Long-serving PC says: "Look at your house through robber’s eyes"

People should look at their home from a robber’s point of view in order to reduce the risk of becoming a victim of burglary, according to a long-serving police officer.

Crime reduction officer PC Nigel Fry made his comments after a report identified the top ten burglary hotspots in the United Kingdom.

According to statistics compiled by insurance firm Endsleigh, Nottingham is the riskiest place for domestic burglaries.

The city was followed by London, Bristol, Stockport and Leeds, while Guildford was found to be the safest place to live.

“Each burglary impacts on someone’s life and is particularly upsetting for the elderly and vulnerable,” said PC Fry who has worked in the police force for over 20 years.

“There are some very simple measures you can take to make your home less attractive to burglars.

“You should increase the natural surveillance of your home by keeping trees and hedges well trimmed; you should ensure that your valuables are traceable and you should ensure that you have good quality door and window locks fitted.”

PC Fry added that Neighbourhood Watch schemes and “keeping an eye out” for neighbours’ houses if they go on holiday are pivotal in tackling burglary.

According to figures from the British Crime Survey, domestic burglary fell by 59% between 1995 and 2007.

Endsleigh spokesperson Rhiannon Harris said: “It’s welcome news that we are seeing a gradual decrease in household theft right across the UK.

“This must be due at least in part to the many initiatives police, local councils and community groups across the country have set up to combat breaches of household security.”

According to the Home Office, there has been a reduction in burglaries thanks to tougher sentences and the fact that people most likely to be targeted by thieves are kept up-to-date with the latest burglary prevention messages.

BELOW: CLICK ON THE BALLOONS TO FIND OUT THE TOP TEN CITIES MOST AT RISK OF THEFT AND THE TOP TEN CITIES SAFEST FROM THEFT IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. PLUS, IF YOU WANT TO FIND OUT HOW TO PREVENT BEING BURGLED BUT DON’T HAVE THE TIME TO READ THE ABOVE STORY, WATCH THE SLIDESHOW INSTEAD.

"It was weird to think that strange men had touched my private belongings"

As Michael Broomhead reports, one burglary victim felt more violated by the intrusion of her privacy…

Burglary can be a terrifying experience.

For some people, the crime can be so horrifying that it results in serious injury or even death.

At the end of March, a man posing as a police officer pushed an 82-year-old woman to the floor and raided her home in St Helens on Merseyside.

The robber left with a small amount of cash - but Margaret Briers suffered a broken hip which had a big part to play in her death at the beginning of April.

While the overall number of burglaries is decreasing, the crime still affects a huge amount of people.

In Britain, it is estimated that a burglar breaks into someone’s home every 36 seconds and steals a selection of personal and valuable possessions.

Twenty-four-year-old Anna Zarjow knows all too well what it is like to be a victim of burglary.

In April and August last year, burglars broke into her house in New Cross Gate in London.

Anna says she is lucky as the burglars only got away with a camera and an old mobile phone.

“It wasn’t about the items they took but more about the fact that they invaded my private space,” Anna says.

“It was weird to think that strange men had touched my private belongings.”

Anna reported the burglaries to the Metropolitan Police Service but she says it was a “useless exercise”.

“There are five burglaries in New Cross Gate every day and the police catch one per cent of the burglars.”

Anna says she hopes that the people who broke into her house will be burgled themselves so they can see and feel what it is like.

If you have been burgled, the police urge you to call 999 and report the incident.

My Digital Newsroom presentation

Over the last seven weeks or so, I’ve been blogging about entertainment news stories in the media.

On a regular basis, the media’s accused of giving entertainment news stories too much prominence – but there’s no escaping the fact that millions of people are interested in the latest celebrity gossip.

In fact, I’m sure the majority of people reading this would rather read about Amy Winehouse’s never-ending drug addiction or Britney Spears’ ongoing marital problems than read about Gordon Brown’s latest speech.

For this assignment, I’m going to discuss how this year’s Oscars ceremony was covered on news websites.

First of all, how did news websites take advantage of the digital newsroom to gather information on the Oscars?

CNN’s website invited people to review this year’s Oscar-winning films and share their opinions on the films and actors that won. By encouraging people to be I-Critics, CNN encouraged interactivity whilst gathering content to publish on its website. Such a technique is innovative as ordinary citizens with no experience in journalism can become involved in the newsgathering process and have their work read.

The majority of news websites featured blogs to provide additional coverage of the Oscars and to encourage people to comment and make their opinions heard. Furthermore, discussions in particular blogs provided news websites with stories. One story on Sky News’s website is about the role blogs had to play in the writers’ strike that threatened to put an end to this year’s Oscars. The story says that according to the anonymous author of the Writers’ Strike blog, blogging was more effective than picketing as writers could have a direct link with their fans.

In terms of presentation, this year’s Oscars ceremony was told in a very interesting way on the several news websites that I looked at.

