Students do not Feel Safe in their Accommodation

Having their house broken into is a student’s worst nightmare, and not being able to get the justice they deserve is just as bad.  Every 20 seconds a house somewhere in the world is broken into and often the crimes occur in the daytime when people are at work or students are studying. Students in Fallowfield, Manchester are targeted by criminals daily.  

During a survey recently carried out by Be CCTV Aware we found that 75% of Fallowfield’s student population do not have CCTV Cameras on their houses or accommodation. 95% feel as though cameras would help with the burglary problems in the area especially in the day time when the it is more visible to see the criminals.

We spoke to Tony Silcock, the Letting Accounts Manager for Jordan Fishwick who handles day to day letting to students in the Fallowfield area, he said, “We are aware of the dangers of criminal activity in the South Manchester area and we try to do out upmost to make out tenants feel safe and secure in their homes.”

In the same survey, students were asked whether they thought that their housing companies could do more to help with burglaries. 95% of students thought the housing companies could do more to prevent burglaries in the first place including frequent burglar alarm checks as well as bars on windows and CCTV Cameras.

After talking to Silcock about my findings, he explained, “These are some interesting statistics, and this is something we take very seriously, most of our houses are fitted with working burglar alarms and if anyone has problems we are their straight away to help out. I would however advise students and other residents to leave their valuables out of plain sight of windows and to make sure that all windows and door a firmly locked when they leave their houses.” He then went on to say, “CCTV cameras could add a serious amount onto the rents, which I believe could be a problem for some of the students.” So, I asked in the survey, would you be willing to pay more rent so that you have enough safety features on the house? 60% said they would.

In the mean time we have devised a checklist, to make your house less appealing to burglars.

• Do not horde newspapers and letters on the inside of your doorstep. Criminals are more likely to thing that your house is empty if you leave letting in a pile on the doorstep. They are more likely to try and break in if they think there is no one in.
• When everyone is out the house make sure you leave aa light on or a radio going so it appears someone is in.
• Make friends with your neighbours and make sure that they watch over your property when you are out.
• Do not leave valuables in plain sight of windows, mothering appeals to criminals more than a laptop, Play Station or jewellery left in plain site for all to see.

So their you have it if you stick to this list you will be sure to reduce the chance of your house being broken into.