News - TEL CAM Security Systems Ltd.

Every 37 seconds a home somewhere in Britain is burgled.
Every year there are over 1 million burglaries and attempted burglaries.
20% of households experience more than one incident a year. 13% are burgled twice and 7% three or more times.
Between 1981 and 1993 burglaries increased by 137%. There was a decline through the rest of the 1990’s but which has now leveled off and 2002 showed a 5% annual increase. Aggravated burglary (where the occupiers are home at the time) rose 14% in 2002.

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In a road, the burglar will choose the property without visible signs of security, such as security lighting or alarm bell boxes, over those with such devices.
Households are more than twice as likely to be burgled if they’ve been burgled in the previous four years.
Most burglaries are not pre-planned, they’re committed by opportunist thieves who spot an open door, window, or valuables on display.
British Crime Survey statistics show that security devices, in particular intruder alarms, “..are very effective in reducing the risk of burglary..”

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88% of burglars are males. 6% are committed by a male and a female together and 6% by a lone female.
The most likely age is 16 to 24 with 16% being of school age.
Recent changes in trends in domestic burglary and young male unemployment show striking similarities. The fact that drug possession offences rose 9% in 2002 must also be related, coupled with a 1% drop in the detection of drug trafficking.
Only half of all burglars are strangers. The other half are known by the victim by sight or to speak to or is known well.

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In 20% of burglaries they don’t even have to use force – they get in through an open window or unlocked door.
70% enter through a door, with almost all the rest through a window.
A thief can get through any gap larger than a human head.

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In a quarter of burglaries someone is at home and aware of what is happening.
In 20% of cases the victim sees the offender.
In 27% of cases there are two offenders.
Violence or threatening behavior is used in 10% of incidents.
Victims are emotionally affected in over 80% of all burglaries. Types of response in order of those reported most are: anger, shock, fear, loss of confidence or feeling vulnerable, and difficulty sleeping.
Property is stolen in 40% of incidents. The most popular being cash, jewellery, and DVD/video and stereo equipment. Theft of computer equipment is now twice as common as in 1995.
Only half of victims had the stolen property insured.
Clear-up rates for most property crimes are much lower than for crimes against the person with less than 15% of recorded domestic burglary offences detected in 1999/2000.
In only 9% of cases where something has been stolen is property returned.

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London's burglary hot spots
Martin Bentham, Home Affairs Editor 25.03.08

A residential district of Kentish Town is London's worst burglary hot spot, according to Met figures.

The Cantelowes ward, a part of Camden which contains a mix of large privately owned Victorian homes and council flats, achieved the unwanted position after suffering more than 24 burglaries for every 1,000 residents last year.

The next three districts with the highest rate of break-ins were all in Haringey, while parts of Hillingdon, Barnet, Southwark, Islington and Hammersmith and Fulham were also in the top 10.

By contrast, the safest homes in the capital were in the Eastbrook ward of Barking and Dagenham, which had only 1.68 break-ins per 1,000 residents. Parts of Kingston, Sutton and Bromley did almost as well.

The figures show the London local authority wards with the highest and lowest rates of burglary during the past year. They reveal that despite recent police success in cutting the overall number of break-ins, some areas continue to be blighted.

The Cantelowes figure of 24.21 burglaries per 1,000 residents equates to around 250 offences and means that roughly five per cent of homes in the ward were broken into during the year. One possible explanation for the high burglary rate could be the large number of shared houses and converted flats in the area, which together account for half the accommodation in Cantelowes.

The area also contains several large local authority estates, including St Pancras Way and Maiden Lane.

Around a third of all properties in the ward are owned by Camden council.

Other wards shown to be blighted by burglary were Tottenham Green, St Ann's and Harringay in Haringey, which had 21, 20 and 19 burglaries per 1,000 residents respectively.

The Yiewsley ward in Hillingdon, Childs Hill in Barnet and East Walworth in Southwark had the next worst rates, each with more than 18 break- ins per 1 , 000 residents.

They were followed by Canonbury in Islington, Stroud Green in Haringey and the Munster district of Hammersmith and Fulham.

Other areas with high burglary rates included Blackheath Westcombe and Greenwich West, both in Greenwich, Harrow Road in Westminster and Herne Hill, Thurlow Park and St Leonard's in Lambeth. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the Eastbrook ward in Barking and Dagenham had the lowest rate of burglaries, followed by Chessington South and Coombe Vale in Kingston. All three had fewer than two break-ins per 1,000 residents, with Eastbrook's figure of 1.68 more than 14 times better than the Cantelowes rate.
Other areas with fewer than 2.5 burglaries per 1,000 inhabitants were Berrylands, also in Kingston, Stonecot and Cheam in Sutton and Biggin Hill in Bromley.

The only inner London wards in the top 20 lowest burglary rates were Vincent Square and Regent's Park, both in Westminster.
The remaining top 20 places were taken by other areas of Kingston, Bromley or Sutton - except for the West Barnes ward in Merton, which had 2.51 break-ins per 1,000 residents, the eighth best rate.

The figures, which cover the 12 months to the end of February, show there were 59,954 residential burglaries across the capital during the year.

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Rise in burglaries prompts alert

A warning has been issued to residents in part of Leicestershire after a spate of house burglaries.

Twenty homes have been broken into in the Blaby area over the past two weeks in what police described as a "concerning rise".
They have asked householders to review their security and keep an eye on neighbours' homes.

Officers said they believed a small group was responsible and asked anyone with information to come forward. Sgt Gary Brotherhood said: "Twenty burglaries in just 14 days is a concerning rise and we believe that a small number of individuals are involved."

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Rise in assaults and burglaries
Assaults, pickpocketing and burglaries have risen in Leigh and Wigan, according to latest crime figures.

But incidents of criminal damage, thefts from vehicles, robberies, woundings and more serious assaults have fallen across the borough.

Between April 1, 2007, and January 31, this year 691 assaults were recorded by police across the borough, compared to 572 for the same 10 month period the previous year – a 20 per cent increase. And pick pocketing or "dipping" offences have shot up by 20 per cent year on year.

Domestic burglaries in the borough have also increased by six per cent. There were 1458 recorded breakin-ins at houses and flats in Wigan and Leigh in the 10 months leading up to January 31 this year, compared to 1376 during the same period the year before.