The 1st burglary occurred on Cherokee Road at approximately 2:00 P.M. on 5-10-10.  The back door was kicked in, but nothing was taken.  This home had an alarm system.  It was on and nothing was taken.  The thieves left the scene after they activated the alarm.

Shortly after the burglary on Cherokee Road (approximately 10 minutes later) a house on the west end of Brookwood Road had an attempted entry.  That attempt activated the resident’s alarm and the thieves left the scene.

The 2rd burglary occurred on Brookwood Road at approximately 2:18 P.M. on 5-10-10.  We were able to determine the approximate time of this burglary because a friend of the resident spotted a vehicle in their drive at 2:18 P.M..  She thought it was someone doing yard work. The thieves entered through an unlocked back door.  Three televisions and a computer were taken.  There was no alarm system.

The 3rd burglary occurred on 5-11-10 on Pine Ridge Road at 10:30 A.M..  A citizen spotted a white male attempting to enter the garage area of a home.  The door was pried open, but the offender had left the scene when the police arrived.  Thanks to the citizen, nothing was taken.

The chain of events with our burglaries would indicate that the thieves started at Cherokee Road and proceeded on to Brookwood Road until they broke into a house with no alarm system.  The homes with the alarms were spared the loss of property.

There was 1 UBEV “reported” this past week and it occurred on Park Lane Court South.  This UBEV occurred on the 4th or 5th of May so it didn’t occur this past week.  A camera was taken from a vehicle.  The vehicle was not locked.

Updates will be published as necessary.

UBEV—Unlawful breaking and entering of a vehicle
TOP—Theft of Property

Notable Crimes

Burglary—2600 Blk. Southview Cir. Force
4/27/10 0700—1715
Stolen: TV, Computer, PS3 & Wii

TOP—1900 Blk. Merryvale Rd. Force
4/27-4/28/10 1530—0700
Stolen: Copper

UBEV—2200 Blk. Pinecrest Dr. No Force
4/28-4/29/10 1500—0918
Stolen: Purse & contents

UBEV—1700 Blk. Cedarwood Rd. No Force
4/28-4/29/10 1945—0934
Stolen: Phone

TOP—1800 Blk. Merryvale Rd. Force (Cut)
4/30/10 0550—1150
Stolen: Lawn equipment

Burglary—4100 Blk. Crosshaven Dr. No Force
5/2/10 1204—1804
Stolen: Jewelry cases & paintings

Listed below is information provided by the general public in reference to vehicles and/or person(s) seen in the vicinity of recent suspicious and/or criminal activity. The list is not necessarily comprehensive nor does it substantiate the vehicle or individual description as a suspect, merely “of interest” to the Police Department. The Police Department urges citizens to be cognizant of any suspicious activity in their neighborhood and notify us immediately when suspicion warrants.

3/30/10—Arrested: Clark E. Sturgeon, 34yoa, from Lima, OH, in connection to a series of UBEVs, thefts and fraudulent use of credit cards throughout central Alabama

3/30/10—Arrested: Donald Watkins III, 27yoa, from Hoover, AL, for Theft of Property 1^st

4/7/10—Two white males in a white Jeep Cherokee suspected in residential burglaries

4/16/10: Suspect: WM, in a grey Maxima soliciting lawn-work

4/17/10: 2 BMs in a maroon vehicle suspected of UBEV in Overton Rd. area

4//21/10: 2 BMs in a red Ford Taurus

4/22/10: White GMC 4×4 Sierra p/u

4/23/10: W/M in a tan/off-white Ford Bronco

Two of these burglaries occurred on 4-29-10 on Camellia Drive between 7:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M. and items taken included a television and games.  These homes did not have burglar alarms.  The thief or thieves entered by breaking a window on one of the homes and forcing a back door open on the other.

The 3rd burglary occurred between 5-1-10 and 5-3-10 on Salisbury Road.  The thieves took 2 bicycles, some frozen meat and other items.  The garage was entered through an unlocked door and there was no alarm.  We haven’t determined if this offense occurred during the daytime or at night.

The 4th burglary occurred on 5-5-10 on Peacock Lane between 6:00 A.M. and 7:00 P.M..  A television, several game systems and games were taken.  The rear door of the residence was forced open.  There was no alarm.

The 5th burglary occurred today on Southwood Road.  It happened at about 11:25 A.M..  The burglar failed to enter this home as it had an alarm and it was activated.  Nothing was taken.

