Burglars often target same home multiple times

Over a fifth of people who fell victim to home burglary in 2017 were burgled again within a year, according to the 2017 Security Monitor by Statistics Netherlands. The chance of burglars targeting the same home more than once is greatest in cities, RTL Nieuws reports.

In 2017 two percent of the Dutch population, around 287 thousand people fell victim to a burglary or attempted burglary. For over 75 percent of the victims this only happened once, 15 percent had two burglaries, and 7 percent had three or more burglaries.

The chance of falling victim to burglaries more than once is greatest in the cities, according to the stats office. In very urban areas, 28 percent of burglary victims were hit at least twice, compared to 16 percent in non-urban municipalities. 

The most popular times for burglars to strike were the summer holiday months of July and August and the festive month of December, when people tend to be away from their homes. The fewest burglaries happened in January. 

People who repeatedly fall victim to burglars feel less safe. Of the repeated victims, 61 percent believe that there is a good chance burglars will break into their homes again. Among once-off victims it is 41 percent, and among people who weren't burgled it is 8 percent. Repeated victims also feel less safe in their own neighborhoods. They more often have an alarm or shutters installed than people who were burgled once or not at all. 

The number of burglaries in the Netherlands has been slowly decreasing since 2013.