Sheffield among UK burglary hotspots – but numbers are falling, say insurance business
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The website Confused.com placed the city at 333rd in a table of 353 regions of the country, stating that it had seen 5.35 burglaries per 1,000 people in 2021.
But the figures studied by the business also revealed a major drop in that figure over the period it looked at, which went back as far as 2017.
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They showed a fall over around 30 per cent over those four years.
The figures for the other years were 5.19 per 1,000 people in 2020; 7.35 in 2019; 7.61 in 2018; and 7.7 in 2017.
Another part of South Yorkshire, Doncaster, fared worse than Sheffield in the table – it was ranked 351st with 6.96 break-ins per 1,000 people, but that was a fall from 8.77 in 2017, which was a reduction of around 20 per cent.
The lowest levels were on remote Scottish Islands including Lewis, Shetland and Orkney.
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Hide AdJessica Willock, home insurance expert at Confused.com, said: “Although burglary rates seem to be dropping year on year, it’s still as important to make sure your home is safe. Security cameras and burglary alarms aren’t only a great deterrent from potential thieves but having them could reduce your home insurance prices.
“Our guide to protecting your home from burglars outlines some of the most effective ways of keeping your house safe. This includes some simple changes, such as investing in smart home security. Nowadays, technology has advanced to give us cheap, easy to install smart home devices such as doorbells and automated lights. These let you know who’s outside without you needing to go near the door.”
South Yorkshire Police and the police commissioner’s officer were approached for comment.
Confused.com said it used sources such as the Office for National Statistics, Police Scotland and Police service of Northern Ireland to obtain the burglary rates in each UK region per 1,000 people. The Scotland and Northern Ireland figures are for the financial year, whereas England and Wales’ figures are for the calendar year.