Recent events in Kenilworth remind us why the burglar sees summer as his friend. It’s a time when everybody is enjoying their gardens. The doors are left wide open and the hot sticky nights (when we get ‘summer’ weather!) mean that every window in the house, which is capable of being opened, maybe opened to its full extent. At these times, even the car is not immune from lapses in security. Windows are wound down and the open sunroof never closes.

Burglars welcome summer. They are opportunists by nature. To them, hot days and warm evenings signal rich pickings.

Last summer, some residential areas in the UK, suffered several ‘creeper’ burglaries committed in the late evenings or early mornings. On each occasion, the thief only had to reach through an open ground floor window to steal. In some instances, they went into houses through open windows and unlocked patio doors. Forget what they stole for a moment; imagine one of your family coming face to face with him in your home in the middle of the night! It doesn’t bear thinking about.

By all means open your first floor windows. Turn on the fans. But at night, keep your ground floor doors and windows firmly closed and locked.

To the burglar, summer days are as welcome as summer nights and the daytime brings its own opportunities…

We all love to get out into our gardens. Our summers can be unpredictable so we have to take every chance to work in the garden when we can. For some reason, most of us feel that if we are on our property nobody is going to attack it. This false sense of security often leads us to leave doors and windows open all around the house despite the fact that we can only be in one place at one time.

In the last couple of months in Kenilworth our Police community Support Officers have found garage doors wide open in residential streets. They have gone to point this out to home owners and have walked around the property and the open premises often filled with mountain bikes, power tools, lawn mowers and other garden tools completely unchallenged. Just think What if they had been a burglar – talk about easy pickings.

Some people seem happy to potter about in the front garden and are quite happy to leave the back door wide open. If the barbecue is in the back garden, surely it is safe to leave the front windows and even the front door open..…Well, it’s not.

The thief is well aware of our habits. They can see where you are and, more to the point, they can see where you are not. It’s a simple matter and a calculated risk for them to slip into your house, steal something valuable and slip out again – and remember they only need need a few seconds, most burglaries are over within 2 minutes!

The burglar’s ingenuity knows no bounds. For instance, a youngster knocks on your front door. He or she says,”My ball has gone over into your garden”, or “My rabbit has got out and I think it’s got into your garden”.

Being of a kind nature, you go to search for the missing item leaving the front door open. When you return, the rabbit or ball is still missing, the youngster is missing and the antique clock that was standing in your hallway is also missing or the car keys have gone and your car too. Even if you take the youngster with you to assist in the search, an accomplice will be waiting in the wings to complete the dirty deed.

The thief relies on surprise and opportunity. He feeds off the good and trusting nature of the average householder. But, if you don’t provide them with simple opportunities, you are less likely to become one of this summer’s victims of crime.

This crime warning has been issued by Kenilworth Update, the monthly digest for Neighbourhood News and the latest from the Safer Neighbourhood Team for Kenilworth.

Issued:  0840hrs Thursday 6 June 2013