Rising price of scrap metal contributing to increase in property crime

22 July 2011

The Metropolitan Police has revealed that burglaries and robberies are on the rise in London after years of falling crime. In May 2011, compared to the same month last year house burglaries jumped by 18.5% and non-residential burglaries by nearly 9%, with a total of 8,250 burglary offences being reported. The rising price of scrap metal is contributing to the increase, with thieves breaking in to steal copper piping and lead from roofs.

British Transport Police has reported a 70 per cent increase in the theft of cables.
The theft of cables near Woking station in Surrey last month led to busy commuter trains grounding to a halt, while severe train delays and a fire in a signal box was the result from theft of cables near Colchester earlier this month.

The report from the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson reveals that in the three months from February to April 2011, levels of overall property crime - including robbery, motor vehicle crime, burglary, shoplifting and criminal damage - rose by 0.5 per cent to 132,824 offences in comparison with the same period last year. This is in contrast to falling levels of crime in other areas

At the same time attention is being focused on squatting as the government has published proposals changing it from a civil to a criminal offence in England and Wales. This will make it easier for commercial property landlords to evict the estimated 20,000 squatters in the UK as the police can be involved at an early stage. Currently property owners have to go through the process of obtaining eviction through the civil law process which takes considerably longer.

In response to this focus on property security vacant property specialists SitexOrbis has launched iSecurity, the latest in keyless security innovation which combines iTRAP, a portable, intelligent alarm which can be remotely armed/disarmed along with iDOOR, an innovative keyless, remotely programmeable access management system. This unique security system gives the property owners or social housing landlord complete peace of mind that their properties are secured and monitored 24/7 by a BS5979 Cat II Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC). It is backed up by Aura, a real-time web-based workflow management and reporting system enabling customers to instruct, control and track progress of work – which can save landlords up to 192 working hours every year on administrative tasks.

iSecurity
iSecurity has been launched in response to the growing sophistication of today’s thieves. As they become more determined, many traditional portable intruder alarm systems are becoming obsolete. Single alarm units can be easily disabled by intruders, key-based security is prone to security lapses, the short battery life of some systems leads to high maintenance costs; and data systems are often inefficient and not in real time. With these issues in mind, SitexOrbis has created iSecurity which combines intelligence with innovation and independence and is also environmentally friendly:

• Intelligent: The iTRAP alarm system can be remotely armed and disarmed, which also enables the iDOOR to remotely open and allow access. A camera at the door captures photographic details. All entry/exit details are viewable through SitexOrbis’s customer portal Aura

• Innovative: The combination of physical and electronic security solutions makes iSECURITY unique in the social housing and security industry. This keyless system helps to resolve many problems associated with access management management, improves operational efficiency, and saves the customer money

• Independent: the iTRAP units are wireless, and each component operates independently without the need for close proximity or wires.

• Environmentally friendly: Our web-based customer portal helps to view reports and photographs online, thereby reducing the number of site visits and therefore travel. The keyless iTRAP alarm system with remote arming and disarming functionality also reduces the need for property/site visits – all saving fuel costs and carbon emissions.

About SitexOrbis
SitexOrbis provides a complete vacant property service for commercial property and social housing. From securing the property with the right type of screen and cleaning and clearing it of debris to monitoring it with battery-powered videofied alarms and managing it back into the market through energy certification and minor repairs & maintenance all backed up by Aura, SitexOrbis’ real-time web-based workflow management and reporting systems enabling customers to instruct, control and track the progress of jobs undertaken by their contractor, SitexOrbis is the vacant property management specialist.

In the UK the company protects more than 50,000 properties as well as 10,000 lone workers, cleans 20,000 properties annually and provides infection control, long-term mould eradication and access control. The group generates a combined turnover of in excess of £50 million and employs more than 700 people.

http://www.sitexorbis.com 0800 083 0850 info@sitexorbis.com