All too often, there are myths and opinions regarding burglar alarms that are negative in nature. Many individuals have felt that installing these alarms has given them more peace of mind than what they had before they were installed. While others feel that they are a waste of money – until they are victimized by a burglar and suffer great loss, even a loved one being harmed by the intruder. So are burglar alarms a sound investment or are they a waste of money.
Common sense would tell you that they are not only a sound investment but a necessary one considering how unstable the US economy has become as well as the fact that crime statistics are always on the rise. Before you condemn installing burglar alarms in your home and calling them a waste of money, here are some statistics that you might want to consider:
Residential burglaries occur nearly 64% of the time during daylight hours, more specifically, working hours. Conversely, non-residential burglaries occur about 56.5% of the time once it is dark. In a high percentage of cases, victims had not installed burglar alarms to protect their family and home.
Burglaries involving residential property accounted for nearly 70% of all burglaries.
An average of nearly $4.5 billion in property was lost annually in burglaries that took place over the past 3 years (2007-10) with the average loss per burglary being right at $2,000. If you do the math on this, that means that 2.25 million burglaries occur annually.
Of all the burglaries that occur during the year, the following statistics held true:
- 61.1% resulted from forcible entries
- 32.4% were unlawful, but no forcible entry was evident
- The remaining 6.5% were defined as forcible entry attempts with no loss of property and only damage to the home being done
Of all the property crimes that were committed between 2009 and 2010, nearly 25% of these were either burglaries or burglar related.
You would think that being aware of these statistics would lead a person to believe that installing burglar alarms is a wise investment and not a waste of money. The harsh reality is that most people who eventually have a system installed do so after they have been victimized because they just don’t believe that it can happen to them and because they maintain that mentality that they are a waste of money.
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