Security issue: Burglary
Burglary is the crime of illicitly entering a building with the intent to commit an offence, particularly (but not limited to) theft.
Contents
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 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Constant (natural) surveillance. | Increases risk of detection. | A high level of surveillance, particularly round-the-clock surveillance, increases the perceived risk of detection for a perpetrator and thereby decreases the attractiveness. | ||||
High levels of burglary in the vicinity. | Increases likelihood of targetting. | On average, burglars travel 2,6 km to commit their crimes[1] 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[2]. | ||||
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. | ||||
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Existing research [3] identifies four distinct factors that affect the variation in risk of a location being victimised[4]:
Socio-economic causesAlthough 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[5]. Enthorf and Spengler(2002)[6] 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. ImpactsSocial impacts
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 impactProperty crimes such as burglary lead to considerable costs in both a direct (primary) and a indirect (secondary) way[7]. Direct costs of burglary come in the form of:
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[8]. 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 impactsMobility 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.
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[9]. 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 impactsA burglary can result in loss of safety for the inhabitants, as a result of the breaking incurred.
MeasuresPotential measures that can mitigate the likelihood or impact of breaking and entering include:
Footnotes and references
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