How burglars pick which house to break into
For a lot of people, being burgled is their worst nightmare.
So is there anything you can do to reduce the chances of burglars picking your home to break into?
According to former police detective and Crimewatch presenter Rav Wilding, yes there is.
Wilding, who spent two years on a burglary unit whilst serving as a police officer, said he had picked up plenty of tips from burglars on exactly how they pick which houses to target.
The TV presenter shared the tips on the latest episode of Yahoo UK and YouGov’s podcast Britain Is a Nation Of..., which looks at crime.
“A burglar will look at a row of houses in a street and they will just simply pick the easiest one to get into,” Mr Wilding told the podcast.
“They will say, ‘What’s the easiest one? Which one’s the most well lit? Okay, I’m not going to that one.
“Which one’s got a big hedge that the front door’s behind? Okay, that’s good because I can hide behind it – no-one can see me going in there.’
“‘Which one’s got a burglar alarm? Actually that one I’m not going to try, that one hasn’t got a burglar alarm next door so I’ll try that one’.
“It’s almost like [the board game] Guess Who, that’s how they would target a home.”
Burglars will also choose homes that look unoccupied, including looking at letterboxes to see if flyers pushed through them are still there an hour later, suggesting someone is away or out.
The Crimewatch presenter’s advice to prevent burglars targeting your home is simple: “Basically don’t make your house look like it’s an easy target.”
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