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Residential Burglaries

Residential burglay is the most frequently occurring crime reported to Tasmania Police. Burglary and theft from residential premises impose a significant cost upon the community. The experience of being burgled can be a very traumatic one for victims who may be left feeling angry, violated and unsafe in their own home.

Most burglaries occur during daylight hours, when homes are often vacant. However, burglars can also strike at any time of the day, with some burglars even risking the possibility of confrontation when they burgle homes while occupants are asleep. Therefore it is essential to ensure that your home is secure at all times.

Burglary can be Prevented

Research suggests many burglaries can be prevented, but crime prevention is the responsibility of the whole community not just the police.

Many burglaries appear to occur when an offender discovers an open window or unlocked door, and takes the opportunity to enter a home and steal cash or other items of value. Making sure that your home and other buildings (e.g. garage/garden shed) are always secure is an effective way to reduce the likelihood that opportunistic burglars will see your home as an easy target.

A number of strategies that may prevent your home being burgled are suggested in this brochure. Importantly, it is not always necessary to spend a lot of money on home security. Simple behavioural changes such as leaving a light on when you go out to make your home look occupied, can be an effective deterrent to would-be burglars.

Repeat Burglaries

Many people believe that once they have been burgled they are unlikely to be burgled again. Most of the time this is true. However, sometimes when a home has been burgled the same offender/s may return and burgle, or attempt to burgle, the home again. The time between the first and second burglary may vary, depending on the reason why the burglar/s decides to return.

Reasons for a return visit might include the following:

• Burglars know there are additional items of value in a home and view it as an easy target because they cannot see any obvious improvements in the security of the home;
• Burglars may try and burgle a home again in 4-6 weeks because they think the goods previously stolen will have been replaced through insurance;
• Burglars may return because they now have a buyer for some particular item they saw on the first occasion;
• Burglars return to burgle other residential buildings (e.g. if the garden shed was burgled the first time, burglars return to burgle the home).

If you have been burgled recently and you think it is possible that the burglar/s may return for any of the reasons outlined above, it is strongly recommended that you address any security shortfalls that may leave your home and garage/shed vulnerable to burglary.