Protecting homes against burglary

With a growing threat of burglary,Graham Johnson, managing director of security company Chiltern Technology, offers practical advice to prevent homes becoming a target.

Credit crunch Britain is now seeing burglary on the rise, after a decade of falling crime statistics.

Graham Johnson, managing director of security company Chiltern Technology, offers some practical advice to prevent your home becoming a target.

It's a crime that happens every 30 seconds in England and Wales, affecting over a million people a year and costing more than GBP600 million in lost property and GBP180 million in damage.

Per capita, only six other countries in the world are worse affected by it than us*.

In terms of the criminal, 88% are young males between the ages of 16 and 24 and, in burgling your home, 71% gain entry through a door, usually by forcing a lock.

The bad news is that in credit crunch Britain, the statistics are worsening.

Figures released by police forces in England and Wales show that in the final four months of last year, cases of burglary or robbery rose in 31 of 43 force areas in comparison with the same period in 2007.

In those 31 areas, an extra 5,572 crimes of burglary and robbery were committed in the final months of 2008, compared with the previous year.

The average value of property stolen is about GBP1,270, but that can include heirlooms or family treasures that are irreplaceable - and nearly 70% of victims report being mentally or emotionally affected by the experience.

The current economic situation also means that thieves are prepared to take greater risks, according to Sir Hugh Orde, Chief Constable of Northern Ireland.

He reports a significant rise in 'creeper burglaries' across Northern Ireland in recent months - burglaries where the householders are in the house.

Sir Hugh lays the blame for this increase squarely on the economic downturn: "The current economic trends are not looking good".

"Where things become more expensive, crime increases," he says.

The same is no doubt true in other parts of the UK.

The Home Secretary agrees.

"Our modelling indicates that an economic downturn would place significant upward pressure on acquisitive crime and therefore overall crime figures," wrote Jacqui Smith in a memo to PM Gordon Brown, which was leaked late last year.

More startlingly, of those directly affected by burglary or attempted burglary, 20% of households are targeted more than once a year, 13% are burgled twice - and 7% are burgled three or more times.

The reason for this is simple, because in choosing his target, the burglar is an opportunist.

He'll go for the property without visible signs of security - and, in particular, where the door is the weak point.

Contrary to popular belief, burglars don't necessarily go for the richest-looking properties.

These often have good protection, and burglars like easy targets.

Until recently, the risk of being burgled had been falling - by a full 50% in the last decade - as greater prosperity reduced the incidence of burglary and better security made breaking in more difficult.

Now, with burglary on the rise, the lesson for households is to take some basic preventative measures, and the good news is that they need not be expensive, and could pay dividends in peace of mind and lower insurance premiums.

So what should householders do to avoid becoming victims? Security Systems.

First and foremost, having an alarm in your home is the biggest deterrent of all.

However, it has to be a real one and not just a fake box on the wall - a good burglar can tell the difference.

However, helping to balance the cost of installation, most insurance companies offer a discount of between 2% and 15% on the cost of home contents insurance if you have a burglar alarm, according to Which? magazine.

You should also consider other security systems such as day/night cameras and security lighting - which may trigger further home insurance reductions.

Insurance.

It's estimated that as many as 25% of UK households have no contents insurance and, of those who do, the average British household under-insures its contents by about GBP10,000.

So, making a full inventory of your belongings is a sensible precaution, and ensures that the full amount can be properly insured.

It's surprising how much your clothes, plasma TV, CD or DVD collections can add up to.

Valuables such as jewellery should be professionally valued every few years.

Keep Valuables Safe.

Having expensive ornaments or other valuables on full view of people passing in the street is asking for trouble.

Professional burglars take time to choose their targets, so much better to keep valuables out of sight of casual passers-by, or even better in a safe.

Invest in an ultra-violet marker pen and security mark valuables with your name and postcode and a date.

Don't throw purchase receipts away, and take photographs of valuables such as paintings and jewellry in case a claim is necessary.

Lastly, your car keys may not be particularly valuable, but your car is.

Don't leave car keys lying around in the hallway, and spare keys should be locked away in a lockable keysafe.

ID Theft.

Identity theft may not seem like household burglary, but it can still happen at your home.

It's a growing problem because it's so easy for criminals to perpetrate - simply by looking through your rubbish and taking away details of bank accounts or receipts of recent expensive purchases.

Shred important paperwork.

Don't Leave Home.

..Or if you do, don't make it look like your home is unoccupied.

Invest in a timer-switch light, or leave a radio switched on, or get a neighbour to open and close your curtains - and don't forget to cancel the milk and newspaper.

According to insurance company Churchill, one in ten people have come back from holiday to find that their home had been broken into and household items stolen.

Garden Security.

Leaving a ladder in the back garden is inviting trouble, as is keeping your toolkit in an unlocked shed.

Keep ladders locked away, and make sure that burglars can't gain access to anything that could help them break into your home.

Automated gates make for an excellent deterrent because it sets your property's boundary as far as possible from the front door.

Secure gates buy time (which the burglar doesn't have) and provide another physical barrier.

The same goes for secure fencing at the bottom of your garden or, even simpler, plant thorny bushes to deter entry.

And make sure that hedges are cut back to prevent burglars being able to lurk out of sight.

Remember, many thieves are opportunists: if they're deterred at the outset, they'll go elsewhere.

Doors and windows.

These are the weak points, and the primary means of entry for burglars.

The police recommend five-lever mortise deadlocks (British Standard BS3621) on external doors, and if you are replacing doors and windows, buy ones that are certified to PAS 24-1 (doors) and British Standard BS7950 (windows).

It may also sound daft advice, but don't keep a spare key under a plant pot by the front door, or under the doormat, or hanging by a string behind the letter box - the resourseful burglar knows that a lot of people do just that! Neighbourhood Watch.

Burglars can be put off by the smallest thing, so joining a Neighbourhood Watch, and having the scheme logo prominantly displayed, can be a good deterrant.

It's also a way to meet people and get to know your neighbours better, as well as building a network of locals looking out for each other.

It can also feed into lowered insurance premiums.

Get Into a Routine.

Before leaving the house in the morning, or going to bed at night, run through a brief checklist - are all the windows and doors closed and locked?.

Have I put away the ladder? Is the burglar alarm switched on? Get into that routine, and make sure the rest of the family get into it too.

Lastly, in a survey, Norwich Union says that one in three people now feel that their home is more vulnerable as a result of the credit crunch, while also finding that 20% of people still don't lock all their doors and windows at night.

More fool them, because a final startling statistic is that only 9% of stolen property is ever returned.

Much better, then, if the burglar had been denied access in the first place.

Chiltern Technology provides complete security solutions across the UK for both homes and commercial premises.

*In rank order and per capita, the ten countries worst affected by burglary are: Australia, Dominica, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, New Zealand, United Kingdom (seventh), Poland, Canada, South Africa.

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