17
Dec
2014
By Calvin at 11:10 GMT, 9 years ago
I was watching Sky News this morning and got somewhat steamed up about a newspaper article suggesting that the bathroom might be the safest place to hide your stuff from burglars.
The article concerned an experiment conducted by Dr Claire Nee of Portsmouth University who was investigating how burglars carry out their crimes. Dr Nee arranged for six experienced burglars and six other ‘clean record’ people to ‘burgle’ a house and she watched them how they did it.
It turned out that experienced burglars rarely go into bathrooms, but instead go into bedrooms, studies and living rooms in search of high value property – what an amazing discovery!
She also found that the experienced burglars entered the house via the back door and the non-experienced burglars entered via the front.
The experienced burglars then searched the house in a systematic way (not going into the bathrooms) and were more choosy about what they stole; going for the higher value items unlike the novices who took what they could find.
On the ITV news page (Yes, it’s got round all the media) Dr Nee is quoted as saying
“We didn't know how they think or the way they approach the job of stealing.
“We have interviewed many offenders before but this time we were able to observe them for the first time.
“The findings have important lessons for crime prevention and suggest that if you've got something valuable you really want to protect, you might be better off hiding small things among the toothpaste tubes.
“As expected, the burglars were much more efficient, systematic and persistent than the novices. Through deliberate practice and repeated exposure to the layout of houses, burglars can automatically recognise which are the high-value areas of the house.”
Now, call me old-fashioned, but I am really struggling to understand why these findings (as reported) have ‘important lessons’ for crime prevention.
I think it’s pretty obvious that experienced burglars would do the job differently from novices and would be better at selecting what to steal – it’s just what they do.
We already know that the back of the house is more likely to be the point of entry from the data collected by the police. However, we also know that burglars will break through the front door if, for example, the door is located to the back of a deep porch. They’ll also go through a front window if it’s left open or a front door if the house is terraced and there’s no accessible back alley. In other words, it is the design and layout of a house that will influence the chosen point of entry.
If, as Dr Nee quoted, ‘you’ve got something valuable that you really want to protect’ then get yourself a safe, preferably an insurance rated one that’s been bolted to a concrete floor. They’re a lot cheaper than you may think (around £250). Hiding stuff is always a risky business and whilst the bathroom might be a place to think about in the very short term I personally would not take the risk. An unconverted loft is probably better than the bathroom, especially if it’s difficult to access, because the burglar has to take additional risks; getting caught being one of them.
Whilst I’ve been somewhat dismissive at the value of this experiment I fully admit that I don’t have the full facts and have only commented on what I found on a single website. However, the headline is going to be taken literally by some people and my concern is that people won’t do the right thing, which is to get that safe. (You might be able to put it in the bathroom!)
Already one of my wife’s clients was talking about the story this morning, so it’s doing the rounds, which is what prompted me to let off steam!
So, I think I shall remove that gold watch from the toothbrush holder (now all the burglars know where to look for it) and maybe go and lie down for a while.
Source: ITV News: http://www.itv.com/news/2014-12-17/want-to-hide-your-valuables-from-burglars-the-bathroom-may-be-the-safest-place/
Newspaper - unknown
Advice for safes: http://thecrimepreventionwebsite.com/security-inside-the-home/485/safes/