The amount of pictures and videos on BBC News Online was particularly impressive. People were given control over what to look at and what to read about thanks to a slideshow of pictures. Furthermore, BBC News Online gave people the chance to view videos of the many acceptance speeches from the night. After all, it’s far more interesting to see and hear actors’ speeches rather than read them in a story.

Finally, let’s consider one other way that news websites could have covered this year’s Oscars ceremony. They could have used maps to show people were certain films were made to encourage more interactivity.

And the winners are...

Last week I said that Atonement would win Best Film at this year’s Oscars. Well at last night’s glitzy ceremony in Los Angeles, the Coen brothers’ No Country For Old Men took the coveted gong. I've never been good at making predictions! You can see a full list of all the winners here.

This blogger says he feels “cheated” by No Country For Old Men’s success…

I’ve see so many amazing movies this year, and the winning movie, “No Country for Old Men”, was just not one of them in my opinion. No offence to the Coen Brothers, who happen to make terrific movies, but the movie was just not a movie that is likeable.

It has to be said that the buzz and anticipation surrounding this year’s Oscars was law compared to previous year’s ceremonies. I’m not sure what the media coverage in the US was like, but the media coverage here was relatively low. In fact, the majority of attention given to this year’s awards centred on the long-running writers’ strike that threatened to put an end to the ceremony. I’m sure the terrible weather in Los Angeles had a big part to play in dampening everyone’s spirits as well.

The BRIT Awards

It was the BRIT Awards on Wednesday night. Take That, the Arctic Monkeys and the Foo Fighters were the big winners of the evening. All in all, most blogs have been full of praise for this year’s ceremony. However, some blogs like Unreality Music have criticised the amount of “drunken idiots both presenting and receiving awards”.

I could barely understand a word Vic Reeves said, and Alan Carr’s gag about sticking a straw in Amy Winehouse’s beehive was tasteless and insulting to someone who’s obviously trying to get her career back on track.

The Cheers Magazine was full of praise for Amy Winehouse…

The troubled star wowed the crowd at London's Earl's Court with her first live performance since leaving rehab by singing “Valerie” with Best British Male winner Mark Ronson.

She then took to the stage alone for an emotional rendition of “Love Is A Losing Game”, during which she mouthed “I love you” to the camera in tribute to her imprisoned husband Blake Fielder-Civil.

Another distinguished music star at the awards was Sir Paul McCartney. The Cheers Magazine comments…

The Beatles legend - who is embroiled in bitter court battle with estranged wife Heather Mills - vowed to get back to doing what he does best as he picked up his Outstanding Contribution award at the prestigious London ceremony.

Accepting his award from Kylie Minogue - who he personally requested to hand him the honour - he said: “I was privileged to be in The Quarrymen, The Beatles and Wings. I do think British music is the best.”

Hear, hear, Sir Paul!

The trials and tribulations of Britney

A few days ago, BBC Online published this interesting piece about the media’s obsession with Britney Spears. In the article, video photographer Alex Passos says…

Everyone wants to know about her and that’s why it’s getting out of hand and dangerous now.

From the media’s point of view, Britney is big bucks. But surely the tabloids should leave the beleaguered star in peace so she can overcome her many problems? Does the media want to see Britney get better, though? Years ago she was a superstar but now she’s constantly depressed - and that massive fall from grace makes a very juicy story for newspapers in the UK and around the world. It will be interesting to see how much longer the media covers Britney’s woes.

The Oscars are coming

It’s safe to say that excitement will be swelling in Los Angeles. In six days’ time, a galaxy of stars from the world of film will descend upon Hollywood and grace the red carpet for this year’s Oscars. The blogosphere is awash with speculation as to which film will win the Best Picture award. One poster on the Movie Whores website comments…

I think it will go to either Atonement or No Country For Old Men, with No Country For Old Men a likely win. Michael Clayton and Juno are too modest in scope to catch the Academy’s attention, and There Will Be Blood is too jarring and weird to seize the day.

If I was a betting man, I’d put my money on Atonement winning the coveted award. However, you can never predict what film’s going to win what at the Oscars. Back in 2005, everyone thought Brokeback Mountain was going to take the title of Best Picture but Crash won the much sought-after award instead. Maybe we should all expect the unexpected at this year’s ceremony?

Finally, BBC Online has put together 80 facts to celebrate this year’s Oscars. Here are the five facts I found to be the most interesting…

At the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929, 270 guests attended and tickets cost $5.

Bugs Bunny scooped his one and only Oscar in 1959.

In 1986 Steven Spielberg’s The Colour Purple amassed 11 nominations but failed to win a single statuette.

The US invasion of Iraq led to a muted ceremony in 2003, with heightened security and politically-tinged acceptance speeches.

In 2004 The Return of the King became the only film ever to have won every single Oscar it was nominated for.

Who said blogs weren’t informative?