There was one UBEV this past week and it occurred on Ridgeview Dr. East.  The time of occurrence was around midnight.  The vehicle was unlocked and a gps and cell phone were taken.  The investigation of this UBEV has resulted in the arrest of a suspect who was in the area during the time that this UBEV occurred.  We are confident that this individual was involved in committing this offense.
________________________________________________________________
If you have a burglar alarm make sure you have motion detectors and or glass breakage sensors.  The burglars are breaking windows and entering homes in an attempt to bypass the alarm system. 

Floodlights with motion detectors can be effective in deterring people from wandering around your driveway or around your home.  They are relatively inexpensive and can be installed easily.  If you have these installed, the lights will come on immediately if someone enters that particular area around your home. 

The thieves have discovered that women who are dropping off or picking up children at daycares are easy victims because they leave their cars unlocked.  Please be aware of this.  We had several of these over the past few weeks and we believe we can connect the white male from Ohio with some of these.

We have many thefts where people discover their jewelry missing months after they saw it last.  It would be a good idea to inventory your jewelry and put it in a safe place.   Many people take a video camera and video everything in their home.  This is invaluable after a fire and sometimes after a burglary.  Things are taken or destroyed that you may never miss unless you have some kind of inventory available. 

Please try to remember to turn your alarm on even if you are going to be gone for a short period of time. 

Please remember that if you have important information on your home computer, back it up on a separate device.  It is devastating to lose years of family pictures or other valuable information because a thief took your computer and you didn’t take the time to save that information.

If you have a vehicle with a soft top, be aware that thieves are cutting those tops to steal from the vehicles.  It is very expensive to have these tops repaired.  It is better to leave these vehicles unlocked with no valuables inside than to have the top cut for an article worth much less than a new or repaired top. 

Please don’t leave keys on a tire when you go walking.  Thieves know that people do this.  If you are out walking in a park, please pay attention to any suspicious vehicles or individuals.  If someone looks out of place call the police department and let us check them out.  
If thieves can see inside your vehicle and there is a purse, laptop or anything of significant value inside they will knock a window out to gain possession of that item.

Please don’t leave valuable items in unlocked vehicles or in view in locked vehicles.   Place items of value in the trunk of your vehicle. 
When you are grocery shopping please don’t leave an unattended purse in a buggy.  It only takes a second for a thief to remove your wallet or purse while you are distracted and you may not notice it until you get to the checkout.

Please keep watching out for your neighbors and remember "when in doubt", call. 

Thanks
Lieutenant Jim Cole
Detective Division
Mountain Brook Police Department

A new study from the Insurance Research Council (IRC) estimates that for bodily injury (BI) liability claims in 38 tort and add-on states, cost shifting in 2007 resulted in $1.2 billion in excess hospital charges.

However, the study says, the full impact of hospital cost shifting, including that occurring in other insurance coverages and in other states, is likely much greater.

"The conventional wisdom is that hospitals aggressively seek to shift costs from public insurance programs to private payers such as auto insurance companies," said Elizabeth Sprinkel, senior vice president of the IRC. "With this study, we now have information on the magnitude of cost shifting and a better understanding of the need for supportive state laws and effective tools that will enable auto insurers to pay hospitals appropriately and help control auto injury claim costs."

Spronkel said hospital cost shifting to auto injury claims illustrates the complex relationship between property/casualty insurance and the broader healthcare and insurance system.

"Healthcare legislation enacted by Congress last month underscores the complexity of this relationship," said Sprinkel. "It will take months, if not years, to understand the full impact of the reforms on hospital cost shifting and the auto insurance system."

To explore the relationship between key health system features and auto injury hospital costs, IRC developed a statistical model of average hospital charges for auto injury claims in different states. Key predictors of average hospital charges confirmed by the model are the percentage of a state’s population without health insurance coverage and the percentage of the population covered by Medicaid.

To estimate excess hospital charges due to hospital cost shifting, IRC compared average hospital charges for BI liability claims in Maryland with average charges in 38 other tort and add-on states. In the 1970s, Maryland received a waiver from the federal government allowing it to regulate hospital reimbursement rates for all purchasers of hospital services. As a result, virtually all hospital cost shifting in the state was eliminated. IRC said that Maryland’s unique approach to hospital reimbursement, while unlikely to be replicated in other states, provided an opportunity to examine costs in an environment with minimal cost shifting.

In all instances, IRC found that average hospital charges for auto injury claims in Maryland were substantially lower than hospital charges in most other states.

IRC also found that the costs of expensive diagnostic procedures performed in Maryland hospitals were much lower than in other states but were more similar to costs in other states when the procedures were performed outside a hospital.

