Across Britain, numerous homes and businesses are equipped with CCTV, video doorbells, and advanced alarms. Moreover, the price of these technologies is continually dropping, making these systems increasingly accessible to more homeowners and business owners. While we often consider this to be an adequate deterrent to burglars, the statistics tell a contradictory story. Consider how many times you’ve heard an alarm going off in a street, for example, and simply ignored it. Meanwhile, CCTV provides evidence of a crime after it has happened, but it isn’t a real deterrent to professional criminals.
As Paul Warner, founder of Safeguard Security, explains, “We’ve seen it time and again – people call us after a break-in, with fitted cameras and alarms that make no difference. What they lacked was the one thing that physically stops a burglar – an actual barrier.”
This is the core weakness of high-tech solutions: they react, but they do not prevent. A determined intruder who knows that police are unlikely to arrive quickly has little fear of being interrupted, and so they are not an actual deterrent.
The UK Call-Out Crisis – Over Nine Hours For Police To Arrive
Statistics highlight the depth of the problem. The average burglary call-out in England is over nine hours, according to the source local.gov.uk. In fact, in some UK regions, police forces have admitted it can take as long as 28 hours before an officer arrives. And that delay matters. A burglar only needs minutes to snatch valuables or empty a till. A nine-hour window gives them the time to operate, knowing intervention is unlikely.
This explains why insurers increasingly favour visible, physical deterrents over high-tech security solutions. If a property can resist forced entry, insurers perceive a lower risk, and premiums often reflect this.
Jewellery, Cash & Tools: The Hidden Risks Many Accept At Home And Work
The risks are real. In the year ending March 2025, police recorded 166,577 residential burglaries in England and Wales, which is one every three minutes. Broader totals, including businesses, bring that figure closer to 222,000 incidents nationwide, according to the official public crime reporting site crimerate.co.uk.
For many, these crimes are heartbreaking. In the British Asian community, for example, it’s common to store gold jewellery at home, including wedding sets, heirlooms, and savings in physical form. Families may trust safes or hiding places, but once intruders gain entry, these protections often fail. Experienced thieves target homes they think are more likely to store precious items, of course.
One London homeowner, Anika, describes her experience: “I grew up in a community where gold jewellery was part of our tradition. But after our family home was robbed and a series of burglaries nearby, we realised first-hand how quickly it could be taken. We installed retractable grilles last year. They fold away so you barely see them, but at night I know they’re locked, we’re safer, and our heirlooms and precious family jewels are safer.”
For businesses, the story is equally pressing. Restaurants, bars, and nightclubs often store cash floats overnight. Construction companies cannot remove every tool or machine at the end of a shift, for example.
Tom, a Manchester contractor, recalls, “We had over £15,000 of kit stolen in a night. The CCTV footage showed it all, but that didn’t stop them, of course, and showing it to the police the following day was hopeless. Now we’ve fitted grilles on our depot windows. The difference is immediate – you can see that burglars won’t bother trying.”
Why Grilles Are A Better Choice Than Fixed Bars & Shutters
The instinctive response to burglary risk has often been to fit roller shutters or heavy-duty bars. These certainly create a solid barrier, but there are trade-offs:
- Safety risks: Fixed bars and shutters can be difficult for staff or family members to open in the event of a fire or emergency.
- Aesthetic impact: Bars and shutters look hostile on family homes, and they deter customers.
- Practical problems: shutters can jam, rust, or be left open because they’re inconvenient.
For many, these trade-offs defeat the purpose. Protection should not come at the cost of safety or aesthetics. As Paul Warner notes, “We still see people choosing fixed bars because they seem cheap or simple. However, they ruin the property’s appearance, create hazards, and are often left unused in the end. Modern grilles remove all those problems.”
Modern retractable grilles represent a new standard in security. Designed to be elegant and discreet, they fold away when not needed but provide robust protection when deployed. Crucially, they are engineered with fire-safe locks, ensuring that occupants can always escape in an emergency.
These systems are tested to recognised burglary resistance standards such as LPS 1175. Many are insurance-approved, meaning insurers directly acknowledge their value.
For businesses, grilles preserve the shopfront’s aesthetics by day while delivering strength and security by night. For homeowners, they blend with the architecture of the house, protecting windows, doors, French windows, or patio doors, for example.
Items such as jewellery, cash, and tools are not optional luxuries. They are often family treasures or the difference between a profitable business and an unprofitable one. And where burglary remains high and police response averages more than nine hours, relying on technology alone is a gamble. Cameras record, alarms alert, but only a physical barrier prevents.
The expert team at Safeguard Security has built a business on providing the very best in high-quality security grilles for doors and windows, and therefore knows exactly the steps to take to ensure that homes and businesses are adequately protected. They can also advise on the correct type of security setup, the reduction in insurance premiums that are possible, and how best to couple the grilles with high-tech systems like alarms and CCTV.
For more information about how to effectively protect your home or business, visit safeguardsecurity.co.uk
