Apparently I'm weird for shutting 1st floor windows at night because burglars don't like to enter through 1st floor windows?

[Northwinds]

I reminded OH to shut the bathroom window before bedtime, because it is a safety issue. He said, why? I said, because it's not safe to leave it open all night, it's not a small window, it'll be an easy entry point for burglars. He said I was weird to think this and that burglars do not particularly want to use a ladder to get into someone's house via an open window on the 1st floor. I was just so shocked that he can even think that! Please fellow mumsnetters, tell me I'm not being unreasonable to think this!

@teenagetantrums

I live in ground floor flat. Our bedroom windows are open all year long. I can't see a burglar wanting to climb into our bedroom. But if they did I'd just let them crack on. We have insurance

It's all very well you say you'd let them 'crack on' with a burglary. But that isn't the worst thing they could do.

I never understand this as locking your car is quite literally the press of a button, so seems silly not to do. It requires effort / time whatsoever and even if the risk is minimal it seems odd to not bother.

DP doesn't lock the front door at night or when out, but he has a massive barky German shepherd who no burglar is going to want to face off with tbh. He only locks it when the dog isn't there.

Why? Genuine question - if he pops out (so no fire risk etc as I guess some people may say that's a reason) then why not just lock the door? It takes a second and massively reduces the risk.

Also so many people say their dog wouldn't let anyone in or would attack them etc. But no animal is entirely reliable, no animal is 100% immune to being bribed with food, no animal is immune to being harmed by someone dangerous.

It seems to be a bit of a badge of honour for some people that they never lock their doors even when they go out, when in many (most?) cases it doesn't make any sense not to.

I manage a rental property. They left an upstairs bedroom window open, They were robbed of all the jewelry, ( in the bedroom where they were sleeping.) camera, computer, phones.
Police said one guy got up onto the shoulders of another, or had their own ladder.
They let themselves out through the front door!

We were burgled one night via a first floor open window. The scariest bit was we were still up and walking around! I came out of the downstairs loo and heard a weird noise, which was them leaving the property.
Scared the life out of me! I do love an open window though and certainly have them wide open in the summer, however we now have a really big dog!

Me too. I actually chatted to the burglars. I assumed they were friends of my roommate!

You don't need to be particularly skilled or unusually agile to get through a first floor window. Almost all young men could do it quickly and easily with a bit of practice, especially if they're working in pairs. It's probably much easier than trying to break through an effective lock on a front door and won't attract as much attention as breaking glass.

I live in a small village with a generally low crime rate, but we have had several houses broken into in just this way to target car keys. The householders remained asleep throughout, or only woke just as the burger was exiting downstairs. These thefts tend to come in batches, where several houses in a village are targeted in quick succession and then they move on. You don't have to be particularly rich to be a target, cars taken were BMW, Audi, nothing especially high performance or bling.

I think it depends on the layout of your house and how the outside is - mine is mid-terrace backing onto other gardens, most with 5ft-6ft fences so the back of the house feels very secure. Burglars want easy access, not climbing over several sets of high fences and climbing to the 1st floor. The front is also totally overlooked by neighbouring houses and you'd need a ladder to access the windows. Noise really echoes too so someone would definitely wake up if a ladder was being put up outside someone's house in the night.

That said I only have the bedroom window open and locked onto a latch so that it's only open an inch or so. I wouldn't want to leave a window open if access is easy, especially in a room you're not in.

Walk down a couple of streets in the middle of the night looking for opportunity and you'll definitely find it.

Exactly this. It's very common.

Just remembered my mate got his cafe business burgled, they came in through a teeny tiny air vent in toilet at the back ! Knocked it out of the wall..they must have been borrower size to get in! it was quite something to see the dimensions.

I don't understand why it's so risky leaving an upstairs window open when they could just break a downstairs window. Surely not much more attention-grabbing than scrambling up drainpipes.

You can't imagine why a burglar would want to climb through a wide open ground flour window? You can't be serious?
On the off chance you are; no insurance will pay out in such circumstances, and burglary isn't the only reason men climb through other people's windows

I never bothered shuttting first floor windows at all. Not a lot of break ins when I live and I wasn't fussed. Then I did a university creative writing course with a lovely guy that it turned out had been in prison for a good few serious crimes. maybe 3-4 times. We were talking in a group one day and I complimented him on a terrifying short story he had written and shared. He said "I would like to say it's totally made up but it's not, we really did break into 3-4 houses a night and the first thing we did was take the owners kitchen knives and lay one outside each bedroom door in case anybody woke up. We didn't take our own knives as that was then intent and much more serious in terms of sentencing if caught."

So yeah. That terrified the living shit out of me. He lived two towns across from me! He also told me that his "thing" was that he used secateurs to remove the finger pads/tips of snitches. Very hard to heal and a permanent mark to warn others. Right down to the bone.😲🤮. Then he would be showing me photos of his grand kids and telling me how much he loved being a granddad etc and was so glad he had turned his life around. Very disconcerting.

If you can get your head through the window your body will fit too. People will lift kids up & put them through the window, who will then go & open the door.

I lived in a 2nd floor flat & they attempted to get through the front door at 2.30pm on a lovely sunny afternoon. They actually knocked first, as I walked down the hall I saw a card being slid down the door. I chased after them, they ran. Although I was quite disturbed for ages after that incident.

I’d never leave a window open at night. I’m assuming you lot believe that people break in only to steal, & you have nothing worth stealing or know that it can be replaced with insurance. Hardly anyone’s considered that it might be a rapist or murderer coming for you.

I can categorically tell you that even if my head fitted through something my body definitely would not!!!!

If you can get your head through the window your body will fit too

😆 No. I have an impressive head to arse ratio.

Of course it would. You just need to PIVOT.

We close all downstairs except bathroom as a human cannot fit through there.

I have the bedroom window open that goes right down to the garden so nothing to get up here with, plus our garden is bordered by other gardens so the likliehood is very low and I need the air circulation in the night to be comfy.

Some burglars do smash windows, they all have their own techniques, but if you smash a window there's a chance you'll cut yourself and leave your DNA at the scene.
Acquisitive crime is really tricky to detect, not so much when they leave their blood behind.

Doh! Quote fail. That response was for Fairislefandango.

Not weird at all. Saying that we went on holidays recently and found the patio doors to the first floor balcony wouldn't lock. We complained to the owner who couldn't see the problem and said it was perfectly safe! (The silly cow told us to leave the following day)

Ring thread! Don't know how that happened!