The IRC study, Hospital Cost Shifting and Auto Injury Insurance Claims, is based on data from more than 42,000 auto injury claims closed with payment under the five principal private passenger coverages. Twenty-two insurers, representing 58 percent of the private passenger auto insurance market in the Unites Sates in 2006, participated in the study.

Source: IRC

Find this article at:

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2010/04/22/109193.htm

Not quite, but California moved a step closer last month to pay-as-you-drive policies that could allow motorists to buy insurance like they do gasoline — a little at a time.

Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner released regulations permitting and authorizing mileage verification for pay-as-you-drive, without dictating what form such plans must take.

The goal is to use per-mile pricing to entice Californians not to drive so much, thus easing air pollution, relieving traffic congestion and lowering the number of traffic collisions.

A first-of-its-kind plan is MileMeter, available only in Texas, which last year began offering six-month policies with chunks of insured miles ranging from 1,000 to 6,000 miles. When the "tank" runs dry, motorists buy more.

To read the complete article, visit www.sacbee.com.

California moves closer to pay-by-the-mile auto insurance | McClatchy

Homeowners’ insurance rates going up for State Farm, Alfa, Farmers’ customers

by Jeff Amy, Business Reporter  Friday September 11, 2009, 9:00

State Farm, Alfa and Farmers’ are announcing increases in home insurance.

Three of Alabama’s four largest home insurers are raising rates, although State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., the state’s largest, is giving coastal residents something of a break.

No. 1 State Farm, No. 2 Alfa Mutual group and No. 4 Farmers Insurance Group — the firms that have won state approval for increases — together control 57 percent of the state’s homeowners market.

Company officials said costs to policyholders will vary on where they live, their house and other factors. All said the rate increases are meant to make sure they have money to cover future losses.

"It’s about having enough premium and protection to pay future claims," said State Farm’s David Majors.

Many insurance companies saw the value of their investments decline over the last year, said Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, a California-based group that advocates for consumers.

"That’s the cycle we’ve seen forever," Bach said. "Whenever they’re getting bad returns on their investments, they look for ways to make things up by raising rates or becoming more creative in restricting claims."

In Alabama, No. 3 Allstate Corp. also wants rate changes, Insurance Department spokesman Ragan Ingram said. The Alabama Insurance Underwriting Association, the state insurer of last resort known as the "Beach Pool," raised rates in July by an average of 5.5 percent on its 12,000-plus customers in Mobile and Baldwin counties.

In 2006, the most recent year available, a homeowners policy in Alabama averaged $894, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. That was the ninth-highest dollar average nationally, even though Alabamians were typically insuring homes valued at less than the national norm.

In 2002, state homeowners paid 10 percent less than the national average.

October’s 25.7 percent increase is Farmers’ third straight year of double-digit price increases, for a statewide average increase of 69 percent since May 2007. Los Angeles-based Farmers, a unit of Zurich Financial Services, grew its Alabama market share to 8.8 percent with a reputation for low rates, local insurance agents have said.

"The rates reflect the risks we take as a company, and we have to charge rates that ensure we can take care of the needs of our customers if a significant event should occur," Farmers spokesman David Bishop said of the latest increase.

Ingram said Farmers’ profitability in Alabama had been poor, justifying higher rates.

Montgomery-based Alfa hadn’t raised prices since 2006, and State Farm of Bloomington, Ill., had lowered prices by 6 percent on average since 2005.

While State Farm raised prices 19.1 percent statewide, its increases will be much lower in areas of Mobile and Baldwin counties close to the coast, reversing the pattern of recent years. Homeowners in most of south Mobile County will see rates go up less than 1 percent on average.

Press-Register research and an Insurance Department inquiry earlier this year found that many companies were charging more to cover non-hurricane risks to Mobile and Baldwin homes than they were charging for all risks — including tornadoes, wind and hail — on similar properties in parts of north Alabama.

What they’re doing

State Farm Fire and Casualty Co.

• Statewide 19.1 percent average rate increase effective Nov. 1 for new business, Jan. 1 for existing policies;

• A 6 percent increase in Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Fort Morgan and Dauphin Island;

• A 5.7 percent increase in the Eastern Shore, Magnolia Springs, Perdido Beach, Josephine and Lillian.

• A 0.6 percent increase in parts of Mobile County south of the CSX railroad and outside the Mobile city limits.

• Minimum deductibles of $1,000 for policyholders outside Mobile and Baldwin counties, though customers can buy them down to $500 if they pay higher premiums. In the coastal area, either $1,000 or 1 percent of insured value for non-wind damage, whichever is higher. Hurricane deductibles remain at 5 percent, though customers can pay more and get 2 percent.

