Burglaries can affect any part of the population, but often crooks will deliberately target older people.
Such crimes are motivated by the perception that it may be easier to get away with a break-in when the householder is less mobile, strong or able to see or hear. Such vulnerabilities make individuals more vulnerable to being overpowered and remove the risk of an intruder being physically prevented from getting away.
Another reason is that older people may keep more items in their homes that they have had for their whole lives, giving them a much greater value if sold at antique fairs or similar outlets.
For this reason, older people and those caring for them should contact burglar alarm installers in Slough to provide extra means of raising the alarm and also deterring would-be thieves.
Often older folk are targeted because it is believed they will be more trusting and perhaps not have all their mental faculties in place. This assumption didn’t work in Northampton this week, as the Northamptonshire Telegraph reported that a couple of pensioners quickly sussed out a trio claiming to be from Neighbourhood Watch who had entered their home and raised the alarm.
Elsewhere, however, some thieves have managed to pull off confidence tricks, with an example reported by the BBC earlier this month involving burglars posing as pest controllers. They managed to carry out four break-ins across the Black Country, with one distracting the householder while the other ransacked the property.
Thousands of pounds and many personal items were stolen from the properties in Wolverhampton, Dudley and Sandwell.
Such incidents do not just show the need for older people to be kept well informed about the latest tricks that local crooks are up to; it also means they need to be helped to protect themselves against those who see them as easy targets.
Leave A Comment