A beach house can look secure from the street while the rear yard, side gate, outdoor shower, and storage areas stay mostly out of view.
That rear-yard risk became part of a Dewey Beach police case after a homeowner reported seeing an unknown man on security camera footage at a West Street property. According to CoastTV, officers first responded around 9:30 p.m. on June 13 after a burglary alarm at a home in the 100 block of West Street.
Police said officers searched the home and surrounding area and did not find anyone inside. The homeowner later gave officers security-camera images, and police identified the man as 64-year-old Frank Calvosa of Lewes.
About an hour later, the homeowner called police again. Officers returned and found Calvosa hiding inside an outdoor shower enclosure in the fenced rear yard, according to Dewey Beach Police.
The Camera Images Helped Police Identify the Man
The homeowner’s security footage became part of the police investigation after the first alarm call. For beach homes, vacation rentals, and second homes, cameras should cover more than the front porch and driveway.
Side gates, rear steps, basement doors, patios, outdoor showers, storage boxes, trash areas, and pool equipment can sit outside a standard doorbell-camera view. A person can move through those areas without appearing at the front door if the camera layout is too narrow.
Homeowners should check camera angles at night, not only during the day. A rear-yard camera that looks useful in daylight may miss a person if lighting is weak, shrubs block the view, or the outdoor shower wall creates a blind spot.
Police Found Him in an Outdoor Shower Enclosure
Outdoor showers are common around beach homes because they keep sand, saltwater, pool water, and yard mess outside. The same privacy walls and fenced corners that make them useful can also create a place where someone is hard to see from the street or the main living area.
CoastTV reported that Calvosa was charged with two counts of second-degree criminal trespass. Under Delaware law, second-degree criminal trespass can involve knowingly entering or remaining unlawfully in a building or on real property that is fenced or otherwise enclosed in a way designed to exclude intruders.
Calvosa was taken into custody without incident, arraigned by Justice of the Peace Court, and committed to Sussex Correctional Institution under an intoxication hold, according to police. The charges are not convictions.
Do Not Search a Beach House or Yard Alone
If an alarm goes off or a camera shows an unknown person outside, homeowners should not walk the house, yard, outdoor shower, garage, or side passage alone. A trespassing call can become a confrontation if someone is still on the property.
The safer steps are to stay in a secure location, call police, save the camera footage, and give dispatchers the details from a distance. Useful information includes clothing, direction of travel, which gate or side yard was used, whether the person entered any enclosure, and whether a vehicle was nearby.
Vacation homeowners should also make sure a local contact, property manager, neighbor, or rental manager knows how to reach them and how to give police access to camera footage if the owner is away.
Rear Yards Need Lighting, Locked Gates, and Camera Coverage
Beach-home security should include the parts of the property guests and owners use after coming back from the beach: outdoor showers, hose areas, rear decks, side gates, storage benches, trash enclosures, pool equipment, and lower-level doors.
Motion lights should reach the rear yard and side entrances, not just the front steps. Gates should latch cleanly, outdoor-shower doors should not create hidden corners, and stored beach chairs, coolers, bikes, ladders, and tools should not give someone cover near the house.
Cameras should show the approach to the rear yard, the gate, and any enclosure where someone could hide. Before leaving a beach home empty, owners should test alerts, check night visibility, clear blocked sight lines, lock rear gates, and confirm that the alarm covers more than the main living space.