Last month Farsight reported the latest crime figures from across the UK which demonstrated a steady surge in crime since lockdown restrictions were eased in April this year. As a leading alarm & CCTV monitoring station we noted a 25% increase in incidents that we escalated to blue light emergency services.
This seemed to be a fairly accurate indication that crimes are rocketing again – confirmed by the latest police reported crime figures released. There were sustained increases in reported crimes across most crime categories including robbery, vehicle, theft form person and violent crimes. However, in this article we focus on reported burglary.
At this time of year, as Christmas approaches and the darker nights sets in, burglaries tend to show an increase in frequency. However, since lockdown restrictions were relaxed back in April this year there has been a sharp surge in burglary incidents reported by police. In fact if we compare the April reported burglary numbers for April (16,294) to those in October (20,217) we see almost 25% increase.
If the level of incidents that the Farsight CCTV monitoring team have responded to this November and December so far are anything to gauge by, we would expect the reported figures from police when released to show a further surge before the end of 2021.
How many reported Burglaries in 2021?
There were 124,243 reported burglaries across England, Wales and Northern Ireland between April – October 2021.
The below chart shows how reported burglary has since lockdown restrictions were relaxed back in April this year:
Figures provided by UKCrimeStats
Its clear that petty thieves and organised criminal gangs are back in action and for homes and businesses – protecting their premises, assets and people should be a priority to avoid counting the cost of being impacted by burglaries and related crimes.
On in five businesses are affected theft, vandalism and malicious damage costing a whopping £9.8 million a year. Burglary accounts for 42% of crimes reported by firms according to an FSB research survey.
Although burglary can happen at any time, evenings and nights remain the most common periods for intruder related crimes and criminal damage incidents within the business sector.
Factor in the approaching public holidays, increased demand for certain goods, higher levels of stock within businesses and extended periods where staff are not present within businesses, combined with higher frequencies of reported burglaries being reported and it is well worth considering whether now is a good time to evaluate existing security measures and how they can be optimised.
Why consider CCTV Monitoring from Farsight
In recent years CCTV surveillance has become an essential pillar of security delivering the ability to proactively prevent many crimes from progressing as well as retrospectively enabling crucial investigation of incidents that do progress despite the presence of the preventative security measures.
Proactive CCTV security: Deterrence through the presence of CCTV surveillance and prevention of incident progression with ‘front footed’ CCTV operator response which includes audio deterrent warnings and real-time escalation to keyholders and blue light first responders.
Retrospective CCTV security: CCTV footage can provide crucial evidence to support police and other emergency services in gathering evidence relating to an incident. This evidence can, under certain circumstances, be used in court to support prosecution.
Below we we list the top five proactive and retrospective security benefits of monitored CCTV surveillance:
- Proactive – ‘Deterrence’
- Proactive – ‘Detection’
- Proactive – ‘Prevention’
- Proactive – ‘Emergency Response Facilitation’
- Retrospective – ‘Investigation, Prosecution Evidence’
Read our full article on the benefits of including a monitored CCTV surveillance in your security provision below:
> Five Key Benefits of Monitored CCTV Security
Advice and Guides to help reduce the risk of burglaries
Getting the right business security advice is crucial. Farsight provides comprehensive advice on maximising business security, including identifying problem areas, raising awareness to security weaknesses, choosing the right security equipment and suggestions for security camera installation.
We work seamlessly with security equipment installers and businesses to ensure efficient integration of our monitoring services and provide cutting edge technology systems and communication to ensure our clients know premises are being protected.
Shoring up your security defence during Winter is crucial and we suggest the following advice:
7 Winter Security Tips For Businesses
- Review Winter security lighting.
- Check cameras are ‘all-weather ready’
- Check perimeters & fencing.
- Essential Site Maintenance.
- Check for Obstructions.
- Check for Blind Spots.
- Maintain your relationships with your security installers and monitoring partners.
Below is a selection of detailed guides from our blog to help you get the most out of your business security:
> Winter Security Tips for Businesses
> 20 Simple Ways to Improve Business Security
> 3 Ways Remote Monitoring Helps to Prevent Crime
If you would like to discuss your business security measures with Farsight, talk to our experienced team today. Call us on 0845 371 0101 or email us via our online contact form.
Get peace of mind that what’s yours is protected
A monitored CCTV solution can give the peace of mind that should an intrusion incident occur at your premises, a trained and experienced CCTV operator at Farsight is ready to respond the threat within seconds and will take the appropriate action to minimise the risk of loss and harm.
However, Farsight does not only specialise in CCTV monitoring. Our remote monitoring services also include CCTV monitoring, alarm monitoring, lone worker protection and access control. In fact, when factoring in our full range of remote monitoring security solutions, Farsight were recognised by Corporate Vision in 2020 as the UK’s Best Security Service Provider – UK and ‘Best remote CCTV monitoring specialists – UK’ in 2021.
If you would like to get in touch with the Farsight team to see how we can support the security and safety of your premises, assets and people with our remote security monitoring services, we’d love to hear from you. Simply call us 0845 371 0101 or drop us a line in the form below:
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