As a home, business or property owner, there’s many ways that people can take from you. People take your property, they take your money and they take your time. One clear way to understand what motivates and deters burglars is to simply ask them. So researchers at UNC Charlotte did just that. They interviewed more than 400 convicted offenders that resulted in an unprecedented look into the minds of burglars. Below are some insights.
• First, it is clear that many that were surveyed were seasoned offenders. The overall sample of respondents reported being arrested from 1 to over 100 times in the past.
• Close proximity of other people, lack of escape routes, and indicators of increased security (alarms, dogs, and outdoor cameras or other surveillance equipment) were considered by most burglars when selecting a target.
• Within a broad set of potential target deterrents, alarms and outdoor cameras and other surveillance equipment were considered by a majority of burglars.
• About 60% of the burglars indicated that the presence of an alarm or security camera would cause them to seek an alternative target altogether. This was particularly true among the subset of burglars that were more likely to spend time deliberately and carefully planning a burglary.
• Most burglars would try to determine if an alarm or surveillance system was present before attempting a burglary. Among those that determined that an alarm was present after initiating a burglary, about half would discontinue the attempt.
• Among those who discovered the presence of an alarm while attempting a burglary, half reported they would discontinue the attempt, while another 31 percent said they would sometimes retreat. Only 13 percent said they would always continue with the burglary attempt.
• Just over a fourth of burglars typically worked alone and approximately the same proportion reported never burglarizing alone. Among those who worked with others, most committed burglaries with friends and/or spouses/significant others, although nearly one in eight reported working with other family members.
With a Surveillance system you’re well on your way to securing both your home and your safety from the threat of a home invader. The study “Understanding Decisions to Burglarize from the Offender’s Perspective, was conducted by UNC Charlotte researcher Joseph Kuhns from the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology)