Thames Valley Police - Burglary Crime Prevention

“Lovely weather…………….for Burglars!”
 
We’ve all been enjoying the sunshine recently, but with the nice weather comes opportunities for thieves.
 
Did you know that a large number of burglaries reported to us have no signs of a forced entry?
 
Many burglars target homes with open doors and windows during the summer months, they rely on people forgetting to lock doors or windows that have been left open during the day for ventilation.
 
Here’s some straightforward advice to help you, help us to reduce burglary.
 

1. Before you go to bed at night, just take a couple of minutes to check around your home and make sure doors and windows, especially on the ground floor, are secure.
2. If you can afford them CCTV systems and alarms are great deterrents to thieves, but you can prevent crime by using less expensive means too.
3. Security lighting at the rear of your home or a courtesy light at the front door illuminates any activity and removes the cover of darkness for criminals.
4. If you have a side gate, fit a bolt and padlock to prevent easy access to your garden. Did you know that you can buy combination lock bolts to fit on the front face of the gate to allow access to authorised people?
5. Keep car keys out of sight and out of reach of your letter box- some burglars are adept at using implements to reach through letter boxes and hook keys from hall tables and shelves.
6. Some thieves will knock on the door of an address to see if its occupied before trying to break in. If you see or experience something suspicious or that you’re unsure of please call us, we’ll always do our best to get to calls of suspicious activity quickly if we think a burglary may be taking place.
7. Don’t purchase goods from sources that you aren’t happy with, your bargain buy may be the proceeds of a heart breaking crime for a victim of burglary and the next victim may be you or someone close to you. We know that some thieves will use Facebook selling sites to dispose of stolen property- we will always seek to prosecute those we suspect of handling stolen goods. If it seems too good to be true- it is, be careful.

 
The Op Monitor team is working hard to reduce burglary and to target and convict the callous criminals who commit this type of crime. We need your help, remember that you can contact us with information regarding burglary in confidence via 101, or via Crime Stoppers on 0800555111.