In the UK, there are over 500 home burglaries every day. 70% of these involved an intruder entering the home through an unlocked door, and an average of £2,850 of goods were stolen from each property. Furthermore, over half of these burglaries took place during daylight hours when at least one occupant was at home.
Besides the financial loss of a burglary, the emotional cost of having your privacy invaded can be high. The extra burden of dealing with repairs and insurance claims is also time consuming and can be a mentally draining process.
To help guard your home against such a distressing experience, it can help to know what type of possessions burglars target, and where they look for them. Here are the top three most commonly stolen items in the UK.
- Jewellery and watches
Over 40% of domestic burglaries result in the theft of jewellery or watches. These are high-value and easily portable items and are often an intruder’s number one target.
These items can be easy to find in dressing table drawers and nightstands, or stored in other bedroom furniture such as wardrobes and chests of drawers. Even if they are stored in a lockable jewellery box, the thief will take the whole box on the assumption that it must contain valuables.
Some people store precious items of jewellery in unusual places, such as in a wall vent or a coat pocket, but professional burglars have seen it all before and will know exactly where to look. Besides, if you stow items away in an irregular hiding place, chances are you will forget about them, or it or they will become damaged.
The best way to keep valuables secure is to store them in a safe that is firmly bolted to a wall or joist, or locked in a heavy item of furniture and cannot easily be detached.
- Money, purses and wallets
Thieves will always look for cash because it is easy to take and impossible to trace. They will usually search the main bedroom first and look in all the furniture, storage jars, and under the mattress. Purses and wallets are also a natural target and they will look in obvious places such as handbags and coat pockets.
Ideally, avoid keeping large amounts of cash at home. If this is unavoidable, it should be stored in a safe.
- Portable electronic goods
Laptops, games consoles, and mobile phones are common targets during a break in. They are easy to remove and conceal and have a high resale value.
The thief may also have another motivation to steal a laptop, as they usually contain personal data such as bank account login details and may even allow them to gain access to your employer’s sensitive data if you use a laptop to work from home.
The best advice is to keep these items stored out of sight, although it is not always practical to keep them locked in a safe. Investing in a modern home security system including an alarm and CCTV can act as a deterrent and also help to trace intruders should the worst happen.
If you are looking for intruder alarm installers in Slough, please get in touch with us today.
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