Government forced to admit that burglary is on the rise

A recent article in The Times reveals that there is growing evidence that crime is increasing in Britain during the recession. And this does not just apply to high profile knife crime but to everyday muggings and burglaries too.

Home Office statistics published in April showed a 4% increase in domestic burglaries to more than 75,000 in the last quarter of 2008. That was on top of a similar increase on the previous quarter, and represents the first sustained rise in burglary since the 1990s.

Criminologists have been saying for some time that the recession coupled with rising unemployment would almost certainly lead to a rise in what the government statisticians now interestingly call "acquisitive crime". A cynic might wonder whether this new moniker is part of an attempt to rejig crime classifications and thereby make comparison with previous years more difficult.

The recent British Crime Survey taken from a survey of 40,000 adults in Britain showed similar trends.

In response to this problem the Government has announced a Safer Homes scheme to enable 45,000 homes in vulnerable areas or "burglary hotspots" to receive a subsidy on fitting window locks and similar security devices. Whilst this may look a reasonable response, it is our view, and many others in the security industry, that window locks alone do very little to deter or prevent burglars, and the Government would do far better to reduce or even eliminate VAT on security systems as a way of encouraging householders to improve their security. It is worth remembering that burglar alarms were zero-rated for VAT until the late 1980s, when standard rate of VAT was added by the then Conservative Government.

To read the full article in The Times Online click here