12
Mar
2014
By Calvin at 10:58 GMT, 12 years ago
Wednesday 12th March is the National Crime Prevention Day of Action for burglaries and An Garda Síochána are pointing their website visitors to an infographic for a bit of help. In addition, An Garda Síochána has an excellent array of crime prevention advice documents available here .
Reducing burglaries and related thefts is a major priority for An Garda Síochána and a number of operations are in place nationally and locally to combat burglaries. For instance, Operation Fiacala, which is a national operation targeting travelling burglary gangs, has led to over 7,000 people being arrested and over 4,000 being charged. While there are also specific Garda operations in each region such as Operation Acer in the Dublin area that are successfully tackling burglars operating locally.
Over 50 per cent of burglars enter homes either through the front or back door, according to the latest figures from An Garda Síochána. Work done by the Garda Síochána Analysis Service shows that the main entry points by burglars to houses are through a rear window (28%), front door (27%), and rear door (25%).
While the latest CSO figures show an 8.9% fall in the level of burglary and related offences between June 2012 and June 2013 compared to the previous 12 months, An Garda Síochána is advising people to remain vigilant and security conscious in order to thwart burglars.
“Burglars will tend to go for what they view as easy targets – houses with no lights on, no alarm, or unsecured doors and windows. So it is critical for householders to secure all doors and windows, light up their homes even when out, and have an alarm and turn it on even when at home,” said Sergeant Kelvin Courtney of the National Crime Prevention Unit.
An Garda Síochána recommends people take the following steps to reduce the chances of their home being burgled:
- Secure all doors and windows
- Light up your home and use timer switches on lights for when you are out
- Store key safely and away from windows and letterboxes
- Record details of valuable and don’t keep large cash amounts at home
- Use your alarm, even when you are at home
News source An Garda Síochána website: http://garda.ie/Controller.aspx?Page=12876
