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WITH PEOPLE OUT and about meeting friends and family over the Christmas period, homes are often left vacant for hours or days on end.
Unfortunately, there are some people out there who use the festive period to target and burglar homes.
Gardaí have again this year issued advised on how to best protect you and your home from thieves.
The winter phase of Operation Thor, the nationwide anti-burglary garda initiative, is once again being rolled out. The ongoing enforcement operation is aimed at preventing burglars from exploiting the reduced hours of daylight.
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A total 4,595 burglaries were recorded during the last winter phase of the operation – a reduction of 4,118 from the same period in 2019.
Between April and August of this year, there were 2,230 reported residential burglaries nationwide.
During the winter period, burglary on a premises or property is most likely to occur between 5pm to 9pm on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday, according to gardaí.
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An Garda Síochána has said this is the case as the shorter days and longer, darker nights provide more cover and therefore make it easier to break-in unnoticed, and can also make it easier to see if a property is vacant.
Gardaí have outlined a number of steps that you can take to help protect your home, whether you are at home or going out:
Turn on some lights (LED bulbs are more energy efficient than traditional bulbs)
Use timer switches / motion detectors
Lock all doors and windows
Use a house alarm
Store keys away from windows
Don’t keep large amounts of cash or jewellery in the house
People are also advised to be mindful of what they post on social media if they are going away or if their home is going to be vacant.
Defensive planting
In their general advice for securing your home, gardaí suggest people consider defensive planting.
They say a barrier of prickly hedge along the boundary of a property or underneath a window will help deter thieves.
It’s advised that hedges and shrubs in the front garden should be kept to a height of no more than three feet in order to avoid giving a burglar a screen behind which they can conceal themselves.
Other advice relating to gardens and landscaping includes:
Don’t help the burglar; safely store away ladders, tools, etc
Use quality locks on garden sheds, chain valuable property, tools, bikes, etc. within
Property mark and photograph valuable possessions
Tidy up gardens and shrubbery, this improves visibility and creates the illusion of an occupied home
An Garda Síochána has also developed a Property App. The free mobile app is available to the public to index and record their personal property, such as jewellery, electronic equipment, bicycles, laptops, cameras and farm machinery.
In the circumstance that the person then has their property stolen, they can use the in-app reporting tool to easily report the theft of any of the items they have uploaded securely to gardaí.
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I have a question, maybe someone is able to answer??.
Why was there no reporting or mention in any of the media of this circuit court judges case in progress. Was there a gagging order?.
RTE and all the other media were camped outside the court in Limerick on a hurlers case.
@CP: Sorry CP, that doesn’t answer the question. ‘case in progress’, not the decision. Justice is supposed to be in public, except in exceptional circumstances.
@Donal Ronan: I merely answered your question as to why they are no coverage of said case like you implied, it might not be to your liking but I’ve seen multiple stories about this case
Alarms advertise the fact that a house is empty for the weekend. They are very unlikely to be responded to by the police. Some incarcerated burglars also report that an alarm indicates that there is something of value within the property and can make it paradoxically more attractive as a target in some instances.
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