Fast Facts - Property Crime

Property crime can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time. Check out these fast facts about property crime and find out what you can do to reduce the risk of danger to you, your family and your home.

There were an estimated 2,103,787 burglaries and354,520 robberies.

That's one burglary every 15 seconds and one robbery every 1.5 minutes.

Around 60% of burglars used forcible entry to gain access to a home. More than 30% of burglars entered residences through an unlocked door, window and other opening without force.

Typically, burglars spend less than 60 seconds breaking into a home. The more difficult it is to gain access, the more likely a burglar is to reconsider the attack.

Most convicted burglars (90%) said they want to avoid homes with alarm systems and said if they did encounter an alarm, they would abandon the attack on the home.

It's estimated that 74% of uncompleted intrusions can be credited to an audible alarm.

Homes without alarm systems are 3 times more likely to be burglarized than those with an alarm system.

Precautions to Reduce Burglary

There are four basic types of precautions which must be provided to significantly reduce the chance of an intrusion:

• Deterring Measures: These are security measures which are likely to lower the chance of a break-in when the burglar cruises the neighborhood in search of a target. Intruders search for homes that appear to be unoccupied. Thus, deterring measures suggest that somebody is at home. For example, a car in the driveway, motion sensitive exterior lights, interior lights, and radios and TVs on timers, all give the impression that someone is in the home.
  
•  Preventive Measures: These are security measures which make the actual break-in more difficult and/or time consuming. Intruders spend no more than 60 seconds breaking into a home. Measures which rise this time may cause burglars to change their mind. Some examples include deadbolt locks, bars on windows, and pins in sash windows. 
  
• Detection Measures: These are measures which detect the presence of an intruder on the premises and send a message out. Only a burglar alarm serves that purpose. 
  
• Managerial Measures: In nature, these measures are in the deterrence category. They are not physical precaution measures like the three previous categories but are associated with the deterring category in their objective, which is to produce the impression that somebody is home. They include stopping newspaper and mail delivery, notifying police when you will be away, and having neighbors watch your home. 
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• Burglars report that doors and windows are often left unsecured, or even wide open, allowing them to literally let themselves in.

This was also backed up by 64% of householders who confessed to occasionally leaving doors unlocked whilst away from the home, and a further 37% whilst inside the home - even though statistics show that 22% of burglaries are carried out with the thief aware that the home was occupied.

One offender often gained entry to homes by putting their hands in a letterbox and pulling the keys out.

C & L Windows and Conservatories Ltd

48, Stroud Road
Gloucester
Gloucestershire
GL1 5AJ

01452 526028

www.candlwindows.co.uk