Protecting your home – do you think about it much?
I’m so lucky that I live in a really low-crime area. To give you an idea of the scale of the issue, the local paper lists the crime each month in the column by the local policeman. Last month there were a horrifying total of SIX crimes committed – three of which were ‘anti-social behaviour’, and one was a vehicle. Only two were burglary.
But.
We’ve lived here 20 years – and ten years ago there wouldn’t have been ANY burglaries.
Like most places in the UK, our tiny rural town is growing at a visible speed – and with the influx of new people and an increase in population, crime rates will inevitably increase over time.
Not that I fear for the family silver or anything – but it’s never a bad idea to be cautious. In fact, having grown up in a big town in Essex, twenty years ago our new neighbours used to laugh at the fact that we had a chain put on our front door; now I know that most of them have the same.
But even if you live somewhere that has a much higher burglary rate, there are lots of steps you can take to keep burglars at bay. Some changes, such as installing a burglar alarm, may even help to reduce your home insurance premium.
Barclays have created an infographic to help you make your home more secure. They’ve also listed the top items stolen during break-ins and the top 10 burglary hotspots in the UK, according to Barclays Home Insurance claims. You can see a quick outline in the image below, but click on the image to see what steps you can take to make your home harder to break into, and to create deterrents which may make you less likely to be targeted by burglars.
