FBI Statistics Support the Benefits of Home Security
If you are one of the many property owners who made the decision in 2016 to protect your home with smart home security from Uxari, you did the right thing. Preliminary statistics from the FBI indicate that crime in the U.S. remained relatively steady last year. Some categories of crime were up while others were down, but things were little changed overall.
We live in a world that can appear totally safe on one day and just the opposite on the next. This is one of the reasons we recommend wireless home security. Things are just too unpredictable to live like you will never be the victim of a property crime. Investing in smart home security is one way to reduce your chances of being the next victim in your neighborhood.
Crime by the Numbers
The FBI releases two annual reports dealing with national crime statistics. Their most recent report covers the first six months of 2016. According to that report, property crimes were down 0.6% last year as compared to the same period in 2015. Unfortunately, motor vehicle thefts were up by 6.6% and violent crime rose by 5.3%.
We are certainly not happy with the statistical increases, but we are pleased to know that property crimes fell last year. Protecting customers against property crime is one of the primary functions of wireless home security.
Property crimes include things such as burglary, larceny and vandalism – three things that are effectively deterred by home security systems. So it’s good to know that fewer American properties are the subject of such crimes. From our point of view, though, there is still work to be done. There are still far too many homes that remain unprotected and vulnerable to criminals.
It’s All about Deterrence
At the risk of sounding repetitive, it’s helpful to remind regular readers of our blog about the importance of deterrence. It just so happens that deterrence is your biggest weapon against property crime. The more you can do to cause criminals to second-guess their decision to hit your home, the more effective you will be at deterring them from doing so.
Effective deterrence is really just a matter of planting a seed of doubt in the mind of the criminal. For instance, let’s say a burglar was casing your neighborhood and chose your home as a preliminary target. Upon further investigation, though, he noticed the Uxari placard in your window along with your video doorbell and the exterior wireless video camera mounted on the corner of the house.
The burglar now has to ask himself whether he wants to take the risk that inevitably comes with trying to enter your home. He knows your two cameras will record his every move, and he suspects the video data will be stored safely in the cloud. What are his chances of getting away with his crime and not being prosecuted?
That little seed of doubt planted in the burglar’s mind should be enough to get him to go looking elsewhere. And no, it’s not a point of wanting burglars to hit your neighbors instead of yours. It’s a matter of keeping those burglars out of your neighborhood altogether.
The FBI’s annual crime statistics show that crime is holding its own in the United States. We wish it were nearing zero, but that’s not the case yet. So as long as we are hoping that crime will be eliminated, we also want to encourage America’s homeowners to take the steps necessary to protect themselves. One of those steps is the installation of smart home security.
Sources:
1. FBI – https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/preliminary-crime-stats-for-2016-released
