Don't Make Your Home a Burglar's Christmas Present
This time of year is a busy time for the opportunist
burglar. Homes are their prime target and they don’t take a
break for a Christmas holiday.
Many things work in their favour: It’s darker earlier, people are
in the festive mood and probably not as vigilant as normal, homes
are full of Christmas presents, food, alcohol and all sorts of
other tempting goodies.
Although the fear of crime has always been greater than the actual
number of incidents, the town’s Safer Harlow Partnership in keen to
encourage people to be vigilant and to cut down the risk of crimes,
especially burglaries, even further. The Partnership is working
with Essex Police to raise awareness of the simple precautions that
people can take to make sure that their home is not open to thieves
as well as family and friends over the festive period.
With three out of ten burglaries carried out by opportunist
thieves, the campaign is promoting some simple tips to keep your
home safe:
• 30% of burglaries are
opportunist – this means the burglar does not need to use force.
Fitting strong locks to windows and door is an excellent
deterrent.
• If you are replacing doors or
windows make sure they are certified to British Standards BS7950
(windows) or PAS 24-1 (doors).
• Engage the lock in uPVC doors
by turning the key.
• Don’t leave the car keys in
an obvious place and where they can be seen through windows or
hooked through letterboxes.
• Don’t leave valuables or
Christmas presents in view at home or in the car.
Look at your home through the burglars’ eyes. How would you
get in if you’d lost your key? Check:
• Is there anything that makes
it easy for them such as doors and windows screened from public
view?
• Is there anything that would
put them off such as security lighting or gravel which is noisy to
walk on?
• Consider fitting a burglar
alarm. Most burglars are put off if there’s an alarm.
• Don’t build structures such
as pergolas next to the house, they make it easier to reach
upstairs windows.
And finally if you are going away for Christmas:
• Consider timers to turn on
lights so that it appears someone is at home (think about using
energy saving bulbs).
• Cancel milk deliveries and
ask neighbours to ensure post is not sticking out of
letterboxes.
• If you are travelling, don’t
put your address on your luggage labels.
• If you usually have lots of
outside Christmas lights it could be an indication to a burglars
that you are out or away when they are not switched on.
Malcolm Morley, Chairman of the Safer Harlow Partnership said: “The
festive period unfortunately presents a lot of opportunities for
criminals. People let their guard down but crime does not stop
for the Christmas holiday. If you are going away, make sure
it’s not obvious to the thief and continue to take the same
precautions with your home and property as you do for the rest of
the year.”
Superintendent Simon Williams said: “Essex Police and The Safer
Harlow Partnership are working hard to educate people about simple
actions that can be taken to better protect their property from
burglary during the winter period. Easy hints and tips such as
mail redirection during winter breaks and light timer switches
during the darker evenings are examples.
“Essex Police and The Safer Harlow Partnership will be deploying
overt and covert measures to catch and convict those who commit
burglary and the Police are appealing for information on those who
are intent on stealing from peoples homes. Information can be
passed anonymously to Crimestoppers 0800 555 111.”
More information is available at http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/
Or Go to the Safer Harlow Partnership Keep Safe section -
Burglary Reduction page http://www.saferharlow.info/keep-safe/burglary-reduction.aspx