According to studies conducted by the Department of Justice and reported by Forbes, there are around 1.7 million burglaries every year in the US and 75 per cent of homes will be broken into over the next 20 years. In the UK, there were 268,000 incidents in 2020/21 and only 14% of these cases will end in an arrest. While these are some alarming statistics, the good news is there is plenty you can do to secure your home and protect your belongings from burglary. Click to discover if your home could be vulnerable, and learn what preventative measures you can take...

Most burglars are opportunists who have a professional eye when it comes to choosing the right houses to break into. As such they don't tend to carry around a lot of heavy specialist equipment and are much more likely to utilise any tools that are lying around, so make sure to lock up all your gardening and maintenance tools in a secure place.

Leaving a note out for your postman is a sure-fire way to let any thieves in the area know your house is currently unoccupied, making it a much more attractive prospect for burglary. If possible, try and time your deliveries for when you're in. When life gets in the way, most delivery services have an option to leave them a note digitally, letting the delivery driver know to leave your parcel in a safe space or with your neighbour.

A letter or mailbox rammed with post is a clear indicator that nobody is home, which is certain to pique the interest of any potential thieves in the area. If you're going away and can't process your mail, ask a neighbour to collect it for you, or update your preferences online and have your mail put on hold for the duration of your trip. 

While a laptop left on display is a clear enticement to burglars, it's not just the hardware they are after. These days criminals can make more money from selling your identity than they can just through stolen goods, but some simple precautions can protect you from financial pain further down the line. Aside from the obvious concealment of passports and laptops, try and declutter your paperwork by filing or shredding documents with details such as your date of birth, address, full names etc, and cut up old bank cards and forms of ID. Never keep them all in the same place and make sure they are out of sight.

When you're on a well-earned holiday in a 'gram-worthy location, it's tempting to spam your social media accounts to document what a fabulous time you're having. We get it. But you should think twice before posting because it alerts everyone who can see your content to the fact your house is vacant. Be careful with what you post even if you've got a private account, as 65 per cent of victims are burgled by someone they know.

Burglars often case a neighbourhood before choosing an appropriate target, keeping an eye out for houses containing items worth stealing. With that in mind, it's best to keep your expensive items out of view if at all possible. Simple strategies like installing blinds or similar window dressings and avoiding posting pictures on your social media account can help keep your belongings safe.

Fences are another obstacle burglars have to overcome, so it makes sense that the higher the fence the more off-putting it is for the thief who has to scale it. Trellises can be affixed to walls to add more height, and defensive planting – such as high hedges or prickly plants – can prove a discouraging challenge for most burglars.

While locking the front door is an obvious first step in keeping your home safe from thieves, the front entrance is not the only one you should be paying attention to. Many tenants and homeowners alike forget to lock their back doors, patios and garage doors, leaving them easy pickings for opportunistic thieves. In the UK, burglars enter through the garage in one in five thefts so be vigilant about keeping connecting doors locked when not in use.

A deadlock is your first line of defence, and if it's not working properly, it's frighteningly easy to gain access through. Usually rectangular and located beneath the handle, when working correctly the deadlock should slot into the doorframe and keep your property secure. If it doesn't go all the way in to the frame, however, thieves can slide a credit card through to gain access to your home. If you're not sure how to check if your deadlock is properly installed, call a locksmith for help.

Whether you hang your keys on a hook nearby or leave them in the door after arriving home, placing your keys anywhere near the front door leaves you vulnerable to a technique called fishing. This is when thieves feed a long item like a dismantled wire coat hanger through your letterbox to "fish" for and retrieve your keys. This is even more of a risk if your front door has a glass panel, as they can see what they are fishing for.

Shockingly, 75 per cent of homeowners do not have a home security system – and even if you do, not all burglar alarms are created equal, and thieves know which ones are easily overcome. Look for a security system that packs a punch, with features like app access, motion sensors and automatic police response. The SimpliSafe security system, pictured here, even helps protect again floods and fires!

Video doorbells allow you to communicate with whoever is at your doorstep, even if you're not at home. While they are popular for homeowners wanting to manage deliveries while they're out, the video aspect also acts as a deterrent to burglars. No thief wants to end up caught on camera. 

Leaving a light on all night isn't very energy efficient, and also isn't as useful for scaring away burglars as the shock of a light suddenly switching its beam on. Motion-detecting garden lights, which only come on when activity is noticed, will illuminate any intruders and make them think twice about taking their plans any further.

These old-school air-conditioning units are popular for keeping small spaces nice and cool, but they are also easily knocked out of the way by burglars looking for an easy way inside. If you’ve still got one, it could be time to upgrade your air-con system. 

Burglars are looking for homes with the least resistance, and any abode that looks like it has the potential to be noisy to traverse is automatically less appealing to them. This is because any noise will draw attention to the burglar, which is the exact opposite of what they want. So go for noisier options, such as gravel paths and driveways. 

Leaving your keys in an obvious place, like under a welcome mat or plant pot near your front door, makes it very easy for thieves to gain access to your property. But in the 21st century, there is another way to welcome burglars into your home: posting pictures of your keys online. It's a classic photo op every new homeowner is keen to stage – but, using simple software, thieves can zoom in on a picture of a key and have a copy cut quicker than you can type #blessed.

If you've recently treated yourself to a top-of-the-range gaming console or brand-new TV, it would be a wise move to dispose of the packaging properly. Along with money and jewellery, electronics are high up on any thief’s wish list. If you leave large, intact cardboard boxes advertising your new items out by your bins, it could easily attract the attention of an opportunistic burglar. Plus, your bin men will thank you. 

When it comes to garden landscaping, filling your outdoor space with trees and bushes will attract thieves, as they offer plenty of hiding places. To mitigate this, try and keep the area close to your house relatively open, with only low-lying foliage, and install some motion-sensitive lights in your back garden.

Not all windows have locks – and if yours don't, it's worth having some installed. As well as locking up when you leave the house, you'll also want to make sure no windows are left open, as even ones on the second storey can be breached by a creative or well-organised thief.

A "To Let" sign can be problematic for multiple reasons. First, it could signal an empty home, which makes planning a potential burglary much more straightforward for the thief. And if it's in a student area, it can show which homes will soon be populated by students, who are notorious for forgetting to lock up on nights out and owning lots of expensive tech.

If you want to lessen the likelihood of burglary, joining your street's Neighbourhood Watch scheme could be a good shout. A review by the College of Policing found Neighbourhood Watch programmes reduce crime by up to 26 per cent. By increasing surveillance, altering risk perception and behaviour and encouraging neighbourly cohesion, such schemes give burglars a much harder time.

Burglars don't want to attract any unnecessary attention, and an angry or loud dog is guaranteed to cause a commotion. This is why research ranks having a dog second only to security cameras for putting burglars off a house. We're not suggesting you get a dog purely to deter thieves – but if you were already considering adding a four-legged friend to your pack anyway, this fact might just seal the deal...

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