Lessons from 145 robberies

What does it feel like to be robbed, or have your home broken into?

I can let you know what 145 who had their homes robbed said and did. I’m writing to share their collective experience.

Why should you and I care? Because here we have a real opportunity to learn from people’s experience without us having to go through it. These people know what it feels like to deal with insurance companies, pay deductibles, clean up a mess, visit the police station, worry, etc. etc. They know. And their experience could save us some hard lessons.

Below is a group of people who had to deal with both crime at their own homes and who also had to deal with some sort of crime at work. These people as a whole act very decisively.

To me what they do is even more telling than what they might say.

36% more of the time these people added 24x7 alarm monitoring.
21% more of the time these people added security cameras.
33% of the time these people added alarm systems

Here is a table for comparison. We show those who have had to deal with crime and their response in the 1st row of data. In the second are the actions of those who had not dealt with a crime. The third row is the percentage change in actions between the 1st and 2nd row.

A comparison of what people who had never experienced a crime did with those who have dealt with crime at home and at work did.

And let’s also look at what this group did not do as we can learn something from that as well.

10% less of the time they did NOT have big dogs
15% more of the time they added extra ‘surprises’ to meet an unwelcome intruder
29% more of the time they added motion detection lighting

Here we look at other factors of how property owners behaved in regards to crime. People with experience were very consistent in how they responded.

So the people who know what this is like go out and do things that are very different than what the majority do. For them the costs to do the things related to personal security seems worth it.

Confirmation

Below is a group that has had to deal with a crime in their own home but did not deal with a crime at work. Their actions are very consistent. They get alarm systems, security camera’s, monitoring and motion detection lighting more than the group who has never had to deal with crime.

The results of this study are so consistent they should not be ignored by any homeowner or business owner.

The items that people actually get when they experience a crime can typically be obtained for $100/mo. Here is a list of recommendations

I’m also told many property insurers will reduce insurance rates for property owners of security systems. If mega-corporations like insurers know security camera systems are good for their bottom line that is good to know. But when people who have experienced a crime also do these things that is information that collectively expresses an inside knowledge of the situation.

In conclusion, if 36% of the quiz returns are willing to spend an extra $25–40/mo for 24x7 alarm monitoring we can draw from their experience. Knowing that a few hundred property owners would not foolishly waste money after dealing with something first hand.

Do nothing…. It will be fine

I once worked at a GMC auto dealership at the height of an energy boom. Their default management style was ‘make no changes’. Profits from selling, rigging and fixing trucks for the energy industry were so good their biggest risk to the cash cow was actually tinkering with the money making machine they had built. Times have changed for GMC and times have changed for the energy industry.

For those that do nothing after reading this the good news is you too will probably be fine. Of our respondents only 22% have had to deal with a crime at home over the last five years. That likely means 95% of us can do nothing in the next twelve months and it will be fine! Except none of us know if we will be in the 5% who experience a crime or in the 95% who won’t…

Less than 1 week ago I put together a list of low cost or free things that every homeowner needs to do for their home safety. If you haven’t seen it I believe doing those things can provide an enormous payback on your time and financial spend.

Don’t delay unless you are positive you are in the 95%!

It probably seems well planned I came out with the list before the results of a quiz were published. I had no idea this was what the quiz results would be. But whether you think in systems like I do or whether you trust others experiences, like reported in this quiz, both came to the same conclusion.

For a more complete list of how to protect your home or property visit: Crime Blocker™