What To Do If You've Been Burgled

Burglar Entering Home

"I've Been Burgled, What Do I Do?"

Burglary is a shocking, potentially devastating event. If you haven’t been through it before you wouldn’t necessarily know what to do in the aftermath. As well as the need to deal with the practicalities, burglary can also create emotional issues. Here’s a guide for those who are facing it or those who want to be prepared.

1. The first thing that you need to do is call the police. It’s likely that you will be in a state of shock, so it will be useful to also call for the support of someone independent of the incident that you know and trust. The support of friends or family will be especially important if you live alone.
2. Your next step is to cancel your credit and debit cards and check your finances. It doesn’t matter whether or not they’ve been stolen, as the burglar might have written the details down. The burglar would only need to pull out an internet-enabled smartphone to start making purchases.
3. The police might want you to let them know there and then about property you’ve lost. If you have a phone with anti-theft software then let them know immediately and you might be able to track it, possibly catching a criminal and retrieving your phone in one fell swoop.
4. You might be asked to write a full itinerary list for the police. This will help you when you move onto the next step: contacting your insurer. They will hopefully let you know how to best present your itinerary. If you have model numbers of products and receipts, these will help your claim. You could also present bank statements.

Police Office Taking Notes

It’s easy to get caught up in the material aspect of things, but it’s really important to ensure that you can deal with the burglary on an emotional level. Government statistics show that 87% of people burgled were affected on an emotional level, with 15% of those suffering from anxiety and 13% from depression as a result. Charities like Victim Support can provide emotional and practical help.

We are also here, 24 hours a day and with a 20-40 minute response time in most cases to provide immediate boarding up. We also offer reparation or replacement of locks. If you have suffered a break in then it would definitely be worthwhile to have a security survey as well.

We hope that this has helped you to either deal with the aftermath of a burglary or to prepare you for the possibility of one.

We have sympathetic locksmiths near you that can help with replacing your locks or boarding up damaged windows after a break in. Call 0800 0612 677 for more information and a free, no obligation quote.