Front door: 34% of burglars twist the doorknob and walk right in. First-floor windows: 23% use a first-floor open window to break into your home. Back door: 22% come in through the back door. Garage doors: 9% gain entrance through the garage.
According to her research, an overwhelming majority of burglars enter homes through the doors and windows. Thirty-four percent use the front door, while 22 percent get in through the back door. Twenty-three percent use first-floor windows.
Burglars don't want to be seen. They looked for homes with big fences and overgrown trees or bushes. “Home away from other homes, blind spots, older window frames, cheap wooden doors,” wrote a burglar. “Large trees, bushes or shrubs around the home, or very reserved and conservative neighbors,” wrote another inmate.
Knowing when most burglaries occur is powerful information. The most common times for break-ins occur between 10 am and 3 pm. Rather than being guarded by night, most burglars choose the daytime to attempt a break-in, targeting homes when they believe no one will be present.
Burglars Do Come Back – The Same House, and the Same Neighborhood. It is scary enough to experience one home intrusion. Multiple break-ins are even more frightening. Unfortunately, after one “successful” burglary, intruders are likely to come back and target the same home again.
Ask friends, family, or neighbors to just be present on your property — use your patio, play in your yard, or bring in the mail. Invite a neighbor to keep a car parked in your driveway. During the holidays, they may be happy if they need overflow for visitors. Install a fake security camera for as low as $8.
Shockingly, 85% of burglars will know their victims.
According to home break-ins statistics, it's far more likely that the person knows you.
Do security lights deter burglars? Yes, they can. Light makes it hard for them to conceal their identity, so they are more likely to find a darker home.
The four main ways a burglar will choose their job include the following: Look for vulnerable folks (elderly, those living alone, easy targets, etc.) Opportunistic (very little forethought or planning) Desirability of property (smarter criminals)
Contrary to popular belief, it is not uncommon for burglars to target the same place twice. They believe that if they were able to escape successfully the first time, they would be able to do it again.
Time Well Spent. Store a few small items in a wall or mantel clock, as long as the clock itself isn't worth stealing! Tape them to the back or put them in any open cavities. Steer clear of these hiding places, because that's where burglars always look first!
Burglars usually break your window only if they can't bypass your door and window locking system. However, often, they look for another target rather than smash the glass.
Overall, the chances of being a victim of burglary range from 1 in 14 to 1 in 943 across the top 50 cities in the country, which is quite a significant range!
There are multiple simple ways to deter burglars; exterior lighting, blinds or curtains, and decluttering your landscaping can all help make your house less attractive to burglars.
Fortunately, unlike movies, most burglars are looking to steal your belongings, not harm you. It's still pretty terrifying, though, to wake up in the middle of the night and realize someone else is in your house—and one can't exactly read a burglar's mind or know his or her intentions.
These are the most common points of entry for home break-ins: Front door: 34% of burglars twist the doorknob and walk right in. First-floor windows: 23% use a first-floor open window to break into your home. Back door: 22% come in through the back door.
In the previous years it was believed that burning a compact disc (CD) was another trick used by criminals to make people fall asleep, but this has never been confirmed.