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Dominic Littlewood on Gateway 97.8

8th November 2019
Posted by Aston Avery

A third of Brits (29%) believe that their neighbourhood is becoming less safe – as it is revealed that 38% have been burgled. 14% of those burglaries have taken place in the last five years – with 27% being a victim more than once in the same period.

The report from Co-op and Neighbourhood Watch warns that Fridays in November are the most common time for burglaries and community crimes as the nights draw in. But as community crimes are expected to rise due to darker nights, Brits appear to be changing their response to crime. Many victims of community crime (20%) say they didn’t even contact the police – with reasons ranging from thinking that the police would do anything (59%), didn’t trust the police to sort it out (16%) and feeling scared about the repercussions (8%).

But could the reaction of the police be the reason we are feeling unable to report community crime? Victims who did report say that the police simply gave them a crime reference number (58%), only 58% were visited (of which less than a third saw an officer within an hour), and 13% only received a callback.

Aston spoke to Dominic Littlewood, TV presenter, John Hayward-Cripps, CEO at neighbourhood watch and Colin Butler, head of products at co-op insurance to discuss the research and they were hands on to offer advice on how we should protect ourselves from being burgled.