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Lovely time of year for a break-in?
Last year the insurance firm Aviva analysed 10 years of insurance claims and created a calendar, plotting the typical peaks and troughs for burglary among other types of incident. You can see the full rundown here.
In terms of burglary, the following are the key dates you need to be aware of and some possible reasons why these times of the year might be significant:
February – Valentine’s Day is one of the worst dates in the year for burglaries with claims rising by 9% on 14th February.
Possible reason: people venturing out for romantic evenings/hotel stays.
May – On May Day incidences of burglary fall by 14%.
Possible reason: people spending time at home for the bank holiday.
July – you would think that risks are higher during the winter but 7th July is the third worst day of the year for burglaries with a rise of 12% reported.
Possible reason: warmer weather leading to more windows and doors being left open.
October – the clocks going back see a spike in break-ins of 20%.
Possible reason: darker evenings.
November – Bonfire Night on 5th November is the day you’re most likely to be burgled with an increase of a whopping 22%!
Possible reason: people heading out for bonfire events.
December – at least there’s some good news at Christmas; you’re least likely to be burgled on Christmas Day and Boxing Day!
Possible reason: even burglars have a couple of days off!
So, what do you do with this information? We’re not suggesting for one minute that you forego your Valentine’s Day romance or make the kids miss the local firework display – that would be silly; you need to be conscious of security all year round. What this does do though is highlight the things that make us more vulnerable to break-ins such as being away from home, leaving doors and windows open and dark evenings. The key is to avoid the behaviours we can change, such as being complacent with doors and windows, and make sure we have proper security measures in place for when we do need to go out or when evenings are dark such as having an alarm system, security lights and high quality locks.
Being a victim of burglary is bad at any time of year so do what you can to protect yourself and don’t become one of the statistics.