Professional Burglary

Burglary is common. But being a financially successful burglar is another thing. It takes skills and resources along with much more to be a good burglar. The first quality of a "good" burglar is that they must be committed to learning many skills needed to commit lucrative break and enters. Some of these skills include gaining entry into homes and apartments, selecting targets with huge potential payoffs, they must know how to choose items of a high resale value, they must know how to open safes properly without damaging their contents, and they must learn how to use proper equipment such as cutting torches, electric saws, explosives, and metal bars. The second characteristic is the ability to team up with or form an alliance with other criminal members. Knowing trustworthy companions to work with is essential if the obstacles to completing a successful job are to be overcome, such as police, alarms, and secure safes. The third characteristic that the burglar must have inside information. Without knowledge of what awaits them inside, burglars can spend a tremendous amount of time and effort on empty safes and jewellery boxes. The fourth, and final, characteristic of a good burglar is the necessity to cultivate fences or buyers for stolen wares. Once the burglar gains access to people who buy and sell stolen goods, he or she must also learn how to successfully sell these goods for reasonable profit. A possible reason for why burglars tend to victimize commercial property rather than private homes could be that the penalty for breaking and entering a private home is much more severe then breaking and entering a business because a home is seen as a place where one should be safe from all unwanted or outside attention. The maximum punishment for breaking and entering a business is 15 years whereas for a home it is a maximum punishment of life in prison. That in and of itself is reason to victimize commercial rather than private properties. Some burglars tend to target the same home or business more then once because once they know how to get in, what's in, and where everything is, it makes it an easier job than relearning the logistics of a totally different building. Learning the skills of becoming a good and successful burglar can be gleaned by watching. "Example isn't another way to teach, it's the only way." -Albert Einstein. This quote is a good way of explaining how good burglars learn their skills. Following along with another more experienced burglar can teach all that a new burglar needs to know.
Taking a look at this crime story here, it shows a group of both male and female burglars who do this as a career. They are a well organized group and rely on each others companionship to accomplish their robberies. Previous to their criminal careers they were friends in highschool so there is a large amount of trust and reliability that is seen in this criminal "gang". These particular burglars were what's known as star-struck arrivistes. In other words, they steal for an attempt at the "hollywood lifestyle" of money, bling, and designer jeans.
In the episode of Leverage, there were many examples to back up the four characteristics of a good burglar. The auto thieves had a lots of knowledge and skills that they used to efficiently steal cars. They had a well established and well organized group of people that they worked with. They worked alongside of other criminals who were trustworthy. They also had inside information and lots of sources to accomodate their work. On top of that they had good resources for their fences and their buyers. They knew the right people and had professional relationships with them that helped with their work.
Those are just a few examples of how professional criminals opporate and how it relates to Neal Shover's list of qualities of a financially successful burglar.