75% of burglaries take the intruder less than 5 minutes to break-in. That means, if you can stop the opportunistic burglar, you have a good chance of preventing a break-in to your home.
ABS data shows that in 2022-2023 1.8% of Australian households, or 185,300 homes experienced a break-in, and another 1.9% or 194,700 homes experienced an attempted break-in.
What can you do to stop yourself and your home becoming another break-in statistic?
A study was conducted in 2015 on police detainees found guilty of committing breaking and entering offenses, and it found:
Reasons for the decrease in property crime:
The detainees were asked to determine perceived potential causes for a decrease in property crime, and 31% said ‘improved security’.
Perceived mistakes from burglars:
70% of participants chose ‘doors/windows left open’ and 40% chose ‘minimal security’ as mistakes they perceived residents made that identified their homes as potential targets for burglary.
What deters burglars
19% of participants advised that ‘grilled/screens windows and doors’ would deter them from attempting to enter a property. That’s nearly 1 in 5 who wouldn’t even attempt the break-in process, if they see the house is screened.
Burglars common method of entry
‘Through an unlocked door’ (40%) and ‘through an unlocked window’ (28%) were two of the common methods of entry identified.
Tips for preventing burglary
It’s quite obvious from the statistics that the addition of security screens to a home not only prevents the intruder from even considering the break-in in the first instance, but also takes away the potential for ‘open windows’ or ‘unlocked doors’, two of the biggest perceived mistakes by homeowners.
To get your home’s security screen underway, you simply need to contact your local dealer, and they’ll come out and do a measure and quote.
References:
Explaining the property crime drop: The offender perspective