Security issue: Burglary

Gaining access by forcing a window

Burglary is the crime of illicitly entering a building with the intent to commit an offence, particularly (but not limited to) theft.

Description

Burglary involves a criminal (most commonly: thief) to enter a building, or part thereof, that is not freely accessible, without permission. Although for breaking it is not necessary to actually break something, it is necessary to wilfully overcome an obstacle that prevents entering (such as 'picking a lock').

Contributing circumstances

Known circumstances to influence the likelihood or effect of burglary, are presented in the table below:

Contributing Circumstance	Influence	Description
Lack of surveillance.	Decreases risk of detection.	A low level of surveillance, particularly round-the-clock surveillance, decreases the perceived risk of detection for a perpetrator and thereby increases the attractiveness.
High levels of burglary in the vicinity.	Increases likelihood of targetting.	The distance to known places where offenders live matters. On average, burglars travel 2,6 km to commit their crimes and the odds of a neighbourhood’s being chosen increases by a factor of 1.67 for every kilometre closer to the burglar’s home it is located.
High levels of unemployment	Increases likelihood of targetting	High levels of unemployment are associated with higher levels of burglary. In fact a study showed that increased unemployment in one year predicted increased violence in the next year.
Low levels of ownership	Decreases the inhibitions for committing the crime	Uncertainty of ownership can reduce responsibility and increase the likelihood of crime and anti-social behaviour going unchallenged.
High expected levels of drug- or alcohol abuse	Reduces inhibitions for crime	The presence of regular abusers of alcohol or drugs has a strong correlation with the occurrence of burglary, often thought to be caused by the need for financing an addiction. Studies show that about 40% of all burglary is committed under the influence of alcohol.
Long reaction times or inadequate action of reaction force.	Decreases likelihood of apprehension	Untimely or inappropriate reactions to violence lead to a perception of little control, which will increase perceived risk for the public and decrease perceived risk for the perpetrators. Also, reducing the impact of an assault (by timely intervention) will also be impossoble and lead to greater effects of incidents.
High percentage of single family detached homes	Increases the perceived reward and vulnerability	Single family detached houses are often attractive targets–with greater rewards – and more difficult to secure because they have multiple access points .
Large residential areas	Increases attractiveness of area	The number of residential units in a neighbourhood influences the chance of this neighbourhood to be chosen by burglars. When the number of residential units in a neighbourhood increases by 1000, the odds of being chosen rises by a factor of 1.35.

• The presence of valuables can attract burglars
• The visibility of the presence of valuables can contribute to this attraction.
• The constant presence of people around the building increases the probability of detection and decreases the attractiveness of the building as a target.
• Having a wide field of vision to the building increases the probability of detection and decreases the attractiveness of the building as a target. This is why houses on a corner have a lower probability for burglary than houses in the middle of the street.
• High crime rates in the neighbourhood indicate that the number of potential burglars is high and therefore the probability of the object becoming a target is also.
• Having a more attractive object in the immediate neighbourhood of the object decreases the attractiveness of the object.
• Having a high level of social monitoring increases the probability of detection and decreases the attractiveness of the building as a target.
• Having places that are always or at regular times deserted decreases the probability of detection and increases the attractiveness of the building as a target.
• Having easy escape routes decreases the chanche of apprehension if detected and increases the attractiveness of the building as a target.
• Having weak defences (be it physical, detection, reaction force or access control) decreases the probability of detection and increases the attractiveness of the building as a target.

Existing research identifies four distinct factors that affect the variation in risk of a location being victimised:

• surrounding area;
• household/premise characteristics;
• immediate design and planning features and;
• other aspects of lifestyle affecting the location

Socio-economic causes

Although there is no real scientific consensus with respect to the causal relationship between the socio-economic background and property crime like breaking and entering, Australian research, for example, illustrates that long term unemployment amongst young male adolescents has a substantial effect on property crime rates.

Enthorf and Spengler(2002) find that planning-intense offences like breaking and entering, robbery and violence respond relatively slow to changes in the socio-economic conditions compared to other types of crime like drug and alcohol abuse and violent crime. According to the authors, this may reflect that in a first response to unfortunate social and economic developments some of the affected might become attracted to alcohol and drug abuse, which in a later phase has to be financed with criminal activities by committing property crimes like breaking and entering.

