Burglary (top of Goodrich road)

[Applespider]

The police Safer Neighbourhood team will come round and give you advice free of charge.

And yes, Callows came out and fitted the extra mortice lock on our communal door advising on the most appropriate type etc.

My insurance company insisted I get an alarm too before re-insuring me so at least if I get burgled again, I (and my nearby keyholder) will get a text to let me know :-$

[ClareC]

That's great thanks:-)

Applespider, where did you go for your alarm? Was it expensive? I have been thinking about getting one. I have two big dogs which (hopefully) are a deterrant in themselves, would quite like an alarm too especially given I am off work at the moment pregnant - dont fancy coming across a burglar!!!

Does anyone have the number for the safer neighbourhood team handy?

[cate]

JBARBER Wrote:

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> Hmmm. We provided the property marking kits in

> response to research showing the victims home and

> area around a burglary is more likely to be

> burgled during the following 3 months. Vacinnating

> that area with property marking kits has seen a

> reduction in East Dulwich ward burglaries of 55%.

> Equally the first 6 months of living at a new

> address more likely to be burgled.

Re the following three months, that's because the burglars assume you will have re-stocked your house with the goodies that have been stolen. I've been burgled before, so my commiserations to anyone who has had that unfortunate experience.

[Siduhe]

JoJo09 Wrote:

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> as there's been so many recently - do the police

> have any evidence to catch the little feckers?

We got burgled about 5 months ago (Underhill/Melford). A fair bit of security in our case (multipoint locking doors, solid frames and decent locks) so they just smashed their way through a large window which must have made a huge amount of noise. Police told us there has been a spike in burglaries in ED the last six months and they think a number of them are being done by one team. They did get one fingerprint from ours though but no match to anything on file so far.

[themaninblack]

snowman Wrote:

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> London bar seems to be a really good option

> but...what if you have an outward opening door

> like our flat? Is it inherently safer because it

> cannot be kicked in? or should we be aware of

> other security devices that could fitted?

If you have an outward opening door then you need to protect the hinge side of the door as much as the lock side. A burglar can easily remove the pins in the hinges and open it, in effect, the wrong way around.

There's two (or more) ways of dealing with it. You can install hinge bolts (aka dog bolts)-

Hinge bolts

These prevent the door from opening on that side, even if the hinge is removed.

A similar idea that is actually built into the hinge itself-

Security hinges

Even if you remove the pin from these hinges, the plates are locked together, preventing entry.

A London Bar won't do an awful lot for an outward opening door (but won't hurt). You can increase the resistance of the door to a kick-in attack by driving extra screws through piece of wood that the door sits against when closed, into the frame/jamb.

Hinge plates and lock plates also add strength to the door where they have been weakened by removing material for the lock mechanism.

Add a Birmingham Bar (a hinge-side London Bar) and you're all done. Fort Knox!

I'd imagine you can get all of this stuff at Callows on The Lane. I've never bought anything from them (ebay is my friend), but they once cut a key for me free of charge so they must be decent chaps!

[Mark]

This thread reminded to contact the Safer Neighbour Team about those SelectDNA packs, I contacted them on Tuesday though their website http://www.met.police.uk/teams/southwark/eastdulwich/index.php and this evening some lovely officers dropped a pack off to me. It's basically glue which contain microdots with a serial code on, that serial code is registered to you. You dab them on your property and if it gets stolen/recovered they can trace it back to you. You also get some deterrent window stickers but that does assume that thieves can read.

I would encourage people to get a pack especially as they're free and dropped of to your house.

[SCSB79]

Mark Wrote:

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> This thread reminded to contact the Safer

> Neighbour Team about those SelectDNA packs, I

> contacted them on Tuesday though their website

> http://www.met.police.uk/teams/southwark/eastdulwi

> ch/index.php and this evening some lovely officers

> dropped a pack off to me. It's basically glue

> which contain microdots with a serial code on,

> that serial code is registered to you. You dab

> them on your property and if it gets

> stolen/recovered they can trace it back to you.

> You also get some deterrent window stickers but

> that does assume that thieves can read.

>

> I would encourage people to get a pack especially

> as they're free and dropped of to your house.

I called them yesterday and they didn't get back to me. Must follow it up tomorrow.

[Applespider]

> Applespider, where did you go for your alarm? Was

> it expensive? I have been thinking about getting

> one.

Your dogs are probably more of a deterrent! I got mine from Classic Security who are based in West Dulwich. It's a wired one with a couple of sensors and was about ?450 including the 'text' service for a year. They service it each year for me too - since that's a condition of my insurance.

[Nero]

A bloke stopped to tell me all about the burglaries as I was at my doorstep last night. He said his neighbours' gaff had been targeted, one of five dwellings in all.