3 Credible Deterrents for Burglary

As the nights draw in at this time of year Crown Watch is advising Kenilworth residents to stop and consider what measures they could take to help PREVENT themselves becoming a victim of burglary. Over the last couple of months there have been several burglaries that have taken place across the town and each victim probably never gave crime much of a thought before they were personally affected.

Most of us think “It will never happen to me/us”. The problem is that it can and often does unless you take some time to consider what things you can do to put criminals off. Crown Watch recommends that householders consider credible deterrents which are known to put criminals off.

Smartwater 

Is a product endorsed by Warwickshire Police and it enables householders to mark all valuables indelibly. If any items are stolen and are subsequently recovered they can be identified by using an Ultra Violet light. A small sample of the mark is taken away and the unique chemical DNA associated with the householders individual Smartwater is confirmed. This not only proves who the rightful property owner is but also places the person in possession of such an item at the scene of the crime or at the very least in receipt of stolen goods arising from it.

Most criminals realise this and therefore if they see the Smartwater sign at a property they often give the property a miss and try elsewhere. They simply don’t want to get caught or stolen items sold on tracing back to them. Smart water is available through Crown Watch and Kenilworth’s Safer Neighbourhood Team at a significantly reduced discount. Just email crownwatch@me.com and request more information.

Burglar Alarm

Have come a long way from the days when it was only the very wealthy that could afford them and they were very limited in how they operated. Today several companies offer what are called “monitored burglar alarm” services. For a modest fee of around 85p a day you can have a pet friendly (this means pets can move around and come and go without the alarm being activated) alarm installed and operating. You can either receive any alarm alerts yourself and other nominated persons or pay a higher monthly fee and the alerts go direct to the police. Many people elect to use the lower cost service with alerts going to themselves and their nominated persons.

The deterrent is that burglars recognise the burglar alarm box and crucially they know what companies operate a monitored service. For burglars, who are opportunists, that’s enough. They are likely to avoid the premises because the risk of being caught entering a home that has a monitored alarm is much higher. Typical installation costs are a one off of between £200 to £250 and then a monthly fee to pay for the 24 hour monitoring that works out at around 85p a day.

If you go away pretty regularly we strongly recommend you look into monitored burglar alarm to put that deterrent out there to protect your home, particularly when you are away.

Neighbourhood Watch

Some streets and areas have Neighbourhood Watch schemes operating. These are not formal associations and they do not need lots of meetings and work. Crown Watch is one of the longest Neighbourhood Watch schemes operating in Kenilworth and indeed in Warwickshire. It has 5 co-ordinators that look after three streets in Kenilworth. If you do not have a Neighbourhood Watch scheme in your area why not see if you and a few like minded neighbours want to set one up. There’s not a great deal of work but it does provide reassurance to local residents.

Crown Watch can help and advise you set a Neighbourhood Watch scheme up if you would like. We are volunteers so there is no charge. We also can let you know what help and resources you can get to launch your scheme and communicate with your residents. If you wish to know more then please email us at: crownwatch@me.com

Alternatively, Kenilworth’s Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT), which is part of Warwickshire Police, can help you with setting up Neighbourhood Watch. Kenilworth’s SNT can be contacted by email at; Kenilworth.snt@warwickshire.police.uk or by telephone on 01926 684404

We hope the foregoing advice has been helpful, if we all review what we each are doing to protect our homes and property and if needed each do a little more by applying credible deterrents then it will make a BIG difference. The aim must be to create a town and community where it becomes obvious to a criminal that it’s not worth it because there is just too much chance of being caught.