Impacts

Social impacts

• Perception of (in)security
• Perception of risk
• Changing perception of the meaning of built urban space ("sociospatial perspective"),
  • e.g. Perception of safety and criticality of certain types of built infrastructure

There are checklists available from research that help address social aspects of security issues such as breaking and entering. A recommendable method to involve citizens in urban planning that "designs in" those social aspects is the Experimental participation method.

Economic impact

Property crimes such as burglary lead to considerable costs in both a direct (primary) and a indirect (secondary) way. Direct costs of burglary come in the form of:

• Preventive costs in anticipation of burglaries (e.g. security measures, prevention, insurance fees);
• Material and immaterial costs as a consequence of burglaries (e.g. physical damage, repairs, mental harm); and
• Responsive costs to burglaries (e.g. the costs of detection and prevention, persecution, support trial, etc.).

In the Netherlands, property crimes make up about 52.0% of all criminal offences. This includes all kinds of property crimes such as breaking and entry, car looting and bicycle thefts. In 2005 there were almost 70,000 registered cases of breaking and entry in the Netherlands. This is 0.6% of all criminal offences that year. The costs of breaking and entering for Dutch society are estimated to be about EUR 1,400 per offence. A UK-study estimates these costs at EUR 1,900 per case. Furthermore, there are the costs aimed to prevent breaking and entering. An average Dutch business affiliate, for example, is spending annually 891 EUR on security.

Burglary not only creates direct costs, but also has a lasting social and economic impact on the entire area. Obvious examples of these secondary economic effects are reduced house prices and costs of void properties. In general, crime prone areas with a long-standing reputation for suffering from much crime, are frequent subjects of high mobility of residents, vandalism, empty lots and buildings, businesses with extreme security measures, etc. In addition, one could consider the opportunity costs of police and other public services (like health care services for victim support). In sum, property crime such as burglary acts like a tax on the entire economy: it discourages investments by private residents, businesses and public authorities.

Mobility impacts

Mobility can be considered as the accessibility of an area or building. The rate or means of entry or exit to an urban object is also called Access and egress. A building perimeter is the area surrounding any building or event venue that will require controlled access. The building perimeter may be as near as the entrance gate(s) or curb surrounding a building or as far away as several blocks.

• Recognize your weaknesses - where in your building or perimeter unwanted influences can gain access.
• Identify Individual Access Needs: Determine who may need access to the building.

These should be identified before putting your transportation system in place as they have a direct impact on how your system will be managed and designed.

Normally, breaking and entering does not have mobility impacts on larger traffic scale, though mobility is a necessary condition for the person(s) breaking and entering in order to reach and get away from the location of issue. The possibilities to reach a certain location, e.g. by public transport, or different road alternatives (over land or water), determine the accessibility of the location.

The damage done from the breaking could have impact on the mobility within the building; a broken access door can greatly hinder access for the regular visitors.

A secondary impact could be that if the police would chase the suspect, the traffic would be disrupted, since the normal traffic needs to give way to the police car. Also the suspect could disrupt the traffic when fleeing.

Safety impacts

A burglary can result in loss of safety for the inhabitants, as a result of the breaking incurred.

• The breaking of windows, doors, and other barriers between the inside and outside of the building means a loss of shelter from the elements for the inhabitants.
• The breaking of safety structures such as fire-retardant doors, sprinklers, etcetera can mean a decreased protection against fire.
• When the burglar encounters an inhabitant when burgling, this can result in physical injuries, mental trauma and sometimes even death.

Measures

Potential measures that can mitigate the likelihood or impact of breaking and entering include:

• Surveillance
• Reaction force

Designing out crime Community safety approach Comprehensive critical infrastructure protection Environmental design Planning for Real	missing references to burglary on these pages

Prevent secluded areas (mobility) Making it difficult to reach or get away from critical buildings (mobility) Making it difficult to enter critical buildings	create these pages or explain working here

• Implement standards, within development control policy, window and door reinforcements
• Encourage partnership between law enforcement agency and urban planners
• 'Community involvement' - promote neighbourhood watch concepts in urban planning; encourage 'early-warning' interaction among security community on high street, etc.