Realising you have been a victim of a break in can be a heart breaking and quite scary experience. Despite this roller-coaster of emotions, it is important that you compose yourself and try and focus in order to get things sorted and back as they should be as quickly as possible. Below our team at No Shut Sure Lock have put together a handy guide on what you should do if you ever find yourself a victim of a break in.
Ring The Police – This is probably the first thing most people would do, however it is important that you do so as soon as you discover the break in as there could be time sensitive evidence that can play a crucial part in catching the people that committed the offence and potentially recovering stolen goods. The police will provide you with a unique crime reference number, you should take note of this number and keep it safe as you will require it further down the line when you speak to your insurance provider.
Don’t Touch or Move Anything – Whilst waiting for the police to arrive it is important that you don’t try and clean up the mess as you could destroy evidence. As hard as it may be the best thing to do is just stay put and wait for the police to come and collect any evidence there may be.
Make A List – When the police arrive at your property and give you the go ahead you should walk around making a list of any damaged or stolen goods, try to be as thorough as possible making note of serial numbers, any distinctive marks and a rough estimate of the price. Keep this list handy as you will need it for your insurance provider as well.
Contact Your Bank – As soon as you have a spare minute contact your bank and inform them you have had a break in. The bank will be able to check your account for any suspicious activity and cancel any credit or debit cards you had in the house. Even if your cards haven’t been stolen you should still do this as the intruder could have taken note of your card details and left the card behind so that they can make online transactions with you being none the wiser until you noticed it on your statement.
Call Your Insurance Provider – In most cases insurance providers need to be contacted within 24 hours of the break in so that they can collect all the necessary information from you in order to process a claim. Every insurance company will need your crime reference number that the police provided you with and a list of damaged and stolen items.
Secure Your Property – When the police have left you can finally start to straighten up and get things back to normal. Whilst doing this it is important that you get your property secure once again, this means, securing any broken windows by having them boarded up and repairing or replacing broken locks. These are things that a reliable local locksmith can do for you. When the locksmith arrives, it would be worth having a chat to see what you can do to improve your home security in order to prevent future break ins.
If you have been victim of a break in and need locks or windows repairing or would like to improve your home security to help prevent a break in the contact No Shut Sure Lock today – 07702 752458