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Said nobody ever.
Nobody really believes that and yet many people are so complacent about their home security that you would think this was the case. Recent information released by the Home Office under the Freedom of Information Act shows that the police fail to return a single item stolen in burglaries in 87% of cases. On the occasion that they do, they typically recover less than half of what was taken.
Burglary rates as a whole are reducing but unfortunately so are the resources for investigating them. Police cut backs and the rise in other types of crime such as sex offences, terrorism and cyber-crime mean that choices are being made about where to channel police resources and burglary is being pushed further and further down the list.
The head of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, Sara Thornton, recently stated:
“We need to move from reacting to some of those traditional crimes to think about focusing on threat and harm and risk and protecting the public. If we’re really serious about putting a lot of effort into protecting children, for example, it might mean if you’ve had a burglary, and the burglar has fled, we won’t get there as quickly as we have in the past.
Of course, we will still want to gather evidence, but we might do it in different ways.”
Some have accused the police of almost ‘decriminalising’ burglary by failing to follow incidents up thoroughly. One force, Leicestershire Police, recently controversially trialed a scheme where only even numbered houses that had been burgled were followed up to save money. Bad luck if you live in an odd number.
The moral of this story is ‘do everything you can to prevent a burglary’!
When people are victim to burglary they feel a mix of emotions: there’s the obvious upset and anger at the loss of property; the violation they feel that a stranger has been in their home and gone through their things; the injustice that someone thought they had the right to come and take their property; and the frustration that they could have done more to prevent it. Of course, it’s a bit late after the event.
Often, it’s not necessarily a case of having more security measures installed; it’s simply about making proper use of them. Most people have door locks but the majority of break-ins are ‘insecure’ burglaries via unlocked doors. Many have burglar alarms but don’t bother to set them or fail to maintain them so they stop working.
If you don’t care enough about burglary and the police don’t care enough about burglary then we may as well declare open season for the burglars. Don’t make it easy for them.
For advice on a range of home security measures call us on 0345 833 5543 or send us a message.