When you combine the current state of the economy with rising crime statistics, it shouldn’t be surprising that more and more burglar alarms are being purchased and installed every day. Today’s burglar is considerably more brazen and intelligent from those of the past and without any alarms protecting your family and your home, it’s only a matter of time before you become a statistic. Where burglar alarms are concerned, the following statistics should convince you of their importance in society today.
As of 2009, burglaries accounted for nearly 24% of all the property crimes that were committed in the US
Of all these burglaries that occurred, the following statistics were evidenced:
- forcible entry was used over 60% of the time
- nearly 33% of these entries were unlawful and did not involve any force
- only 7% were forcible attempts that failed
The resulting costs of burglaries in 2009 amounted to nearly $4.5 billion where lost property was concerned with the average loss per incident amount to nearly $2,000
Nearly 70% of all the burglaries that were reported were residential in nature
Approximately 58% of all burglaries take place during the day while 42% occur in the evening and early morning
More residential burglaries occur during daylight hours whereas more office, commercial, and industrial burglaries occur in the evening and early morning.
However, the statistics don’t stop here. For instance, a burglary occurs once every 14.6 seconds in the US and occurs between the hours of 10 am and 3 pm. Regardless of whether or not there are burglar alarms installed, an intruder only takes about 8 to 12 minutes to victimize you and steal your belongings. Interestingly enough, a burglar is more apt to target the master bedroom of a home before any other room in the house.
Typically, a burglar will try to break into homes that do not have alarms installed and are unoccupied. This is why burglar alarms can act as a deterrent to losing property or your family being endangered when they attempt to burglarize your home. Most intruders will not spend more than 60 seconds breaking into a home if they know there is a home security system in place. Even simple devices such as deadbolts and window locks can increase this time factor and deter the intruder from continuing.
Finally, and this is the most significant fact of all, if you do not have any burglar alarms installed to protect your family, home, and possessions, you are at least three and possibly four times more likely of being victimized by an intruder. You might want to consider discussing burglary statistics with your local police department because it could prove to be a real eye-opener.
