Study To Look At Effectiveness Of Burglar Alarms

A research project led by the University of Huddersfield has been awarded a grant from the Home Office to study the effectiveness of burglar alarms in UK homes.

According to a press release, the three-month project, that focusses on the place force areas of West Yorkshire and Humberside, will be led by Professor Rachel Armitage from the University’s School of Human and Health Sciences, and be delivered by Professor Andromachi Tseloni and Dr James Hunter from Nottingham Trent University.

A leading authority on crime prevention and designing-out-crime and a member of the University’s Applied Criminology and Policing Centre (ACPC), Professor Armitage said the study will help to clarify how effective burglar alarms are in the reduction of residential burglary.

Researchers will analyse Google Street View of thousands of residential properties on a variety of different streets across the chosen regions, and obtain data on individual homes, such as whether or not the property has a burglar alarm, the brand, age, and any other design features that might be associated with burglary risk.

Comparing this with data recorded by the police, the team will then assess how effective the alarms are at deterring burglars.

The final part of the study will involve Police Community Support Officers visiting properties across the two police forces to survey homeowners and residents, collecting information on burglar alarm types, age, and usage, as well as looking at records of burglaries that may have taken place.

The last part of the project aims to look at the finer details of burglar alarms, such as whether particular brands or design features are effective at deterring burglars.

“In addition to identifying the impact of burglar alarms,” said Professor Armitage, “our analysis will also identify the risk, as well as the protective characteristics of additional factors relating to dwellings, streets and neighbourhoods, that could be informative to crime reduction strategies and burglary reduction advice.

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