Crime Prevention Advice – Keeping Burglars out of your Property

Dear West Putney residents,

Burglars have recently broken into or attempted to break into multiple different properties within West Putney, I would like to share some advice with you to help prevent this happening to you.

Making your property visible – Installing outside lights that activate at dusk to dawn, having a low fence that doesn’t allow burglars to hide and having CCTV/Doorbell cameras visible. Having less opportunities for the burglars to take their time makes it less appealing for them to attempt entry into your property.

Distraction burglary, and how to help prevent it  – Use your door viewer/video doorbell to see who and how many people are at your door, check who you are speaking to by asking for ID if they claim to be from a company, and remember that you are in charge.

Another thing to take into consideration is the onion skin principle – Studies show that burglars get discouraged by the amount of measures you put in to secure your home from the outside. The weaker the outside layer, the more inviting it is for burglars to seek opportunity to get into your property. Burglars often target windows as they usually can offer easier access into the property than doors, this applies to windows on the higher floors as well as they are commonly left unlocked or open to allow ventilation.

Some advice I can give you now:

If you wish to seek more information on this crime, I recommend following this link which will lead you to the Met police crime prevention website that will provide you further information on keeping burglars out of your property, alongside other useful information that could help you out. 

Furthermore I would suggest to speak to your neighbours about any suspicious activity you may have encountered, and let them know of the information found on this post. If you have seen anything suspicious I would recommend to have notes of dates and times that you spotted anything happening near or on your street that causes concern to you, to then send that information to us so that we can act upon it appropriately.

If you would like to report a crime call 101, in an emergency always call 999. If you would like to report online, click on this link: https://www.met.police.uk/ro/report

Kind regards,

West Putney Safer Neighbourhoods Team