I have nothing worth stealing!

Whenever I’m talking to people about security, I’m often hit with this plaintive cry of “Oh, but I’ve got nothing worth stealing!”

The implication is that they don’t really have to bother about thinking about it.

And it made me wonder what people think is “Something Worth Stealing.”

If you’ve watched the ITV drama “Joan”, you will have seen the two central characters stealing an original Stubbs oil painting from a large country house. I think that’s what people imagine is something worth stealing. An original oil painting or a really expensive piece of jewellery or something like that.

But I want you to stop and think for a second about your neighbours where you live. How many of those people do you think have got something like that?

And if you’re honest, I think probably the answer is none of them.

So why is burglary in an urban or suburban area such a problem? The answer to that is that it’s not just those things that I mentioned that are “Something Worth Stealing.” If you think about it, what urban or suburban burglar is looking for are items that are quick to steal, unobtrusive when they’re walking down the street and easy to get rid of in order to get a little bit of money. Ultimately they want the money from it.

So what is something worth stealing? Well, as far as I can see, “Something Worth Stealing” is cash. I guess not many people have much cash these days, but there are still some people who do have some cash around.

Then there’s jewellery.

Nobody ever thinks that their jewellery is particularly valuable. But the price of gold has increased hugely in recent months and years, so that makes even nominally cheap jewellery valuable to a burglar. Furthermore, it’s so easy to sell such jewellery these days, as burglars don’t have to take it to a pawnbrokers – they just pop it into one of the pouches from any of the multitude of online buyers. There’s very little traceability with this method, ideal for criminals.

And there’s small technology items like iPads, tablet computers, laptops. Mobile phones, too, are a risk, to a certain extent, although once the handset has been reported stolen, and thus blocked, it’s little use to anyone.

Any of these type of thing are very unobtrusive. If you’re walking down the street, nobody would  bat an eyelid with you having a carrier bag with something like that in it. If you’re walking down the street carrying a 50 inch plasma TV under your arm, then that’s going to attract attention. But someone carrying a laptop, we see that every day.

Now think about your neighbours. Do they have those kind of things? Do they have cash, jewellery, credit cards? Do they have iPads and laptops?

Do you have those things? Because I think everybody has got something worth stealing, and therefore everybody ought to be taking their home security seriously.

And that includes you, dear reader, so send us a message or call on 02392706017.