Do you lock your doors in daytime ?

Maple I respect our views
Yes, Monica it may only be “stuff” that’s taken, and in the great scheme of things, it’s not as serious as, to quote your example, child abuse, (and other obnoxious criminal behaviour), but as Sparklefizz says, the damage is not only lost belongings, (which may be precious in more ways than just their monetary value, and quite possibly irreplaceable), but a violation of ones own space, of it being sullied, and the fear that being broken into instils - the “what if I’d disturbed them?” thoughts. In its way, burglary is as vicious to the victim as other crimes due to the psychological damage it may inflict. It’s not a lightweight crime.

But we have suffered 3 break-ins and one attempted break-in.

The first one was almost entirely items of little monetary value and great sentimental value. And what ever other people may have felt. I I felt no sense of violation. or fear.

While violent burglaries do occur, they are the exception not the rule and thepolice assured us that most burglars are sh*t scared and want to get in and out as fast as they can, and should the houseowner be in, or return they will scarper as fast as they can. And as far as I am concerned, at the end of the day, even the sentimental losses, were just stuff. My children were safe and well, and my stuff compared with their safety, is nothing. The same police force on the same day had a arrested a man, who, as was reported.

After abducting the little girl from outside her Dagenham home on March 11, 1983, Evans drove her to Epping Forest, where he subjected her to a sickening sexual attack, stripping her naked before burying her body under leaves.

The killer then returned to the scene three days later where he dug up her body and mutilated her remains, taking several photographs of them.

The young girl’s body was eventually discovered 14 months later when Evans was arrested after making three more attempts to abduct small children.

As far as I am concerned, stuff is just stuff.

Rural crime can be incredibly violent. There have been local cases of people with guns/knives threatening entry in the middle of the night

MerylStreep My attack happened in a hospital bed!
It was truly terrifyingly, I suffered PTSD afterwards.
I am possibly a bit paranoid about personal security now.

Front and back doors always locked. I learned about the insurance issue in Liverpool.
Opening the door for the dog to go out is extra exercise so I don’t mind that, though if I’m in the kitchen I leave the back door open for her. She’s another like your dog Alioop, so a guard dog she is not!

My doors are always locked. My friends have always drummed it into me as I live on my own. I live in a lovely area, but you just never know who's hanging about. My dog is useless at guarding the house, if she could she'd invite them in for a cuppa.

Front door locks automatically. Rear doors are usually unlocked during the day unless we are out. But rear garden is walled and not so easy to climb into.

What/who are the Nottingham knockers?

Sago that must have been terrifying.

I have to say, I’m quite amazed to read how some posters are very relaxed about door and window locking. To me, it’s a priority - there are always opportunists around and probably some who are “eying up” the area, looking for vulnerable spots.

I know that locking everything up will not stop determined thieves, but anything that slows a would be opportunistic burglar down and makes a noise is a safeguard worth taking.

I also agree that your home insurance may well be invalidated if it transpired that the burglar was able to just walk in through an unlocked door, rather in the same way as your car insurance being invalidated if you had failed to lock it.

Therefore, to my mind, whether you live in a quiet hamlet, a busy city or anything in between, it makes sense to take all the precautions you can.

Yes, Monica it may only be “stuff” that’s taken, and in the great scheme of things, it’s not as serious as, to quote your example, child abuse, (and other obnoxious criminal behaviour), but as Sparklefizz says, the damage is not only lost belongings, (which may be precious in more ways than just their monetary value, and quite possibly irreplaceable), but a violation of ones own space, of it being sullied, and the fear that being broken into instils - the “what if I’d disturbed them?” thoughts. In its way, burglary is as vicious to the victim as other crimes due to the psychological damage it may inflict. It’s not a lightweight crime.

Always have front and back doors locked. Back door is opposite side of house from sitting room so wouldn't hear anyone coming in.
Have an outer porch front door which is usually left unlocked for parcels etc, but inner one is kept locked.
I remember when we lived in Cyprus our Greek neighbours were horrified at us locking doors when we went out; they thought it meant we didn't trust them.

I had the Nottingham Knockers a few weeks ago

I believe they are around our area now; we have a neighbourhood WhatsApp group which is useful.

Sago
Same as me ( the knife)
The bloody cheek of it was that I’d just given him money.
When he’d got my bag off me and run off, I was so angry I ran after him ?

