As the evenings start to draw in, police are reminding people to ensure their homes look occupied during the darker nights.
The force traditionally sees a seasonal rise in burglaries around the time the clocks go back, with offences often rising through December and January.
The winter months can make it easier for burglars to go unnoticed and also makes unoccupied homes easier to spot.
The force is encouraging residents to review their home security and take a few simple and inexpensive precautions to protect their homes.
One of the easiest things you can do is to leave a light on when you go out, you can use an automatic light timer to switch lamps on in your home when you go out for the evening or when you go away to give the appearance you are home.
There are lots of other things you can do to make your home more secure including:
- Keep doors and windows locked at all times and remove keys from the lock
- Keep valuables, bags, cash and keys out of sight and keep them in a safe place
- Don’t keep large quantities of cash and jewellery in your home
- Avoid leaving packaging from expensive items outside your house – take it to be recycled or put it in the bin
- If you have a house alarm make sure you remember to set it before leaving the house
- Check your outdoor security lighting is in full working order
- Prevent easy access to the back and sides of your home with locked gates and fencing
- If you’re going away, don’t advertise this on social media
- Ask a neighbour or relative to collect post and open and close curtains while you’re away
For more information on how to protect your home, please visit https://www.leics.police.uk/cp/crime-prevention/residential-burglary/
Spot anyone acting suspiciously? Report this to the police online via https://www.leics.police.uk/report-online or by calling 101.
Always call 999 if you witness a crime in progress.