I can still remember the time when our house was burgled. I was 5 years old so the only annoyance was that they’d taken the TV, and with it my stream of daily cartoons, but I’m sure the experience was far more stressful for my parents.
Thankfully, I haven’t (yet) been the victim of a burglary as an adult, but not everyone is so lucky. My auntie for example lives in a nice, quiet neighborhood but has seven locks down the inside of her front door as a result of multiple burglaries the first year that she was living there.
The statistics are shocking, with a U.S. home being broken into every 15 seconds and a UK home every 37 seconds . The damage is not just a financial one either. While the first thing that springs to mind when you hear the word ‘burglary’ is obviously a loss of often very expensive possessions, for many people it also results in a loss of confidence.
Your home is supposed to be a place you can relax and forget the worries of everyday life, but when someone shatters that sense of security by invading your space, it is understandable that you may no longer feel safe in your own home.
It doesn’t help that many burglaries occur when the occupants are home. How would you feel knowing that a criminal had been wandering around in your home, perhaps even your bedroom, while you were sleeping?
Burglaries can therefore have psychological implications and this, combined with the hassle of filling out insurance claims and the sadness at losing items with sentimental value, will undoubtedly lead to stress, which can in turn affect your overall health and wellbeing. While there is no easy fix – as soon as you lock one burglar up another one takes his or her place. By following some simple home security steps can at least minimize your chances of falling victim to this terrible crime:
1 – Choose an Upstairs Apartment
Living above ground level does not make you immune from burglary – ladders exist, after all. However, it is much easier to slip through an open window when it’s right in front of you than to scale a draining pipe to get through an upstairs one, so if you’re on the lookout for a new home and are worried about security, it’s a good idea to focus your search on flats on the 1st floor or above.
2 – Close your Doors and Windows… All of Them!
Of course, don’t be fooled into a false sense of security by thinking that your top-floor flat or the upstairs floor of your house will never be broken into. Burglars will use all means possible to get into your home so if you’ve nipped to the pub for a Sunday lunch and left your upstairs bedroom window ajar to ‘give the room some fresh air’, you could come home to find that nice jewelry you had on your dresser has vanished.
It’s tempting to open all the windows, especially on hot summer days, but be sensible and only open them in the rooms you are actually in. When you go on holiday, ensure that doors and windows – including at the back of your house – are not only shut but locked too.
3 – Put up a CCTV Warning Sign
If you can afford it, buy a home CCTV kit or a mini spy camera and ensure that the DVR – the bit that stores the footage – is locked up and hidden away so that the burglar won’t just run off with that too. If you can’t afford it, it is still worth investing in a ‘CCTV in use’ sign to put in your front window and possibly a realistic looking dummy camera above your front door too. They won’t be much help in case of an actual burglary, but the majority of would-be criminals don’t want their face splashed across Crimewatch and will give your property a wide berth.
About the author: Iain Jenkins writes for Fly on the Wall, one of the leading online retailers of spy camera CCTV equipment to monitor and protect your valuables. Even the best-protected home can still be burgled but with a mini spy camera recording the incident you will at least have footage of the burglar that can help to prosecute them and bring your belongings back.
Credits: Photo courtesy of Adam Jakubiak.