A newspaper examining an explosion of burglaries in Springfield, Ill., in July found one trait common: A lack of an alarm system. Even then, burglar alarms didn’t give homeowners complete immunity from burglaries because many system owners forgot to turn them on according to a survey conducted by the State Journal Register.
The survey was part of the newspaper’s analysis of the 89 residential burglaries reported to Springfield Police in July to determine who was more likely to get robbed. The survey found that only 6 percent of the respondents had burglar alarms, while one person was robbed because he didn’t turn his on.
Additionally, the survey found that 70 percent of the burglaries took place during the week, 35 percent of those robbed had dogs and 47 percent had no idea if they had a neighborhood watch program.
According to the Register, it is estimated that only about 60 percent of home burglaries in the U.S. are usually reported to the police.
