| Solihull Crime Prevention Advice |
| At the end of this month the clocks go back and this is a time of year when we usually see a rise in burglary and vehicle crime offences due to the longer dark nights. We have had a rise in these offences in Solihull over the last few weeks. Our officers are out and about speaking to victims and their neighbours to gather evidence and to advise them about crime prevention measures to protect their home and property. The focus of everyone at Solihull Police is to target offenders of these really impactive crimes. Recent burglary offences have had some similarities…. Access gained through rear doors of properties by snapping external door locks.Changing lock barrels to anti-lock snap barrels can prevent offenders from entering your property in this way. Fitting a Patlock to patio doors will add an extra layer of security and show potential offenders that you have put measures in place to protect your home. https://www.patlock.co.uk/Entering homes through insecure doors and windows. Statistics show that a third of all domestic burglaries are committed this way.Take a couple of minutes before going out or going to bed to check that doors and windows are closed/locked. Many of the burglaries in Solihull are committed for the purpose of stealing high value vehicles and as technology is preventing keyless theft offenders break in to homes to steal key fobs.Adding extra visible security to your vehicle can help prevent you from becoming a victim of this type of crime. Putting a Disklok on the steering wheel, having good security lighting and CCTV that is hard wired can help to deter offenders. Installing a security post/bollard on your driveway is another option.Consider installing a home safe to keep valuables and documents out of view. You can get advice on what product to purchase by visiting the Secured By Design websiteIncidents of daytime burglaries have seen personal items such as jewellery stolen. Often these items are sentimental so the loss can be very upsetting for victims.https://www.securedbydesign.com/guidance/crime-prevention-advice/home-security/home-safesUsing a light timer so that a light is timed to come on if you are returning home after dark is effective. The cost of electric is a worry for everyone right now so using an energy saving bulb should ensure that this doesn’t add too much to the growing cost of your energy bills.Simply fitting anti tamper screws to your number plates can prevent theft. They are inexpensive and take just a few minutes to swap with your existing fixings.We have also seen an increase in reports of theft of number plates. Criminals use stolen plates to go on to commit offences such as fuel theft from petrol stations and use the plates on their own vehicles when out and about committing burglaries and vehicle thefts. If you have any information that you would like to pass on to your local Policing team you can find their contact email address on the WMP website. https://www.west-midlands.police.uk/your-local-police The West Midlands Police website has lots of crime prevention information covering a wide range of crime types. https://www.west-midlands.police.uk/crime-prevention You can also report suspicious activity totally anonymously to CRIMESTOPPERS Call free on 0800 555 111 online https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information 100% anonymous always |