Home burglaries during the holidays: tips to avoid unwelcome “visitors”

I thefts at home in Italy they are the order of the day. On the podium in relation to the resident population there are Pisawhich is first with 420 reports of home burglaries per 100 thousand inhabitants, and therefore in second place Pavia with 390 reports and in third place Monza and Brianza with 361 reports. Roma it is instead in 32nd place with 275 reports per 100 thousand inhabitants, Milano in 30th place with 282 reports, Napoli in 86th place with just 126 complaints, Torino in 25th place with 267 complaints, Palermo in 121st place with 108 complaints, Genova in 79th place with 149 complaints, Bologna in 5th place with 357 reports, Firenze in 10th place with 337 reports, Bari in 74th place with 159 complaints, Catania in 90th place with 110 complaints, Verona in 25th place with 290 reports, Venezia in 11th place with 335 complaints.

Tips to avoid unwanted “visits” during the holidays

• Avoid making your departure public through the use of social media, because – as we know – opportunity makes the thief.
• Load your bags out of sight. If you leave by car, it is best to load it when you are out of sight, using a covered place or doing it at an unusual time, so as to mitigate the risk of everyone knowing that you are leaving.
• Equip yourself with a video surveillance system – even a rudimentary one if you don’t want to spend too much – that will alert you in the event of a break-in.
• Avoid signs that might indicate our absence, such as mail piling up in the mailbox, a raised doormat, or untended flowers on the balconies. It is better to get help from friends, relatives, and neighbors to cover the traces of a prolonged absence.
• Only entrust spare keys to people you truly trust and never leave a copy near the door, or worse, under the doormat or in a vase, as we often see in movies.
• Don’t leave jewelry and money at home.