A recent study conducted by the Alarm Industry Research and Education Foundation (AIREF), entitled “Understanding Decisions to Burglarize from the Offender’s Perspective,” showed that the presence of a home acts as a strong deterrent to the potential of a break-in.
442 convicted burglars of both sexes were surveyed for their responses regarding their selection of potential targets in terms of homes selected for burglary. The respondents in the study were from three states—North Carolina, Kentucky and Ohio.
According to the results of the study, 60 percent of the surveyed convictedburglars reported that the presence of a would typically lead them to consider selecting a different home as a target. Additionally, 80 percent of respondents said they would attempt to determine whether or not an alarm was present prior to initiating a burglary. Only one in 10 of the convicted criminals that were surveyed said they would attempt a burglary on a home in which they knew an alarm system or home security system was present. 40 percent of the people included in the study said they would stop a robbery, even if it was already in progress, if they discovered there was an alarm system installed on the premises.
An overwhelming majority of the burglars surveyed (80 percent), told the researchers they would not try to disable an alarm system, and only eight percent reported that they always tried to disable systems during attempted robberies.
The study showed that it wasn’t just whether or not the was present that affected the decision to target a home—over 60 percent of the respondents included in the survey said the consideration of whether or not security or police personnel would respond to the alarm call was a big factor in their choice of targets.
The study also found differences between male and female burglars. For example, the males included in the study were more deterred from targeting a home because of reasons including a lack of hiding spots, windows and doors with steel bars and the availability of potential escape routes.
also play a significant role in the selection of potential targets, according to the results of this particular study. 60 percent of the burglars included in the study indicated the presence of security camera equipment served as a factor in selecting which homes to rob, and 40 percent said security cameras would cause them to choose another home.
The large majority of the surveyed burglars preferred residential targets as opposed to commercial targets, and the motivating factor for most of the robbers included in the study was to find money or other ways to support drug habits.
“This study broadens our understanding of burglars, their motivations and their techniques,” Dr. Joseph B. Kuhns of the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte said in a statement. “It also helps us to understand gender differences in offending motivations and techniques. By asking the burglars what motivates and what deters them, we believe this research can help people better understand how to protect themselves against these crimes and help law enforcement more effectively respond.”
Tim Eveler
Author & Public Relations – Tim has been working in sales for the home security system industry over twelve years. He’s held positions at large home security companies and in charge of working with the team to create our security system reviews.