The Easter holidays are approaching and many students will be
going home to finish coursework, prepare for exams and hopefully find time to
have a break. The unfortunate thing is that burglars know that students
typically go home during this period, leaving an empty house behind that may
have valuables inside.
Burglars target houses for different reasons but most
burglars are opportunists. Students living in shared houses will have 5
times the amount of valuables than someone living alone. This means, 5 laptops,
5 phones, 5 bikes etc for burglars to take. The good thing is that students can
take preventative measures to secure their home and property. Follow these
simple tips from South Wales Police:
Lock it. Hide it. Keep it.
► Ensure all doors and windows are locked. It may sound obvious, but you will be surprised how many doors and windows
are left unlocked. Make sure your windows and doors are locked, even when you
are in.
► Protect valuables. Never
leave expensive items on display and take all valuables home with you. Why
don’t you register your valuables for FREE by visiting the national property
database www.immobilise.com.
► Secure the garden. Shut
and lock garden gates and clear gardens of items that could be used to force
entry e.g. bricks, ladders.
► Remove obvious signs that it’s a student
house. Club night posters in windows and
overflowing rubbish in gardens tell burglars that students live in the
property. Clear frontages of rubbish and remove obvious signs that it’s a
student house, e.g. posters. Find our your next waste collection day at www.cardiff.gov.uk/waste
► Extra support. Ask
your landlord/letting agent or a trusted neighbour to keep an eye on your house
during the holidays, and ask them to push through any mail hanging from letter
boxes. Use timer light switches when your property is unattended for any length
of time, this makes it look like someone is in.
For extra safety advice
visit www.south-wales.police.uk
or www.cardiffdigs.co.uk , or
contact PC Student Liaison Officer Tim Davies
on Timothy.Davies@south-wales.pnn.police.uk
or 07976277161
Follow South Wales
Police and Digs on Twitter, @swpeast and @cardiffdigs
