Don't be a burglary victim - a few tips.

[EDOliver]

Hi all

I've noticed that burglaries are a worryingly recent hot topic on the EDF so thought I'd give you guys a few tips so you're not the next victim.

Traditionally as we get closer to Xmas burglaries are on the increase and 2010 will be no different. Below are a few tips and points to consider.

? timer switches. If your not home til say 6 or 7 chances are your house would have been in darkness for a few hours. Timer switches dotted around the house coming on in seperate intervals will be great deterrent.

? Windows. older style single glazzed windows can be very easy to force open. Consider investing in some internal shutters that sit behind the windows. This offers a brilliant deterrent and a real headache for burglars.

? letterboxes. Long story short, don't leave keys or valuables anywhere near or within sight of the letterbox. Burglars do use fishing rods to catch your keys from tables, hooks etc.

? doors. Fit decent locks, worth paying the money. If your door has a bolt or chain then use it! Don't leave the key in the door. Also, if your door has a glass panel(s) then how easy would it be to remove the glass and reach around to the lock? It's a common way of gaining entry.

? valuables. The most sought after items for our thieving friends are smaller items; laptops, cameras, cash and jewellery etc etc. Don't leave them on display!! Be inventive and make it as tricky as possible for them to find your belongings.

? garden gates. Taller and stronger the better. Fit top and bottom bolts and consider barbed wire.

? external lights. Loads on offer and pretty cheap too.

? cat flaps. Could you reach in and open the back door? An old favourite and still a common method.

Above are just a few ideas that I can think of at 6 in the morning but there's loads of ways to prevent yourself from being burgled.

Speak to your Local safer neighbourhoods team and they'll give you loads of help on the matter.

Hope this is of some help and sorry for the spelling, been a long night!

Stay safe.

[James Barber]

The Crime Stoppers has loads of realy really helpful crime prevention ideas and tips:

http://www.crimestoppers-uk.org/crime-prevention

[lorna63]

Great tips, thank you. It would be wise to be economical about what information you share and with whom, for instance, if your arranging a delivery in a shop, try not to volunteer information like 'i'll be out all day saturday', you never know who is listening.

[kford]

Don't leave keys in jacket pockets if you hang them behind the front door.

[Sue]

UnderhillOliver Wrote:

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> If your door has a bolt or chain then use it!

> Don't leave the key in the door.

xxxxx

Thanks for some useful tips, but have I misunderstood this?

I always keep my front door locked with the mortice lock whilst I'm in the house, but I keep the key in the door.

My brother nearly died when a flat he was staying at caught fire at night. The owner had locked the front door, the key was not in it, they couldn't get at the key and they couldn't get out. Luckily they were able to take refuge on a balcony and a neighbour called the fire service in time, but if there had been no balcony that would have been it.

ETA: Re the external lights - please be considerate of your neighbours. It is very very annoying to have a mega bright security light shining into your living room or bedroom all night.

[louisiana]

I would add:

If you have bushes or trees screening your windows from the road, cut them back. Screening greenery gives burglars time to break into your property out of public view.

Also, install some external lights that are triggered by movement. Cheap (25-30 quid), easy to install, and adds to the unattractiveness of your property from a burglar POV.

[Gavin]

Hi Sue - quick suggestion: put a spare mortice lock key on a nail or hook somewhere near the front door where you can easily reach it, but it is well out of reach of the letter box and cannot be seen from outside. That way it is always to hand in an emergency so you can get out, but not obvious to anyone trying to get in. If you are going to be away overnight, try and remember to hide it somewhere so that if someone does get into your house by another route they can't easily walk out the front door - or better still deadlock your nightlatch (e.g. Yale lock) if you have one so that it can't be opened from the inside without a key.

[BChaplin71]

its quite a sad state of affairs all these burglaries and hopefully there will be a larger police presence on patrol.

thanks for poting these tips, there are some really useful ones in there.

[ClareC]

Just had a leaflet through the door from the Police advising of an increase of burglaries in the area, gathered as much from this forum but still worrying.

[BB100]

UnderhillOliver Wrote:

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> Hi all

> ? doors. Fit decent locks, worth paying the money.

> If your door has a bolt or chain then use it!

> Also, if your

> door has a glass panel(s) then how easy would it

> be to remove the glass and reach around to the

> lock? It's a common way of gaining entry.

This made me chuckle as I have in the past ten years gone out five times and left the front door wide open. (Forgot when putting the kids in the car). Three times the postman, leafleters and free paper men have thrown their deliveries onto the door mat obviously assuming someone was home. I don't recommend it though.

