Lightning doesn’t strike twice – except actually, it usually does.
We’ve all heard the saying Lightning doesn’t strike twice. The idea being lightning does not strike in the same place twice. Most people look at their own safety in a similar way. They believe the chance of falling victim to a crime would have a similar probability of being struck by lightning. (For those of you wondering 10 people die in Australia on average each year from lightning strikes and another 100 are injured). But what is interesting about crime is that whilst Lightning may not strike twice, its fairly common for crime to occur in the same place again and again.
Police and statisticians call these areas crime hotspots, but these areas are usually defined by multiple crimes in rapid succession or high frequency of criminal offences in a particular vicinity. What is more concerning is when crime happens in the same premises again and again. What if the house you were living in was your very own crime hotspot. It’s a scary but true statistic 20% of homes are burgled more than once. Is this insurance fraud in action or is this a classic case of offenders always returning to the scene of the crime?
The truth is a lot simpler than this, particularly for burglaries (break and enter or steal from dwelling offences). The fact is offenders aren’t stupid. They are rather cunning and although not rogue scholars they see things you don’t. The average offender knows that if they break into your house in a few weeks or a few months you will have replaced all the items they had stolen with brand new items. More than this they know that most people will have spent their money on paying the insurance excess and or buying the replacement items. Only a handful will be smart enough to upgrade their home security. Of these victims that do upgrade their home security measures, a vast majority will apply just one additional safety measure to the house and perhaps an additional specific security measure to the point of entry for the assailant.
But the offender has the upper hand now. They know what the house looks like inside and out. Since they have been in your house before they feel a little more comfortable and they have a better understanding of the vulnerabilities in your home. Armed with this knowledge your home seems like a better target than finding a new home to target. To add to your woes once you have become a victim for a second time, insurance companies, looking for suspicious activity indicating fraud, will take longer to pay out insurance claims for the same type of incident the second time around as they investigate the circumstances more thoroughly.
Too many victims think their house was picked by chance and lightning will not strike twice, but obviously this thinking is fraught with danger. Criminals do not operate on a whim, they see things you don’t, you wont and you cant! They know what house they want to target and how. If you are the victim of a break and enter type offence , or any crime at your home then your first action (after calling the Police and the insurance company) should be to have your home assessed by an experienced and licensed Home Security Consultant. Their job is to not only show you, why your house was targeted but how you can prevent it from happening again within your budget, protecting your family and your greatest investment.
