It’s a sad fact, but as the nights draw in, burglars take advantage of unlit homes to carry out their offending.
The St Albans district has a tough stance on tackling burglars.
St Albans Detective Inspector Alexandra Warwick said: “There has been 29.1 per cent fewer burglaries in the first six months of 2019 in the St Albans district compared to the same six months of last year, which is good news.
“However, data gathered over the past three years from January 2016 shows that 39.4 per cent of all burglary offences occur between October and January.”
She explained: “We take every burglary personally and put a lot of resources in to preventing and detecting every burglary that happens in St Albans, Harpenden and surrounding districts.
“We have robust plans in place to prevent burglaries and we know who some of our burglars are, so we keep an extra eye on them.
“Obviously we cannot be on every street 24 hours a day so I’d like to remind residents to make sure they lock their windows and doors, use timer switches on lights, consider investing in alarms, CCTV or doorbell cams, and report any suspicious behavior.”
In August, 2019, Azariah Morgan, age 36, of St Loyes Street, Bedford, was sentenced to five years and four months imprisonment for a number of burglaries committed in St Albans and other parts of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire between February and April 2019.
If you are burgled, what exactly can burglary victims expect from the police?
When someone dials 999 to report a burglary, with intruders still at the address, all available police units will attend.
Some officers will go to the address whilst back up officers will do an area search in the nearby streets and if appropriate, will call on the assistance of the tri-force police helicopter and dog units to help track down the burglars.
When a burglary is discovered retrospectively, officers will attend and take a crime report from the victim and conduct an initial investigation, including statements, initial house-to-house enquiries, crime scene preservation and they will offer victim support.
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