Burglary Crime Prevention

Burglary Crime Prevention

Dear Resident,

Thank you to all who attended the Burglary Crime Prevention event on Tuesday 7th October 2025 at Fairfield Community Primary School.

Following on from that meeting, we wanted to share some key points discussed. Please feel free to share this information with anyone who could not attend the meeting.

Keep all doors locked, remove keys from the lock and place in a safe place away from other doors and windows.

Install motion sensor lights at the front, sides, and rear of your property.

Ensure that intruder alarms are in working order and sensors are placed on the ground and first floor of your home. If you do not have an intruder alarm, dummy siren boxes are available to act as a deterrent.

Think about upgrading your front, side, and rear doors to composite designs with anti-lock snap cylinders.

Ensure all side / garden gates are lockable, secured, and unable to be opened from the front of your home.

Lock away garden furniture and ladders in a shed or outbuilding to prevent burglars from using them to access first floor windows.

Think about moving your wheelie bins to the rear of your house to prevent them being used to climb over fences.

Do not advertise on social media that you’re going on holiday.

If you are planning a holiday, ask a trusted friend or family member to open and close curtains and remove post from the letterbox / floor.

Use a steering lock for your vehicle.

Think about planting naturally thorny, spiky, or dense shrubs and climbers near vulnerable access points (like windows and fences) to create a living barrier to deter intruders.

Placing gravel around your property functions as a low-tech alarm system. The crunching sound underfoot alerts occupants to an approaching presence.

Keep high value items such as jewellery in a safe which is bolted to the floor or wall.

Plug In Timer Switches

It is important to make your home look occupied during the darker months, even if you have only popped out for a brief time.

Plug a bright lamp into a segment timer or digital timer in a living room or bedroom (rooms you are likely to occupy and ideally at the front of your house). You can decide when the light turns on and off by setting it to specified time periods. On digital timers, there is sometimes a random feature that will turn the lamp on and off sporadically.

Try looking at your house from the street. If you think your home looks unoccupied, a potential burglar will think the same.

Window Alarms

Keep windows closed and locked when you are not home. Remember to remove keys from the lock and place them somewhere safe away from view.

Window alarms emit a loud siren when activated by vibration. These alarms are easily stuck onto the glass of a window and are battery operated. There are on / off switches for straightforward operation.

Video Doorbells

Video doorbells allow you to see who is at your front door without having to open it via a smart device.

Most video doorbells also capture motion without the activation of the button, and some have an option to speak to visitors remotely via a smart device.

CCTV Cameras

CCTV cameras come in different forms; wired, wi-fi, fixed and moveable. Many have the option to view live camera feeds from a smart device.

Ensure any cameras you have store footage via an SD card which is placed in a secure location on the device or on the cloud.

Place them in a position which is not easily accessible for burglars. If you have wired CCTV cameras, try, and secure the wires so that they can’t be damaged.

Make sure your cameras adhere to the home CCTV legislation.

Faraday Pouches

If you have a keyless entry and start vehicle, place your keys into a faraday pouch. This pouch reduces the signal from your keys which is used to unlock your vehicle.

Burglars often use relay devices to open and start your vehicle without physically accessing your keys.

Keep your keys away from your vehicle and away from windows and doors.

For more crime prevention advice, please visit www.leics.police.uk/cp/crime-prevention

Please report any suspicious activity to us as soon as you can as we rely on you to tell us if something is not right. If you believe a crime is about to happen, is happening or someone is in immediate danger, please call us on 999. Anything else, please call 101 or report online via Report a crime | Leicestershire Police Your online report will be sent directly through to our control room.

You can keep up to date with what your local beat team gets up to by following us on social media: Oadby and Wigston Police | Facebook

Many thanks

Your South Wigston Beat Team

PC 168 Catherine, PC 4810 Reece and PCSO 6391 Dom

Please do not report crime or incidents via 'Neighbourhood Link' as the messages are not always monitored.

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Message Sent By
Catherine Swanwick
(Leicestershire Police, PC 168, Harborough and Wigston)