Burglaries are a nuisance for summer cottage owners and tricky to investigate for the police, because often summer cottage burglaries committed in the winter are not discovered until the beginning of the next summer cottage season in the spring.
The best approach is prevention. Damage and property loss can be prevented by not leaving valuables in the summer cottage over the winter. If any valuable items must be left, a record should be made of their identifiers and photos taken of them. Neighbours can also help: cottage owners should ask neighbours to keep an eye out for suspicious strangers and to contact the police if necessary.
Last year, 1,177 summer cottage burglaries were reported to the police.
The first half of this year showed a slight decline in the number of summer cottage burglaries compared to the previous year. However, the figures have continued to climb within the domain of certain police departments, e.g. the Central Finland Police Department.
In 2018, the police recorded a total of 1,177 notifications of summer cottage burglaries, or more specifically cases of aggravated theft, theft or attempted theft or aggravated theft perpetrated at secondary residences. The figure as at the end of September of last year was 888, while this year in the same period the police information system shows 856 actual and attempted burglaries.
According to Chief Superintendent Jyrki Aho of the National Police Board, the annual figure varies.
“Any single active perpetrator or team can have a significant influence on the statistics in any given region. Many burglaries involve not only theft of property but also making a mess and causing destruction. Young perpetrators in particular typically do this,” says Aho.
Items stolen from summer cottages are generally utility items that are easy to sell
The items stolen from summer cottages are generally utility items such as tools and work machinery, vehicles such as mopeds or quadcycles, and trailers needed for transporting the above.
“Any items that are easy to convert into cash will do. What is regrettable is that owners often are unable to describe the stolen goods in any detail; often, they have not recorded any unique identifiers. Photos would also be a great help in identification.”
Aho notes that numerous summer cottage burglaries are committed by perpetrators often with a substance abuse problem who live locally and have broad experience in all kinds of property crime.
“These people go around summer cottages once the active summer season is over and there is little active surveillance. They take what they can get. Victims should scan online marketplaces in case any familiar items appear for sale locally,” says Aho.
How to prevent a summer cottage burglary:
- Don’t leave any valuable items accessible. Remove everything valuable and interesting from the summer cottage. Don’t leave weapons, alcohol, electronics, power tools or anything else that is easy to sell on the black market or online.
- If you must leave valuable items at the summer cottage, record a description of them and of any unique identifiers that they may have. You might also indelibly label your property. Leave the curtains open. Thieves will then be able to see from the outside that there is nothing worth stealing
- Burglar alarms, surveillance cameras and stickers and signs informing visitors of same are an effective deterrent.
- Agree with all local cottage owners and permanent residents that everyone will keep an eye out for security in the area, i.e. monitor the movements of suspicious persons and notify the police as necessary. When offenders notice that they have been spotted, they generally go elsewhere rather than hang around.
See the police advisory video (in Finnish): https://youtu.be/U9C0h8GrjiI