Back exit is via the conservatory so mostly locked anyway. No gate locks & I have the front door wide open on sunny days and only lock when out. If anything was amiss I have 2 security guards/dogs (aka neighbours?) who would deal with it. Villages have their pros

Nope. The steep, muddy, usually sloshy, car roll-bar-wrecking lane we live at the end of works the same as a locked door.

Yes I lock my back door

Many of my friends now have Ring doorbells with video footage and have been horrified to see things they never knew about - young men trying car doors and the front doors, eyeing up fences and moving bins to help give them a leg up.

You may not think there's much going on in your neighbourhood, but there probably is !

I know Monica mentioned further back that if you're burgled "it's only stuff" - but it's not the belongings taken, it's the sense of violation and fear it engenders. I have nothing much worth taking but I don't want strangers in my house.

I had the Nottingham Knockers a few weeks ago AreWeThereYet I got rid of him but he wasn’t happy that I hadn’t brought anything. Luckily my dog had taken a bit of a dislike to him and was barking. As soon as he had gone I rang my 87 year old mum to warn her they were about (she only lives a short distance from me) unfortunately someone had already been and conned her into buying a cheap plastic torch for a ridiculous amount. I was worried they might come back to my mums but so far so good. Other than that crimes not too bad round here but I’m always vigilant (touching wood).

I knew a family who was completely cleared out upstairs and kitchen while mum and dad and three young boys watched T.V.
Also when first married a house we shared a garden with had been burgled with a new baby in the house, one of the goods had been too heavy and they left it on the lawn.
I've even come downstairs to see a hand coming through the letterbox taking the mail,because of DH job they thought there might be drugs. I had to have the letterbox changed to another door as the original was all glass and had to phone relatives to ask if they had sent Birthday present money in cards as it was DD's birthday, of course, they had grandparents did in those days.
We also got up once and DH asked me if I had moved the dustbin, it was beside next doors tall fence. It turned out either side house had been burgled they had left us, the police thought because we had two young children.
It's belt and braces in our house. The alarm on every night

Where do you all live?

We're fortunate to live in a village where there is a low crime rate - we've had things stolen out of our unlocked car twice since being here but burglaries and violence (other than drunks around pubs) is quite rare. The population has at least quadrupled since we moved here and the crime rate seems to have increased accordingly. We also live slightly off the beaten track, so not a lot of people pass our door even though there are houses all around. The Community Police use our FB pages to report on crimes in the area so we know what is happening - we've had spates of thefts out of gardens, dog stealing and thefts of cars and car parts over the years, along with frequent visits from Nottingham Knockers.

I can understand that a lot of people live in highly populated areas where there are a lot of strangers, or out of the way areas where they have few neighbours, and it's better to be safe than sorry. When we move next we may be in the same position.

Best alarm and defence in the world!

I always keep the doors locked since one of my neighbours years ago was attacked by a man who walked in through the unlocked front door. Luckily her German Shepherd heard her shout and dealt with the intruder.

Front door is inaccessible without a key from the outside, no letterbox, the French windows are always locked if there’s no one in. Windows are locked, opened as required then re locked.

Where do you all live? All doors locked all the time here. Only leave French windows open if we are in lounge or on patio.

GrannyGravy since nobody is posting under their own name and no one is saying where they live this thread is no security risk what so ever.

I think we need to ask howselves just how many break-ins actually occur, and despite, having experienced both part or full break ins, I have to say, nobody else we know has ever had a break-in, so they are pretty rare and I think you need to keep a sense of proportion, based on your location and where the exterior doors are.

When we lived in a town, where access to our garden was very easy, we were meticulous about security and had an alarm installed. Now living in a rural low crime village, where access to the garden is not easy, we are very relaxed about locking the doors giving access to the garden. We lock them at night and when we leave the house, but we have a burglar alarm, which we always set when we leave the house, so even if we do forget to lock the garden doors, and someone does get over the high fence and/or locked side gate. If they open a door and walk in, the alarm will go off and we know from when something like this did happen, it brought all the neighbours out, but the attempted intruder had scarpered the moment the alarm sounded.
in of any kind, so they are pretty rare

Absolutely always lock everything. Although I've got used to living alone I am paranoid about security, even though I live in a safe area. I've got alarms and chains etc..

They do. And if doors or windows were left open you won’t get a penny from the insurance.