How do I secure the basement windows?

[Daniel Mills]

I am currently rehabbing a row home in Reading, PA. The first floor is on street level at the front, but there is a walk out basement with three windows in the back. All three basement windows were covered with vinyl siding before we purchased the property.

After closing last week I went by the property and the front door was frozen shut due to a leak in the front facade. I went around back but the door was barred from the inside. I did notice that the siding was coming off of one of the windows revealing a sheet of plywood that had been nailed over the window. I had some commitments over the weekend and decided to come back on Monday to "break in" by unscrewing the plywood on the window.

When I arrived on Monday I found that over the weekend someone had beaten me to it. They ripped some of the plywood off the window, climbed in and unbarred the door. They then proceeded to steal all of the copper pipes smashing the bathroom fixtures in the process.

The plywood that was torn out was very thin ~ 1/4". I have now boarded up the windows with 3/4" plywood and I don't think anyone will be able to knock it in without a great deal of trouble. My question is, if I remove the boards and replace the windows how do I keep them from being broken out again? Window bars don't seem to be legal, but I would assume that having boarded up windows will hurt the final sale price. I also seems to defeat the idea of improving the neighborhood.

Has anyone else faced a similar situation?