We all know that cut in budgets are necessary in these hard times and the police force is one area being affected. Around the countries they are fighting crime on ever decreasing budgets and manpower and the rise in garden related crime has increased substantially. This could be that garden sheds are seen as soft targets, generally away from the main activity of the home, these sheds can produce some rich pickings for just a little risk. As the number of police patrols are reduced then the chance of any thieves being caught inside these sheds is very unlikely.
The key (no pun intended) is to keep your garden shed well locked using good quality padlocks on the shed door. A good piece of advice is to ensure that at least one of the screws in each of the shed hinge is replaced with a nut and bolt, ideally a coach bolt. This will ensure even if the shed door is well locked it could be possible to just unscrew the door and gain access to your garden goods that way. Shed windows are equally a weak point, they can be broken so, if possible, replace them with toughened or laminated glass. Another option is to cover with a film, which you can get at car shops, or put bars across the shed windows.
The addition of a garden shed alarm can alert you to any intruders and the noise of an alarm would scare most thieves away as they don’t want to get caught. Also a solar powered garden light with a sensor will light up the area around your shed, again making it less attractive to intruders.
The use for a garden shed is many but Dorset Police have an unusual use for a shed and that is as a crime fighting weapon. The 6 ft x 4 ft garden shed, which they affectionately call a ‘mobile crime prevention resource’ is at the forefront of local garden crime. This shed is touring the county and helping to make gardeners aware of the dangers of intruders and showing how the gardener can protect his own shed against attack. As well as the advice above the police suggest that thorny plants can be a good deterrent as well as good locks and security lights mentioned above.
With over 1400 thefts from garden sheds and garages in the previous year in the county of Dorset there is a great need for more awareness of this problem. Dorset’s Police, PC Chris Nutt, said that burglars see sheds, gardens and garages as easy targets as they know they often contain valuable machinery, garden tools and equipment. Only recently Gloucestershire Police were also warning of increased threats to garden sheds showing this problem is not just a local one.
As well as increasing the security on your garden shed it may be worthwhile upgrading your shed or adding a security shed to protect your valuables. The SafeStore steel sheds come with their own metal bases and feature high security garden shed locks as standard. You can examples of these secure garden sheds at this display site in Surrey. These actions will help to ward of burglars from attacking your shed and stealing your property.
