Being woken in the middle of the night by an intruder skipping off with your tele is a prospect that terrifies many people. At 3am last Thursday I got the opportunity to experience this terrifying prospect first hand. Lucky me.
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In one of those gut-churningly scary moments my bedroom door swung open, waking me instantly and leaving me staring face-to-face with the opportunist thief. Normally in such a moment I would scream like a small girl and run-way. But this time, in a moment of adrenalin fuelled rage I leapt out of bed and screamed and waved my arms as manically as I could, and fortunately, the intruder ran away.
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However, prior to being chased out of the house by a semi-naked and half-asleep mad man the burglar had helped himself to just about everything of value from the ground floor of my house, which as I’m sure you can appreciate is a bit crap!
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In some ways we were lucky though: we didn’t lose that much. But students should beware, thieves target student houses. The prospect of an ill-defended house stashed full of shiny new laptops, tvs and mp3 players is just too tempting to Sheffield’s thieves.
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So, students should take some basic precautions to make their houses less advertising to potential burglars. They may seem obvious, but they didn’t to me until it was too late, so I’d guess that others often neglect them too:
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If you’ve got an alarm, use it!
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Check the distance between your letterbox and the thumb-lock. If its shorter than an arm, get a letter box cage or similar.
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Get a big bolt.
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Check your windows are secure. If necessary ask your landlord for window locks.
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Close the curtains at night.
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Don’t leave valuables, such as laptops or wallets, visible through the windows.
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If your house is going to be empty for a while consider getting some timer switches to turn lights on overnight.
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Get a Kensington lock for your laptop.
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Mark all your belongings with Uni Sheffield, your initials and your Ucard number either by etching or with a UV pen. This makes products more difficult for a thief to sell on and increases your chance of having your items recovered if they are stolen.
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Don’t live in Broomhall. It’s popular with students for its close proximity to the university but it’s also the crime capital of Sheffield.
Thanks for the tips. I think it’s also important for universities to install access control systems in their buildings and dorms. This allows campus police to more effectively track who is coming and going in the buildings.
By: Pamela on September 15, 2008
at 7:34 pm
Thanks for your comment Pamela. I live in a privately rented house by the way, so home security issues are a bit different for me. Here in Sheffield all university halls have key fob or card swipe access systems as well as cctv and so on, so they’re pretty safe.
By: howtogetlost on September 15, 2008
at 8:10 pm
I’m glad you’re alright, at least. Although I might rather die than have someone steal my super computer. Thanks for the tips. I can’t believe your brave enough to charge at someone half naked who might have a weapon, kudos.
By: Buenos Aires on September 15, 2008
at 9:00 pm
Sounds like a scary experience, glad to hear that you’re OK. That’s all good advice IMO.
Here’s another one, albeit somewhat bizarre:
Don’t leave your house or car keys anywhere visible from your letterbox!
I live in Crookes. A few years back I was surprised to see a hand coming through my letter box very late one evening. Especially cheeky given that we were in the house at the time. Whoever it was ran off by the time I got outside, so that was that.
I was told later (by a policeman) that there had been thefts where keys were hooked up on bits of extending aerials/fishing rods or something similar. Then the thieves had the keys, making burglary or car theft very easy. I had previously though this was an urban myth.
I keep my keys upstairs these days.
By: three-legged-cat on September 15, 2008
at 10:12 pm