16
Feb
2015
By Calvin at 17:44 GMT, 10 years ago
The Liverpool Echo online last week carried a report about a recent burglary in Bedford Road, Birkdale.
The victim is pictured holding the remains of a sealed glazed unit that was forced out of the bottom panel of what appears to be a back or maybe side door. In spite of the terrible shock of discovering the burglary and the mess they left behind it seems that the thieves only stole a few packets of cigarettes, leaving valuable jewellery and electronic items behind. The victim says she and her husband rent the property and hope to be moving out soon.
This one short story raises several discussions points that are worthy of bringing to your attention: The design of doors; private rented sector homes; the real risk of burglary and the Carbon cost of crime, which simply doesn’t get discussed enough!
Design of doors
If you were a burglar and wanted to pick the ideal door to get through then you would pick one just like the one in the story. Round the back and out of sight and with a lower glazed panel, preferably one that has been glazed from the outside. This would enable you to prise off the glazing beads and remove the sealed glazed unit, or you could of course simply kick out the glass, because the glass is probably toughened safety glass, which has no security value and makes little noise when broken.
This type of door just doesn’t make sense and if I had one like the victim’s I’d get it replaced immediately – something that’s not going to be easy if you rent the property, which brings me onto the next subject...
Private rented sector homes
Unfortunately for this victim, she rents the house and therefore has little or no control over the quality of the doors and windows, or the locks, or the lighting, or the side access etc, etc. How many private landlords provide a decent level of security for their tenants? I know there will be some, but from experience these are few and far between. I don’t have the latest figures, but analysis of the 2008/09 British Crime Survey (Now the Crime Survey for England and Wales) told us that the chances of burglary were as follows in that crime recording year:
- Average risk across all home types 2.5%
- Home owned by the occupier 1.7%
- Privately rented 3.7%
- Council or Housing Association (social) rented 4.2%
I think the private rented sector needs to do more to get those risks down!
Facts and figures now bring me to the next point and that is understanding risk........
The real risk of burglary in your street
The victim also tells us that she’s lived in the area for 15 years and hasn’t experienced anything like this before. That’s an understandable response, which seems justified, but at the same time and to better understand your risks you should know what’s going on down your street.
It’s difficult to be precise, but an examination on Google Street view suggests that there are about 150 or so houses in the street (most with open side access). Last year, according to police.uk there were 5 burglary reports. Burglary is underreported by around 30 to 50%, so at best there were probably about 7 burglaries last year giving an annual burglary risk for each house of 1 chance in 21. To get a better picture of risk you can say to yourself “which one of the ten houses opposite or the five either side of mine will get burgled this year?” I don’t know about you, but saying it like this makes the risk seem much more realistic! Incidentally, there were 4 burglary reports in 2013 and 3 in 2012, so actually burglary is going up! (We are dealing with very small number here though, so don’t read too much into them in respect to rising crime)
The point I’m making is just because you haven’t experienced a burglary in the past 15 or so years doesn’t mean that there aren’t any in the street and you won’t be the next one to suffer. The message is quite simple: Know your risks and take action if necessary.
Carbon cost of crime
My final point is one that has concerned me for many years – the carbon cost of crime.......
According to a report by Professor Ken Pease for the police Secured by Design project the Abbey National bank (in 2007) surveyed people’s reasons for moving home and concluded that “5.3 million people said their main reason for moving home in the last five years was due to crime levels in their area and a desire to move to a location where they would feel safer” So, that’s 1 million a year citing their house move is in response to crime. This has serious implications for CO2 emissions, because just one house move has been estimated to produce 5.6 tonnes of CO2 – 5.6 million tonnes a year and this unfortunate victim will no doubt be making her contribution soon. It therefore follows that better crime prevention (more secure doors and windows etc) equals fewer crimes and fewer crimes equals fewer house moves and fewer house moves means less carbon dioxide being pumped into our atmosphere.
Fortunately, I have recently heard that our building regulations will soon be requiring enhanced secure doors and windows – about time!
I find it interesting that one simple newspaper story can raise so many issues!
Original story source Liverpool Echo: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/birkdale-businesswoman-burgled-hours-after-8631910
