Twilight Highlights

It was the Spice Girls, or possibly Aristotle, who once said, “When two become one,” and this Sunday the clocks will do just that. It means that the sun will be setting a whole hour earlier than it does right now and around 90 seconds sooner with every passing day. What this means for you is if you aren’t returning home until after 5pm, and you haven’t left any lights on inside, burglars can tell no one’s home. This makes your home a potential target.

Every year since the inaugural winter of 2013-14 (with the exception of 2015-16), the team’s exclusive annual burglary campaign, 'Lights On/Twilight', has set out to remind residents to ensure their homes appear occupied after dark by making use of light-timers/smart bulbs. This initiative also sees a focused police presence on the streets at a time when burglaries are more likely to happen.

Here’s how our visits work

• The campaign starts in November and ends in February

• Patrols take place between 4.30pm and 6.30pm

• Homes in apparent darkness, with easy access into the back garden are knocked at

• Homes in darkness and neighbouring an address with easy entry into the back are also visited (burglars are known to ‘garden hop’)

• If there’s no answer, a handout is posted explaining the visit along with the time the visit took place

And here’s a summary of the past 11 years:

• 386 visits have been conducted

• An estimated 9/10 homes in darkness have seemingly been unoccupied after knocking and receiving no answer

• Around 83% of visits have been to homes with side access, while 17% have neighboured such an address (since the 2019-20 campaign)

• The 68 visits conducted during the 2019-20 campaign is the team’s highest tally to date

• Last winter (2024-25), 30 homes were visited