Christmas burglaries

An interesting article caught my eye this lunch time, (not just randomly reading ‘Grazia’, a proper informative work article) “Christmas time for burglars” stated the heading. It started me thinking. Is my own property vulnerable? Have I left the ten foot tree bedecked with baubles and twinkling lights, surrounded by mounds of enticing gifts, all to the mercy of the overworked Christmas burglar?

Granted the ‘sweater’ from Gran could go, but how devastating to find it all gone, and that feeling of having uninvited pillagers in your domain.

We all at some point over Yuletide leave our properties  empty, shopping trips, social events and visits, while with the elongated break, some of us even take holidays in the sun, (If only). Add this to the fact that the prospective booty is fantastically easy to target- conveniently left either in the hall or sitting room, well its like heaven for the potential thief!

 

The statistics tell us; burglaries peak not in the holiday month of August, but in the November to January period. One poor lady told of how she was visited on Christmas day!

"We had gone to visit my parents in Wales, and spent a lovely Christmas day with the family," she says. "We were enjoying the break from London - in fact, we were in the middle of a country walk when we got the phone call. It seems the burglars had got in on Christmas morning. Our holiday came to an abrupt end and we went back to face a ransacked flat. Everything had gone - cameras, video recorders, jewellery and my brand new computer."

It seems that the burglars had come through a communal front door that should have been secure, but the security lock had been left undone.

 

What can we do? Well, apparently most burglars are essentially opportunist, zoning in on the weakest link in a property’s security. There are a few things that can be done to strengthen a property’s defense-

Strong, secure doors with adequate locks are the first line of defense. Over half of all burglaries involve the thief gaining access from the back, so back doors and windows need at least as much attention as the front entrance. But security awareness and cooperation is equally vital - however advanced the specifications of the locking system a nifty thief can rapidly burgle several flats in one property given just one communal entrance carelessly left undone.

 

Well, I am going to check all our locks. While away at the outlaws I will ask our nosy neighbour to check on our house (she has been dying to do that) I will leave lights on. Not a problem in our house, as no one turns them off! So with a bit of care and attention, we won’t be visited by the ghost of burglaries past this Christmas!