Have you ever heard of a crime map? If you have yet to hear about one or see one then you are missing out really. You can access them online and see exactly how many crimes have been reported in your area. It is quite amazing really that such data can be correlated within an individual postcode or localised area. Needless to say, they have been used by many individuals looking to buy or rent a house as a house hunting tool. However, they have also had a rather bad effect on crime.
How would a crime map affect crime? Well, it hasn’t directly as such. The crime rates have been largely unaffected by it in real terms because they do nothing to deter the perpetrators of burglary or violent crime any. However, they have had a profound effect in terms of the reporting of crime. Homeowners have neglected to report numerous crimes by all accounts to prevent their house showing up on crime maps should they choose to move or rent out their property. Unfortunately, this has shown a false decrease in crime levels in certain areas and has also proved to be a little problematic for home insurance companies.
If you have been the victim of a crime and have tried to claim on your home insurance then you will know that you have to have a crime number in many cases for your claim to be processed. However, if you have no crime number because you have not reported it then you may not be paid for your claim at all. This is doubly annoying because it may still show up as a claim on your home insurance. This, in turn, would put your premiums up without any peace of mind for you.
It has been estimated that the number of people not reporting crime is around 5.2 million people. Of those 75% have ignored crimes like vandalism, drug dealing and other similar offences whilst 42% have not reported vehicle theft or defacing and 11% ave not reported violent crime. This not healthy for anyone because victims do not get what they deserve and those looking to buy or rent do not have an accurate picture of the area that they are moving to. As such, the advice is to use any home insurance you have when you need to. Worrying about the future in any way could prevent you from enjoying life, and the peace of a mind a good policy gives you, now.
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