Here are 9 interesting, and maybe disturbing, facts about domestic break-ins that target your valuables
Burglaries occur with frightening frequency. Europol, the EU’s Pan-European law enforcement agency, reported that a robbery takes place somewhere in Europe every 1½ minutes. In some EU Member States, over 1,000 burglaries are recorded on an average day. According to the Home Security and Burglary Statistics for the UK in 2020, a theft happens each 106 seconds and £181 million is stolen from homes in London every year alone.
47% of burglaries are opportunistic attacks, where the thieves spot an easy target.
These “opportunities” can be things such as an open window or a visible set of keys.
Once spotted by a domestic burglar, this can often trigger a break-in at the residence.
Studies show that on average a domestic burglary takes only about 12 - 13 minutes.
The thief has three priorities:
They don't want to be slowed down by anything such as a safe or any difficulty in finding the valuables.
"On average, a domestic robbery will only take about 12 minutes"
The burglar is seeking high-value, easily-accessible, everyday items. These can include car keys (and then, of course, the car), passports, credit cards, wallets, cash, jewellery, watches, mobile phones, tablets/iPads etc. Besides monetary value, these very often can have irreplaceable emotional or informational value.
Keyless-entry cars are increasingly being targeted by thieves, who use scanning devices to intercept a vehicle’s wireless signal from up to 30 metres away, without even needing to enter a home. Moreover, when an automobile is stolen, the chances of getting it back in good condition are minimal. In the UK, where vehicle thefts have risen by more than 50% in the past six years, the Office for National Statistics shows that only 40% of stolen vehicles are recovered. Of these, most are damaged and 20% of them are written off totally.
High-end cars like this Range Rover have become a prime target of thieves over the last couple of years
A large proportion of domestic burglaries take place in affluent areas, with intruders bypassing security cameras, gates and other measures to enter homes. Thieves know there are high-value items in such homes and that security measures are not always as fully activated as they should be.
Realistically, in most countries, the chance of getting your things back following a burglary is almost zero. Police are generally too busy with other priorities to have time to pursue individual cases.
Of course, insurance can cover part of the monetary loss of a theft, but the emotional or informational value is often much higher and sometimes irreplaceable. Money certainly can’t replace memories, whether they are in your brain or your tablet.
Homes equipped with some kind of safe storage for valuables are much less likely to have them stolen. What a safe buys you is time. Even if a thief finds the safe, the time spent trying to crack it will upset their routine and increase the chances that they leave without your most highly-valued possessions.
Our experts are always on hand to advise you on the perfect safe to protect your valuables from brazen thieves. Why not have a look at our most recent and ingenious solution, EverydaySafe™, a compact steel unit, cleverly concealed within your home furniture, making it completely inconspicuous from prying eyes.
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