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Understanding and being aware of common trends and statistics of residential burglaries is key to further securing homes.
Having home security systems, monitoring, and even surveillance are all great ideas.
However, knowing common crime trends will help you bolster your home's security.
Once you identify some common trends you can implement changes in your home that will make it much more burglar-proof.
Forced Entry & Open Door Crime It's hard to believe that nearly half of all burglars enter homes through unlocked doors or windows.
The other half gain access through forced entry.
You should keep windows and doors locked when you are away from home and when you are going to bed in the evening.
Make it difficult to enter windows by placing pieces of furniture that are hard to get over in front of windows where ever possible.
You can place sofa tables or short bookcases with decorative items on top, for example.
Also, make sure that you actually have your alarm activated.
When burglars force their way into your home they will be scared away by the sound of a loud, ringing alarm.
What Burglars Commonly Steal The most commonly stolen items are jewelry, money, and guns.
Notice a commonality in these items? They are all small in size and easy to carry.
Burglars also target high-priced electronics but tend to stay away from bulky electronics like televisions.
Typically, only unskilled, desperate criminals go for bulky items.
Items like laptops, cameras, and game systems are much more easy to get away with, and are what career criminals will typically target.
Where Burglars Look Most Often The most typical places that burglars look for valuable items are in the living room and the master bedroom.
These are the two areas where they find the things they most commonly look for.
Jewelry and cash are generally found in bedrooms.
Hand guns are often found under mattresses or in bedside drawer chests.
And smaller electronics can easily be swiped up from the living room.
Investing in a safe is a good idea.
There are small, unobtrusive safes that do no require any construction to be installed in walls or floors--like wall clock safes, for example.
You can also just hide things in less obvious areas of the home.
Quick In & Outs Burglars do not spend long inside of a home.
They try to be out of the home in 5 to 10 minutes.
This is still plenty of time for them to get what they want and then get out.
Career burglars know how to work effectively under time constraints.
This is another reason why it is important to have a home security system.
If a burglar enters a home and an alarm goes off, they will either immediately leave or they will spend significantly less time in the home.
Keep In Mind Career burglars want their jobs to be easy and low-risk.
Therefore they will "case" a home before deciding to break in.
Desperate criminals are much more sloppy and may not take the time to do this.
Burglars try to stay away from homes with alarm systems, barking dogs, and other clear signs that the home is well secured.
This often means that if you have a security sticker but do not really have a security system, the burglar will probably know as they have most likely been scouting out homes in your area.
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