Kent Police have just issued the latest crime stats for Hadlow, Mereworth and West Peckham for the year from June 2014 to May 2015. They make pretty shocking reading. This is what you would have thought was a quiet country area with a few villages and a lot of fields.

Crime Stats for Hadlow, Mereworth and West Peckham

Who would have guessed that during the year the area would see no less than 1,119 crimes committed? Somewhat worryingly for local residents, no less than 177 of these were burglaries.

That’s 177 homes or premises broken into. People have lost valuables and sentimental items that can never be replaced.

The Tragedy Of Burglary

Most homeowners will, of course, have been insured. However, in many cases they will not have received a sufficient insurance payout to cover the cost of replacing everything they have lost.

This is partly because many people forget to take inflation into account and do not increase their cover.  So they might have taken out a policy twenty years ago that today is nowhere near enough. And the loss adjuster will modify the payout they receive accordingly.

In the case of this apparently peaceful area, it also seems that crime might pay, or at least there is very little chance of going to prison.

'No Further Action' Reported

Overall, in 76% of all cases, the police recorded “no further action”, either because they had no suspect identified or they were unable to prosecute the suspect they did have.

Just 52 people were sent to court and of those, nine defendants were found not guilty. In a further five cases, the result was shown as “court case unable to proceed.”  Of the other 38, just seven people were sent to prison.

Are you making life harder for burglars?

The simple answer is that you need to take every precaution possible in order to protect your home and your valuables. This obviously starts with a burglar alarm. Given the choice of breaking into a home with a burglar alarm or the one next door without one, even the dimmest burglar is going to go for the second one.

You can add other deterrents such as security lighting and CCTV cameras. It is easy to install security lighting that is operated by passive infra-red so that the lighting switches on when the system detects movement. A burglar attempting to break in under cover of darkness is very likely going to run a mile if he suddenly finds himself lit up and visible to any passer-by.

Find Out How To Protect Your Property With A Free Security Survey

For nearly 30 years, we have been protecting homes and businesses with the latest and greatest security technology.  As part of our expansion we've moved to larger premises in Orpington, but don't worry, we still cover Hadlow, Mereworth And West Peckham too! For a FREE site survey, please get in touch with our team today.