Patrick Roffino has been building houses for almost  30 years.

Dealing with crime at those locations is an ongoing battle. For instance, while building a new home in our neighborhood, thieves managed to steal three exterior doors in the daytime hours.

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“We had just framed the house up and they ripped off the doors,” Roffino says. “It happens more in Dallas than anywhere else.” The damage done amounted to $1,000, including labor.

When he can’t be at the locations, Roffino surrounds his houses with a chain link fence and bathes the properties with light in the evenings.

“This thing happens a lot,” Roffino says. “I get over it pretty quickly and move on and try to keep the theft from happening. This happened to me in Rockwall. The thieves stole my copper wire for my air conditioner. They were subcontracted with my roofer, and the neighbors saw them. They were the last ones to leave. I could never find them after that.”

Despite the setback from the theft, Roffino gives some praise to the Dallas Building Inspection department.

“They were wonderful,” Roffino says. “They sped up the inspection process so I could put in my sheetrock.”

With that being done, he says the home should be completed by mid February.

Lt. Gloria Perez who has 27 years experience with the Dallas Police Department says Roffino’s precautions ,while thorough, are not exhaustive.

“When I used to patrol I knew some contractors that used dogs,” Perez says. “But is sounds as if he is taking the right steps.”

As far as finding out the trends for this particular crime, Perez said she didn’t have data at the present time. —Gabby Martinez