Security issue: Burglary

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Security issue: breaking and entering

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

Description

Breaking and entering 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').

Attributing circumstances

  • 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 attractivity of the building as a target
  • Having a wide field of vision to the building increases the probability of detection and decreases the attractivity 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 increase the number of potential burglars and the probability of th eobject becoming a target
  • Having a more attractive object in the immediate neighbourhood of the object decreases the attractivity of the object
  • Having a high level of social monitoring increases the probability of detection and decreases the attractivity of the building as a target.
  • Having places that are always or at regular times deserted decreases the probability of detection and increases the attractivity of the building as a target.
  • Having easy escape routes decreases the chanches of apprehension if detected and increases the attractivity 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 attractivity of the building as a target.

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 shows that long term unemployment amongst young male adolescents has a substantial effect on property crime rates[1].

Enthorf and Spengler(2002)[2] find that planning-intense offences like breaking and entering, robbery and violent 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 financed with criminal activities by committing property crimes like breaking and entering.

Impacts

Social 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 ciitzens in urban planning that "designs in" those social aspects is the Experimental participation method.

Economic impacts

The primary economic impact of breaking and entering exists of:

  • Prevention costs
  • Insurance costs
  • Costs due to damage
  • Costs due to harm
  • Costs due to the detection and prevention
  • Costs due to persecution
  • Costs due to trial
  • Costs of enforcement
  • Costs due to support

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 registrated 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[3]. A UK-study estimates these costs at EUR 1,900 per case. This is relatively much compared to the average costs of e.g. vandalism (EUR 700 – EUR 950 per case), but far less than sexual offences (EUR 48,000 per case), murder (± EUR 3.2 million) and physical assault and battering (EUR 5,500 – 6,700). 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.

Last but not least, the secondary economic impact of criminal offences has to be considered.

Mobility impacts

Normally, breaking and entering does not have mobility impacts, 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 damage done from the breaking could have impact on the mobility in 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 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 decresed 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:

Footnotes and references

  1. ↑ See, e.g.: Chapman, B., D Weatherburn, C.A. Kapuscinski, M. Chilvers and S. Roussel (2002). Unemployment duration, schooling and property crime. CEPR Working paper
  2. ↑ Entorf, H., H. Spengler (2002). Crime in Europe; Causes and Consequences. Springer-Verlag Berlin
  3. ↑ Source: SEO, 2007

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