Burglary ranks second among the crimes in most of the countries in the world! Burglary is unlawful or forcible entry or attempted entry of a building, usually involving theft.
Illegal entry may be by forces such breaking window, door or roof.
It may be without force by entering through an unlocked door or an open window.
The majority of burglary was committed in residence (household burglary) followed by business (commercial burglary) and other locations like schools, sheds, substation, detached garages etc.
There are various way to make your home burglary proof:- i.
Reinforcing door Door grille can be fixed at the external side of your door.
It can be front door, side door or rear door.
During the day time, your timber solid door may be left open with the door grille locked.
Doing so has the advantages of having a nice view of movement outside your house and preventing burglar or unwanted people from entering your home.
In the meantime, your house will have better ventilation with the solid door open.
ii.
Reinforcing window Window is one of the weakest point where burglar like to break in.
Window can be reinforced by fixing a window grille.
There are 2 types of window grille i.
e.
fixed window grille and sliding window grille.
Sliding window grille is preferred as compared with fixed one as a sliding window grille can be padlocked.
It can be opened for the purpose of cleaning the window or escape during emergency.
However, at times people tend to be panic during emergency like fire.
They cannot find the right key to the padlock.
Both fixed window grille and sliding window grille with padlock are in fact a trap for residents during emergency.
Sliding window grille could be made safer by having a keyless window safety lock.
iii.
Reinforcing roof Roof is another weakest area which is normally ignored.
The prevention steps must be started at the design stage.
Conventionally, roofing design is as follows:- top layer is the roof tile usually not nailed, sisalation - a thin layer of aluminium foil, insulation wool, wire mesh followed by sisalation.
From the above design, you can visualize that a burglar can open the roof tile easily as it is not nailed.
The sisalation, insulation wool and wire mesh can be cut easily.
Therefore, it is a weakest point from the point of view of burglary.
To reinforce the roof, a layer of flat zinc sheet (0.
7-0.
9mm) can be added before fixing of roof timber batten where the roof tile sits on.
Because of the thickness of zinc sheet, it is not easy to cut.
This could prevent a burglar from breaking in.
iv.
Fixing burglar alarm system Burglar alarm system can be fixed at all openings of your home like door, window, ceiling opening etc.
v.
Fixing CCTV CCTV could be both preventive and detective measure.
It could be made more useful if it is connected to a 24 hours recording device.
This serves two purposes i.
e.
detecting any burglar so that immediate action could be taken and tracing any burglar if he has broken in and left.
vi.
Good neighborhood A close neighborhood could keep an eye on any stranger approaching your house.
Sometimes, a neighborhood could have a neighborhood program whereby patrolling at night could be conducted to prevent crimes from happening.
vii.
Fencing Fencing around your house or neighborhood is definitely a proven way to prevent burglary.
Fencing has a psychological effect namely it prevents any stranger from trespassing your compound as it could be viewed as an illegal act or an act with willful intent.