I may be right or I may be wrong

I have just received this interesting one-liner from a gentleman called Paul via my contact page:

“For a crime prevention site, telling people how to break in through a sash window seems a little ridiculous.”

Here’s some of my reply:

"Hi Paul

"Thank you for your contribution

"Meaning of 'Ridiculous': Deserving or inviting derision or mockery; absurd. 

"You are, of course, entitled to your own opinion, but it is not one I can share. 

"There are countless other techniques used by burglars that are discussed; not just on my website, but on police websites as well. The reason this is done is to ensure that the general public are fully aware of their individual home security weaknesses, so that they understand how they can remedy the situation. Sashes are fairly secure windows so long as they are properly locked, but as I see so many that rely on a simple non-locking central catch for security, something that can be knocked off from the outside using something like a paint scraper, the weakness needs to be pointed out.  If you extended your argument not to describe methods of entry (MOs) then I wouldn't be able to say that people need to lock away their garden spades, because spades can be used to lever open a sliding sash window."

I then went on to say how wonderful my website was (my tongue is in my cheek) and to point out that what I do find ridiculous is the fact that so many police service have done way with their crime prevention specialists (those that meet the public, that is, not those who deal with architects and planners and so on).

Some people will always hold the view that by discussing a burglary technique one might unwittingly give a thief a new idea to use, but just imagine if the police (and my website) did not inform the public about MOs. What would the advice look like?

• Replace the letterplate in your front door
• Leave lights on when you go out
• Replace the old cylinders in your front and back door locks
• Keep front hedges trimmed to one metre in height

For each of the above statements there is the obvious question “Why?” and how do you answer it without giving something away about the techniques used by the thieves.

In my opinion, knowledge is good; ignorance is bad.