Those of us who have lived in the West know that Christmas festivities are a month-long business. People start to put up trees, buying gifts and planning months in advance. But I’ve noticed that people in the UAE begin to take down their Christmas decorations almost as soon as Christmas Day has come and gone. But in the West, the tree, and other Christmas decorations stay up until 5 January. Taking them down sooner is considered bad luck for those who do it.  Since it’s been established that Christmas is not just about the 25th, not only do we know that it goes on for a bit longer but so do burglars. Did you know that in the West, the percentage and rate of burglaries doubles and triples during the festive season?

Most of these burglaries go unsolved. Why do they increase at this time of year? Well, even if you don’t tell the world and his wife that your house is full of expensive gifts, the burglar already knows. Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, the burglar will assume you do and will still break in hoping to rob you. Then if you don’t have Christmas presents, that’ll give him the perfect opportunity to rummage around your home looking for anything that he can flog on the black market. Yes, these are petty criminals who are enticed by the many presents sitting in full view from the window under the Christmas tree.

This happens even when the occupant of the house is home sleeping. They might be visiting family or just taking a Christmas holiday to warmer climates. I notice that many parents and siblings visit their sons, daughters and siblings in the UAE for Christmas. These people are certainly at risk of being burgled back home in their absence.

In fact, in the West, there are certain times of the year when burglaries are more prevalent. Yes, Christmas is one of those times but so is the summer for two reasons. Firstly, when schools and universities close for the summer holidays families decide to go on their summer holidays. They are often away for two weeks and this is the time when burglars know that a house will be empty. Often when people do go away, they ask a neighbour to check in on the property, water the plants and feed the cat. But they can’t be on neighbourhood watch all the time. Especially not at night. Many summer holiday makers have come back to a tip because a burglar broke in in their absence.

Another reason that summer is the ideal time to commit a felony is because it’s summer. There is no air conditioning in the UK and the only way people cool down their homes by cross-ventilation is to open a window at either end of the house. This they tend to do all day, every day, including nighttime. We did it all the time, although we were careful not to leave a room empty when we did. But it is the ideal opportunity for a burglar to just slide open an already open window, especially when that window is downstairs.

People need to take extra precautions at certain times of the year. At Christmas it’s important to make sure that all the windows and doors are locked at all times. I think it’s also important to make sure that expensive gifts are hidden away and not displayed under a tree.

If a burglar sees a large box under the tree, he is not going to assume it’s a Christmas cardigan. He is going to assume it is a laptop. If he sees a small box under the tree he is not going to assume it’s socks, ties or gloves, or even a gift token. He is going to assume it’s an expensive mobile phone or even a tablet. If a tree is filled with gifts that may not be attractive to a burglar, he is not going to stay long and move on to another house to try.

If families are going away for the holiday season, they should not leave presents under the tree. Some families do leave some gifts displayed under the tree so they can open them as a family when they return. Some families even celebrate ‘their own’ Christmas on their return.

 The summer months are harder to deal with. If there is no air conditioning, and from my experience, fans are pretty useless in the UK in the summer, then opening windows is the only way to ventilate a room. I guess people just need to be more vigilant by not leaving a downstairs window open when they are not in the room. If they are only opening upstairs windows then they need to be careful not to leave anything lying around in their gardens, like a ladder, that will give a burglar a leg up to an upper floor window.