Burglaries and thefts are rising at an alarming rate, according to Britain’s largest police force as figures from the Metropolitan Police show a 21 per cent rise in burglaries year on year.

They come as new crime statistics released this week are expected to reveal a national trend.

In recent months police chiefs have said that cost-cutting measures mean they cannot devote resources to “low level crime”.

The latest figures suggest criminals are now targeting areas of the country where police forces are failing to investigate burglaries and thefts, experts have warned.

Police chiefs are under pressure to tackle increasing threats from terrorism and cyber crime and investigate historic sex offences, as well as managing budget cuts.

Source: telegraph

Households in parts of Ilford, east London, suffer the worst rates of burglary in the UK, according to insurance forms, although the number of break-ins continues to fall nationally.

Analysis of 1.8m home insurance quotes by Moneysupermarket.com over the past five years names the IG4 postcode, covering an area between Redbridge and Gants Hill in east London, as worst for burglary across the UK.

London took 16 out of the top 20 worst postcode districts for burglary, although parts of Cambridge and Chorlton-cum-Hardy in Manchester were also among the crime hotspots.

Car insurance premiums to rise to £600 after tax hike
Read more
Northern Ireland had the lowest burglary rate in the UK, although Moneysupermarket said there were numerous postcode districts, often in rural and remote areas, where burglary has fallen to virtually zero.

The Crime Survey of England and Wales, issued last week, revealed that domestic burglary offences fell by 8% in the year from October 2015 to September 2016, and are down 71% since 1995.

Even in the Redbridge/Gants Hill area, where the analysis found that 55 homes out of every 1,000 said they suffered a burglary in the past five years, the crime rate has fallen slightly from last year. But it topped the table because the postcode district that was worst last year, Dulwich in south London, reported a 29% fall in burglaries.

Neighbouring areas to Redbridge, including Barkingside, Goodmayes and Hainault also featured among the worst parts of Britain for break-ins.

Redbridge residents blamed the close proximity to motorways for the area’s high crime statistics, plus a drop in the number of police on local streets.

Redbridge council said the figures did not present a complete picture. “

Moneysupermarket base their information on insurance claim quote figures. These figures do not reflect actual burglaries in the borough or match figures held by the police which means it’s difficult to make accurate comparisons.”

Source: theguardian

Honeywell has used a crowd-funding site to introduce a smart home security system.

The company, which makes a range of products that can be found in more than 150 million homes and 10 million businesses, wants to give Nest Secure and Ring Protect a run for their money, so it’s announced the Honeywell Smart Home Security System. Described as a self-installed, all-in-one security solution, it features a base station with an integrated 1080p camera that offers 145-degree viewing.

You can now use Google Home to control Belkin and Honeywell devices

The base station offers Amazon Alexa, serves up push notifications, and even does facial recognition. It can therefore identify you and your family, as well as alert you when, say, your child has arrived home safely from school. And you can control Honeywell’s entire system by voice, via Alexa, thanks to the base station’s “high-quality” speaker and microphone. The base station also works with sensors.

The Honeywell Smart Home Security System features indoor and outdoor sensors and motion viewers that can alert you if your doors or windows are opened. The base station and these additional devices can be adjusted using a schedule, location-based geofencing, or customisable event and scene triggers, Honeywell said. Meanwhile, all audio and video-monitoring is done through the system’s app.

At launch, the system is expected to cost around $499, making it comparable to Nest Secure. It will come with 24 hours of back-up cloud storage, which will be expanded to three days at some point after. Also coming in 2018, “audio analytics updates”, which Honeywell said will enable the system to know the difference between an alert from your smoke or carbon monoxide alarm, your dog barking, etc.

Best intelligent thermostats available to buy now

Strangely, Honeywell has chosen to seek help from the community. Although the system already appears to be well-thought out, designed, and developed, Honeywell has taken to Indiegogo in order to raise funds from backers. However, Honeywell is only seeking $50,000, so clearly this is more about garnering interest. If you grab it now, you can save 38 per cent on the base station.

Exclusive pre-order offers for the system will be available at a discounted price to backers on Indiegogo through 16 December.

Source: pocket-lint