a few minutes. Make you a list, hide it, put it in your safe, put it in your lock box at the bank, and update it periodically.”

Investigators also recommend not advertising any new gadgets on social media, and not putting boxes outside your home that can show thieves all of the new things that are inside.