I believe the thieves live locally and have several local friends phoning them when neighbors leave their homes unoccupied.
The house just north of me got hit and the owner was away about two hours. A neighbor reported that a black jeep pulled into the yard and left a few minutes later.
The house just south of me got hit and the owner was away less than 30 minutes.
The thieves seem to be smash and grab types. Kick the door in, grab only small valuables like guns, jewelry and electronics and get out fast. They didn’t even bother messing with a floor safe or lots of expensive shop equipment. Typical meth heads. The DogHead fire revealed a number of campsites of dopers living in the forest. Lots of ways to defeat these thieves once you know their style.
The Torrance County Sheriff showed up 28hrs after one burglary was reported. If you have a bit of land, might want to walk all of it every few weeks to see if there are people living on it. Be careful trusting your neighbors, they may be honest, but their dirtbag friends/relatives might like to know your house is unoccupied. Of course they could just look at real estate listings and see 100+ Torrance properties for sale and 90% of those are vacant and 25% are still furnished.