30
Mar
2015
By Calvin at 12:17 GMT, 9 years ago
I’ve been fishing for police news stories this morning and found no less than six forces across the UK warning about shed and garden thefts.
For example, Bracknell Police (part of the Thames Valley Police Service) are featured in yesterdays’ edition of online GetReading. Inspector Dave Bryan is quoted as saying “people can become complacent in the warm weather and leave their homes and outbuildings unlocked or windows open”.
How true, although the warm weather does still seem a bit distant! But, at the same time we’ll start to see the new season of car boot sales where the genuine sellers will be interspersed with people who use these events to sell on the latest knock-offs and purloined property – often taken from people’s gardens.
Don’t get me wrong! I’ve attended plenty of car boot sales, mainly as a seller, and I’m pleased they exist, but they do provide a ready market for turning stolen things into cash – so beware.
This Easter millions of people will be getting out the garden tools and buying new stuff at their garden centres. So why not do something more this year to secure your shed and other outbuildings.
I say this every year, but if my Home Security Survey is anything to go by it seems that we’re simply not paying enough attention to our gardens. 38% of us still admit to having an insecure shed and only 20% of us are marking our property. So, look again at the shed and at least scratch your postcode onto your various hand and power tools, so there’s a better chance of having them returned. I’ve engraved my stuff and then painted over the engravings with large letters, which cannot be missed! Some items even have the words ‘STOLEN if not at (postcode)’ painted across them. I’m never going to sell them, so ugly marks aren’t going to bother me.
There’s lots of advice on my section for Garden Security, so do please read some of it before heading off to the garden centre next weekend.
Garden and Outbuilding Security http://thecrimepreventionwebsite.com/gardens-lighting-access-and-alarms/490/preventing-crime-in-the-garden-outbuildings-and-garage/
