A home is burglarized every 13 seconds in the United States. Recent figures indicate that 2 million home burglaries are reported on an annual basis. It is highly probable that there are a considerable number of unreported burglaries that occur every year as well.
Residential burglaries tend to take place during the day when people are at work or at school. Data indicates that this is the case with 63% of all home burglaries. In over 34% of these home invasions, burglars will enter through the front door. They will also gain access through windows that are easy to break or have been left unlocked.
Deadbolts have been found to be improperly installed in 10% of homes. This can greatly increase the chance that a burglar will be able to break down a door.
There is more involved with forced entry than breaking down a door and illegally entering a person’s home or apartment. In 2013 alone, however, 59% of burglaries were due to some type of forced entry.
It’s also been determined that renters are more likely to be the victims of a break-in than homeowners. Recent data indicates that they are 85% more likely to have this experience.
The most recent FBI statistics show that 1.9 million burglaries occurred during 2013. Due to these robberies, the level of property loss amounted to $4.5 billion.
If your home has been broken into recently, especially if forced-entry was used, you may require a new door installation. Rather than installing a door yourself, it’s important to have a professional do so in order to ensure that it is done correctly.
After installing a door, you may also want to have a professional locksmith install a deadbolt for extra protection. Locksmiths may recommend that you have an extra set of keys made for convenience and in case you lose your original set.
In order to provide further protection from crimes of convenience, you want to be sure to hide your extra keys in a location that may be difficult to determine. Furthermore, you will also want to rotate this hiding place and inform family members or roommates where you have hidden them. Since you likely own different types of keys, you may want to consider labeling your sets accordingly.
