Recent Home Office figures are showing that the number of house break-ins rose sharply in the final months of last year with recorded crime from Police forces in England and Wales showing a 4% rise in domestic burglaries between October and December with the British Crime Survey revealing a 25% rise in thefts.
This is a repeat of the rise in home break-ins recorded in the third quarter of 2008 with Police figures outlining that burglaries on the increase are also up at businesses and other premises.
Whilst this keeps prompting fears of a “credit crunch crime wave” linked to the rise in unemployment; Chris Stott, Director of Wessex Fire & Security in Shaftesbury specialist in the domestic and commercial security market for over 20 years responded to the news by putting this into context:
“Although this is not good news and the impact of being a victim of a burglary in your home can be truly devastating, domestic burglaries have been falling steadily over the last seven years before these recent rises. It is difficult to predict whether this economic downturn will cause a prolonged rise in recorded home and business burglaries. However, there are many simple and economic methods that the public can adopt to protect their homes and businesses and our trained security advisors are currently receiving an increase in enquiries for free property risk assessment surveys.”
Mr. Stott added; “I sincerely hope that burglaries will not automatically rise during these difficult times but people are sensible and take effective precautions to protect their homes and businesses in case we do see a continuing escalation.”
