Winter months.

According to the Office of National Statistics burglary accounted for 7% of all crimes reported in a 2011/2012 survey which totalled 501,053 incidents. Vehicle related theft was a huge 13% representing 1.2 million occurences across England and Wales. There are two points to be made here. Firstly, half a million reported crimes may not seem like much especially here in Norfolk where most of the population is spread out across small towns and villages, but I picked up my local area weekly this week and looked at the police report. Within fifteen miles of my location there were more than four reports of burglary and more attempted efforts. This clearly shows rural areas are just as easily targeted as the big cities. Secondly, cars are obviously an easy target. Don’t leave anything on display except additional security such as steering wheel or handbrake locks. The opportunist will smash your window for the slightest thing, be it a few pence or a mobile phone, etc. He or she has everything to gain while you have your insurance excess at the very least to pay out for the sake of taking a few moments to hide your stuff. Some things might not even seem worth taking to you, but why take the risk. Put it away in the glove compartment, or better still take it with you and leave the glove compartment empty. Also the clocks go back on 28th October. Halifax Home Insurance report a 63% increase in burglary claims during the winter months with the average cost of a winter burglary being £2,623 while the average cost through theft from a car amounts to £347. As a result of vehicle crime, premiums have shot up by 8.5% in the last year. Please bear in mind, these are reported figures. What of the cases of attempted burglary where only damage was done (usually down to good locks) or just a few small bits taken. I have been to several jobs where the customer just did not think it worth reporting to the police. While we do not condone non-reporting, how many cases are there out there that would change the figures? In the lucky cases of failed burglaries, these are almost always down to one of two things. Incompetent burglars or good security. Its worth updating home, vehicle and commercial security before the incompetent burglar becomes polished. One last point. Possibly the biggest increase in theft at the moment is centred around gardens. We keep a lot of quite valuable stuff in our sheds, garages and other out buildings. Even furniture is being taken from gardens. For advice on security relating to the above topics and a free security check with no obligations, please contact via any of the methods on our contacts page. Thanks for reading.