Alfa Mutual Insurance Co.

• Statewide 5.8 percent average rate increase effective Sept. 1.

• A 14 percent increase in Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Fort Morgan and Dauphin Island.

• A 16.6 percent increase in the Eastern Shore, Magnolia Springs, Perdido Beach, Josephine, Lillian and in parts of Mobile County south of the CSX railroad and outside the Mobile city limits.

• A 6.5 percent increase for customers of the smaller Alfa Mutual General Insurance Co.

• Alfa will triple its discount for buying both home and auto policies.

Farmers Insurance Group

• Statewide 25.7 percent average rate increase effective Oct. 16, with "specialty" policies rising 35 percent on average.

Homeowners’ insurance rates going up for State Farm, Alfa, Farmers’ customers – Business News, Economics & Finance News Articles – al.com

Alabama’s largest recorded earthquake, nearly 93 years ago, caused panic but little else, according to accounts of the quake from The Birming­ham News.

The 5.1 magnitude quake centered in the Irondale area hit just after 4 p.m. Oct. 18, 1916, and was felt in seven other states. Hundreds of chimneys were toppled, win­dows cracked and water wells quickly bled dry in the Bir­mingham area. No injuries or deaths were reported.

If an earthquake of equal strength centered at Irondale hit today, it would exact a much higher toll on people and property, according to a Geological Survey of Alabama computer analysis.

In the 1916 temblor, work­ers emptied office buildings in downtown Birmingham, The News reported. "The sensa­tion on the upper floors of buildings was similar to that of standing on the deck of a vessel in a slight sea. There was the slight pitch, with the suggestion of a roll," according to a News account.

The Geological Survey’s 2007 analysis showed nearly $1 billion in damage for build­ing-related losses in Alabama from such a quake. The quake, according to the analy­sis, would destroy 26 build­ings, cause extensive damage to 302 others, moderate dam­age to 3,086 buildings and slight damage to 13,854 struc­tures.

1916 earthquake would cause more harm in Birmingham today – Stories from The Birmingham News – al.com

…..

According to Timothy Gaspar, an insurance agent with FMS Financial Partners in Encino, Calif., a policy lapse will almost always have negative consequences for the insured regardless of the type of coverage.

With auto insurance, which is required by law in all but two states, the consequences for letting an insurance policy lapse can be pricey. "Many auto insurance companies give consumers a discount for what they call ‘persistency,’ which is a discount for the amount of time you have had continuous insurance," Gaspar explains. "If you let this coverage lapse, the persistency credit will disappear, causing an increase in your rate."

Letting a homeowners insurance policy lapse can lead to even more serious financial jeopardy. Most preferred carriers will not accept a homeowner whose coverage has lapsed, and homeowners who fail to pay their premium for more than 45 days may be limited to a high-risk policy.

"I’ve had clients who let their homeowners insurance lapse for three or four months and suddenly find themselves unable to get coverage with anyone but a surplus lines carrier," said Gaspar. "It can really turn into an ugly situation."

read the rest by following the link below….

Stopped paying your insurance bill? It could cost you – Corpus Christi, TX | KRISTV.COM |

In tough times, there’s a huge temptation to compromise on one’s purchases, and buying a used car is one place to save a few bucks. Sure, we’d all like to drive a new BMW as our regular commuter, but, boy, that ’97 Malibu sure is tempting for $700. After all, it’s just for getting back and forth to work, and the woman selling it has to be 106—how much damage could she have done?

There’s nothing wrong with bargain hunting as long as you’re hunting the right game. When it comes to used cars, there are things that are always best to avoid.

 10 Used Cars to Avoid – Feature/Best/Worst Lists/High Performance/Hot Lists/Reviews/Car and Driver – Car And Driver

Posted by Angela Davidson February 20, 2009 7:59 AM

Categories: Insurance

Car insurance is a necessity. We all have it; we’re all supposed to have it anyway. As per Alabama Law, all vehicles operated, or registered within the state must be covered by a specific amount.

These amounts in Alabama are $25,000 for injury, $50,000 for injuries, and $25,000 for property damage. The only other option is that you cover your vehicle yourself with a $50,000 liability bond, or cash deposit through the State.

Basically, this means that if you have an accident and you are at fault, your insurance should cover up to $25,000 for the other driver’s injuries and up to $25,000 for their property. In the case that there is more than one person in the other vehicle, your insurance will cover up to $50,000 for all injuries.

follow the link below to read more

Do you have too much car insurance? – Centsible Living – al.com