Cornhill survey hightlights fears of burglary

by Gill Montia

Story link: Cornhill survey hightlights fears of burglary

Cornhill Direct has undertaken a survey highlighting the fact that a large number of people do not feel safe in their own homes at night.

Nearly one in five of the 4,000 people surveyed expressed such fears, with one in ten prepared to keep an object that could be used to threaten an intruder within arms reach whilst sleeping.

A quarter of those surveyed by the insurer had either been burgled or knew someone who had been burgled.

One in 20 participants who had been burgled had moved house shortly afterwards, to try to get over the trauma.

In reality, Home Office statisitics have shown a downward trend in the numbers of reported burglaries, since 1999.

This may reflect the fact that homeowners are becoming more interested in improving the security of their homes.

The findings of the survey would support this view as almost half of those taking part had installed security lights.

Other measures taken include the use of timer switches for lights (nearly 25%), the installation of CCTV (8%) and ownership of a guard dog (11%).

However, when it comes to burglar alarms, 30% of those with alarms installed reported that they did not use them.

Latest statistics show that a home with no security measures has a one in five chance of being burgled, whereas a home with high levels of security has a one in a 100 chance of being burgled.

The message from Cornhill Direct is that people can substantially reduce the risk of an intruder by improving their home security.

The insurer points out that this does not necessarily have to be expensive, as simple measures like door chains can be effective.