Here are ten home security tips – know your enemy so that you can defeat him. Most people feel secure in their own home if they have never been burgled or had an unwanted visitor, but the fact it hasn’t happened YET doesn’t mean you are secure. It merely means your home security has not been tested.

10 Home Security Tips To Keep Your Family Safe

These ten home security tips contain verifiable Home Office Home Security statistics, and anecdotal research gained from speaking with previous offenders, because as Sun Tzu the great Chinese general said, “To defeat an enemy, you must first think like them.”

1. Burglars do not like a challenge. Thieving is their business, they want a very fast turnaround process, delivering a quick profit. They will not choose your home to burgle – unless you offer it to them as an easy target. Make a few changes, and with each, you reduce the attraction. Roughly three homes are burgled every two minutes in Britain.
2. Most burglaries are opportunist. The burglar will roam the area looking for the most inviting properties to enter. They will first look for unlit or remote properties, and those with valuable items on display. Then they look for evidence of any security features – alarm boxes, outside lights on sensors, securely constructed doors, windows with locks and lights on behind closed curtains. Any visual deterrent will usually make them move on to easier pickings elsewhere.
3.  Many people – you’ll have to read this twice – do not make ANY changes to their previous poor security that is recommended to them after they have been burgled, and therefore unsurprisingly more than half receive a second visit within four years. Don’t all business people prefer repeat business with a ‘customer’ who makes their job easy work?
4. Only half of burglaries are carried out by strangers from another area. The other half are carried out by people from your own locality who will have at least some knowledge of, or link with you, regardless how tenuous. It is thought that the rise in drug related crime creates this, as drug abusers stay local and will carry out individual random burglaries for a the price of a “fix”.
5. In 20% of burglaries they don’t even have to “break in”, doors and windows are left unlocked. 70% enter through a door, the rest come through a window. Secure doors and frames, and secure locks on accessible windows are less expensive than the large rise in your insurance premiums for being a victim. One of the first things sought is car keys that are often left by the front door… which was unlocked… more insurance premium rises…
6. Most burglaries occur in the evening, not early hours of the morning, as they are less conspicuous. Carrying a 42” telly down the street at 3am is not a regular occurrence. Moving house in the evening is, so even though 20% of burglars are seen in the act, it’s not always obvious that a burglary is occurring.
7. Nearly 90% of burglars are male, with more than a quarter of burglaries being done by two. Given that over 20% are caught in the act in a house, your main concern should be to prevent their access in the first place. “Aggravated burglary” with violence is on the rise,  because the penalties are no more severe, and the rise in drug related offences means you have no idea of their mental state.
8. Less than 1 in 5 burglaries are successfully detected, and property is returned in less than 10% of cases. Insurance premiums rise in 100% of cases. 8 out of 10 people whose homes have been violated in this way are seriously emotionally affected long term.
9. If you do disturb a burglar, let them run! Catching them and bringing them to book is the job of the Police. If your valuables are insured, replacement shouldn’t be a problem. Nothing in your home is worth your life.
10. Reduce your target value. Make sure that every statistic you’ve read above remains totally irrelevant to you. Always keep lights on and curtains drawn when you’re out to avoid people looking in, maybe have lamps on timers if you’re away long term. Keep valuables hidden.  Lock windows and doors. Have an alarm fitted. Make your home your castle by all means, but keep the moat filled, the drawbridge up and the portcullis down.

Don’t become another burglary statistic, take the first step to getting your own burglar alarm and book a free home security survey by filling in the form below, now.

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