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What Time of Day Do Most Burglaries Occur?

You might be surprised to discover that most burglaries occur during the day. Specifically, in the early afternoon, between noon and 4pm.

This goes against what many of us believe. Unlike the horror films and cartoons where burglars in balaclavas break into homes at night, most household robberies take place in broad daylight. This isn’t to say that burglaries don’t take place at night. There are still night-time and even morning-time robberies, but when it comes to the percentages, afternoon burglaries are most common.

Now that you know this, you might want to re-think your home security strategies. And, you’ll probably be curious about why burglaries take place during the day.

Why Is That?

Again, this one goes against the stereotype. If you think that burglars happen upon a random home and chance their luck, think again. The majority of burglaries focus on lower-risk, higher-profit homes.

This is because burglars analyse their crimes in percentages. For the majority of people, day-time shifts are the norm. And, again, for the vast majority of us, our work takes us away from our home. While some people work from home, others will frequently travel and leave their property empty for days at a time.

Burglars do their best to identify this. They want to break into your home when there’s the highest chance of nobody being there. On top of that, they want to appear like an innocent passer-by on your street.

If neighbours are watching, or if locals are looking for anything suspicious, they’ll just see a stranger that’s lost, looking for an address. If you get caught scoping out a potentially empty property at night though, then your interrogators are likely to ask some more difficult questions.

Burglars will evaluate a property and try to break into it during the day more often than not. That’s because they believe this is the time when they’re likely to be most successful. The lights you’ve left on – indoors and out – won’t be a particularly effective security strategy.

What Can You Do to Prevent Burglaries from Happening?

Now that you know most burglaries taking place during the day, it’s time to step up your home security. To begin with, let’s go through a few of the basics.

Make friends with the neighbours

Be friendly with your neighbours, and let them know anytime you’re heading out of town. They’ll be suspicious when unfamiliar faces approach your home. Make sure that you never leave any windows open if you’re not there. Sheds and other outhouses need to be protected too. Even if there’s nothing worth stealing in there, burglars could use some of the tools they find to help make a break-in easier.

Install motion-sensor lighting

Leaving the lights on when you’re not home is a particularly ineffective way to keep burglars from breaking into your home. Instead, install motion-sensor lighting. If a burglar is trying to analyse your property without being spotted, then a motion-activated light will draw a lot more attention to them than they first anticipated.

Store valuables in a safe

If you have unique jewellery and valuables, consider storing them in a safe. Make sure that your doors have highly-advanced and reliable locks too. Flimsy, out-of-date locks can easily be manipulated to grant burglars access.

Install a burglar alarm

And, finally, consider installing a burglar alarm. Not only does this bring a huge amount of attention to burglars, they’ll be able to tell as soon as they view your property that there’s an active security system indoors. Make it even more secure by adding a CCTV system as well. That way, no matter what happens on your property, you’ll be able to review it and take note. Some CCTV systems even allow you to view the footage live, from remote locations.

How Calder Security Can Help

When you’re looking to step up your home security, be sure to get in touch with our Calder Security team. We stock the best motion-sensor lighting, CCTV systems, burglar alarms, safes and locks available. If you have any doubts at all about the security of your property, then let our advisors help.

We have all the products you could need to keep potential burglars away. As Yorkshire’s leading independent security company, we do everything we can to keep you safe. Contact us today to get a quote and allow yourself peace of mind for your property.