[DJKillaQueen]

Fitting an alarm is also worthwhile. They are relatively cheap and easy to install these days.

[Loz]

Sue,

As someone said, hang a spare key on a hook out of site of the door. Leaving it in the door may invalidate your insurance.

[Sue]

Loz Wrote:

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> Sue,

>

> As someone said, hang a spare key on a hook out of

> site of the door. Leaving it in the door may

> invalidate your insurance.

xxxxxx

Thanks - but I have a tiny tiny letter box and nobody could possibly reach the key through it.

I will consult my insurance company to see what they say.

Another concern apart from fire with not leaving the key in the door is that I may lock myself out. When it's in the door I always remember to take it out with me.

[Huggers]

or cage your letterbox

[DJKillaQueen]

Burglars can get the key Sue no matter how small the letterbox is. They can see if the key is in there from the outside and poke it out from the keyhole whilst having something through you letter box to trap it, wire, mirrors.....a net...it really isn't as difficult as you think. And if the door has a window..how long would it take to break that and be in? Even double glazed laminated windows are not impossible to break in less than a minute so if any window isn't at least that it will only take 10 secs max to break and be in.

A key in a lock is always a burglars dream.

[louisiana]

I once broke into my own place (had been mugged, keys stolen) by reaching through a grill with a long stick, knocking the spare keys off a sideboard about 3 metres away, and onto the floor, and nudging them towards me with the stick. It was easy enough to hook them then.

[Ren]

Thanks for the advice Oliver, were you on a night shift fighting these criminals by any chance?! if so, is there really a worrying increase in crime or do you think it's being reported/highlighted on EDF more frequently?

[brum]

Sue Wrote:

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>> I always keep my front door locked with the

> mortice lock whilst I'm in the house, but I keep

> the key in the door.

>

> My brother nearly died when a flat he was staying

> at caught fire at night. The owner had locked the

> front door, the key was not in it, they couldn't

> get at the key and they couldn't get out.

Sue - For the very reasons you give above, I strongly suggest you use a mortice lock with a turn-latch to lock the door from the inside, rather than by key. This way, you need not worry about being locked in if there's a fire. Keys have a tendency to go missing at just the vital time, as your brother found out...!

[*Bob*]

.. or just put a bolt on the door innit

[pebbles]

What do people recommend about the side return gates? We were thinking about spending some money in getting a new gate put in as ours is very flimsy however I'm thinking no matter what the gate they can always climb over the top - any advice gratefully received. Thanks

[Penguin68]

In general the rule about security is that anyone can break in anywhere, the trick is to make your place more difficult than others', so that the bad guys chose theirs not yours. (In evolutionary terms, you don't have to run faster than the cheetah, just faster than the next antelope to you that is being chased by the cheetah).

Sometimes more difficult is more costly - so that the bad guys will not think they will get a great return from attacking you - they will need more and better kit, ladders, crowbars, glass cutters, expertise in lock picking and so on. So they will go for the cheap and easy option (that's why safes are cash rated - they are designed to cost more to break into than the likely value being kept in them).

So if you make your place more secure it will keep out the casual thief, ie, the one who doesn't care who he burgles as long as he burgles someone, but not the thief who is after your Picasso etchings in particular.

The more inviting your property, in terms of ease of access, the more the wrong sort of person will be invited.

Conclusion - invest sufficiently in your security to keep people out, but don't spend more on security than your property might be worth. A better gate is still probably a good investment, as would be sensors pointed at the gate to light up or sound out if someone comes over the top.

[new mother]

if you are on holiday, be sure a neighbour is moving your various bins back on to the property from the pavement..

[EDKiwi]

Also don't leave the packing boxes for new purchases sitting outside your house. I see someone in our street has got a new 42inch tv because the packing box has been sitting outside their house for the last few days.

[louisiana]

And while a 42" TV might not strike you as an obvious burglar target, I have been a neighbour where an entire household of goods were removed by a gang of four carting them all out *while the residents were there*. Numbers, and threats of violence, make many things possible.

[candj]

new mother Wrote:

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> if you are on holiday, be sure a neighbour is

> moving your various bins back on to the property

> from the pavement..

And another thing to do is if you go on holiday, make sure that a neighbour puts some of their rubbish in your bin as I've heard thieves will check if the bins have been empty for a while (esp around Christmas, summer, etc). Light timers are good for when no one is home, as well.