The key to avoiding being the victim of burglary is understanding exactly what these criminals are looking for, and how to make your home a less attractive prospect.

Here are some of the common signs a burglar may look for when choosing a property to target.

Attractive gardens

When you look at that large tree or beautifully manicured hedge in your front garden, you see an attractive addition to your property, but a burglar sees opportunity.

Bushes and trees are ideal hiding spots for burglars, letting them approach your property without detection, not to mention that signs that you have put a lot of time and money into carefully manicuring your garden could be taken as a sign that the inside of your home will be just as luxurious.

Keep your garden well-trimmed and limiting the number of large bushes and shrubbery to reduce the number of hiding spots on your property.

Visible valuables

The advanced surveillance technology you have seen burglars use in movies is actually extremely rare and most opportunist criminals will do no more than taking a peek through windows in the hope of seeing valuable items left lying around.

Keeping your curtains closed at night and ensuring that you store all the valuable items you can out of sight of ground floor windows is an easy and effective way to put off burglars.

Routine

As creatures of habit, we all have our own routine, leaving and returning from work at a similar time every day, and this routine can help burglars plan their moves.

Burglars will pay attention to the small things such as whether or not you lock the door when leaving for a short while so make sure to never compromise or slacken off when it comes to home security.

How to tell if you’re being targeted

By paying close attention to the immediate surroundings of your home, keeping an eye out for suspicious behaviour, you will be able to notice the small signs that a burglar may be casing the property.

Thieves will often leave a mark on the side of homes they are considering targeting in the form of a chalk symbol, or a miscellaneous item left outside your front door.

They will then return later on and if the sign has not been removed they will see this as a sign that no-one is home and seize the moment to make their move.

If you see anything out of place, make sure to check with your neighbours to see if they have seen any suspicious individuals nearby and inform the police if you are concerned.

What are thieves looking for?

Burglars care about two things, stealing valuable items, and avoiding being caught.

They too spend as little time as possible in each property they target, meaning they will normally have identified specific items before they enter.

The following items are some of the most commonly looked for by thieves when inside your home:

1. ID

Identity information can be extremely valuable in the wrong hands and a thief can do a huge amount of damage with your sensitive data.

2. Decorations

Antiques and decorative pieces with value are often highly visible, for obvious reasons, and offer an attractive fast steal and turnover sale.

3. Cash

An obvious one. Hard to track and 0 effort involved in terms of finding a buyer burglars will look in all the obvious hiding places for physical money.

4. Electronic

Computers, tablets, smartphones etc. will be the first items out the door in a burglary.

5. Tools

Your shed or garage may not have the same security measures as the rest of your home and the expensive tools inside may be seen as a quicker and less risky target.

How to prevent burglary

Here are some of the best possible anti-burglary defences you can put in place in your home.

Security Cameras

CCTV from CCTV Installers Glasgow acts as a powerful deterrent to criminals, allowing you to keep an eye on your home from anywhere in the world, and the recorded footage will be invaluable in helping the police find and convict the culprit should the worst happen.

Don’t advertise your absence

Plastering your social media with pictures from your holiday abroad is a great way to let everyone in your area know that your home is going to be empty for a prolonged period.

If you are going away, install a timed lighting system or ask a neighbour to park on your driveway to give the appearance of activity.

Always lock windows and doors

Opportunistic burglars may not concern themselves with casing a property and will simply roam a neighbourhood looking for unlocked windows and doors.

Don’t let your home be target of burglary as a result of carelessness and ensure you secure all doors and windows before leaving your home, even for a short period.