Vigilant business owners and managers often assume their assets are most at risk during the night. Based on this assumption, they take extra security precautions after dark. But is it true that thieves are more likely to strike at night?
This guide will break down the data, establish what percentage of crimes happen at night, and help your business guard against intruders when it matters most.
What Percentage of Crimes Happens at Night?
The percentage of crimes that happen at night varies by location and the type of offense. While some crimes, like DUIs and personal robberies, are more common at night, many others are more common during the day, especially crimes against businesses. Crimes that occur more frequently during the daytime include:
- Commercial robbery: Taking or attempting to take a business’s property through violence, force, or threats
- Larceny: Taking away another’s physical property, but not necessarily by force
- Burglary: Unlawful entry into a property with the intention to commit robbery, theft, or another crime inside
- Vandalism: Deliberate destruction or damage of property
The FBI’s crime data from 2020 through 2023 records 1,470,136 burglaries that occurred by day and 1,366,019 that occurred by night, meaning 48% occurred by night.
Why Crimes Happen at Night
While crime happens at any hour of the day, some types of criminal activity are most common after dark. Opportunistic criminals often offend after sundown because of factors like:
- Reduced visibility and increased anonymity under the cover of darkness.
- Business premises being unoccupied, with few witnesses nearby.
- Compromised video surveillance due to the lack of light.
Why Crimes Happen During the Day
Many underestimate the risk of crime during the day. Morning and afternoon crimes, especially property crimes, correlate with factors like:
- Foot traffic: More people pass by and through business premises during the day, creating opportunities for crime.
- Distraction: While businesses are more active, employees are more vulnerable to distraction. People are also sometimes less vigilant during the day because of the misconception that more crime happens after dark.
- Trading: More financial transactions happen during the day, creating opportunities for theft, robbery, and fraud.
- School hours: The late afternoon, after school dismissal and before most adults return home from work, presents the most opportunities for youth offenders to commit crimes.
- Routines: Criminals are more likely to commit opportunistic crimes when their own daily routines place them near business premises or other targets.
- Internal risks: Workers sometimes steal from their employers or commit other on-the-job crimes during the day.
Why Businesses Need 24/7 Security
The nearly even split between the occurrence of daytime and nighttime burglaries makes it essential for property owners to be vigilant at all times. This means businesses prioritizing asset protection should be vigilant during the day, but require comprehensive security measures around the clock to guard their property, people, productivity, profits, and reputation.
Overemphasizing nighttime or daytime security leaves more vulnerabilities than a business can afford. While the data doesn’t suggest that most crimes happen at night, it reveals enough potential for criminal activity to make proactive security a wise course of action — especially at locations where nightfall means fewer people available to notice anything suspicious.
Creating a Multi-Layered Security System for Day and Night Protection
The most effective strategy to guard your business is to combine multiple layers of security for comprehensive, round-the-clock protection. Aim to employ several or all of these security measures for optimal day and night protection.
Electric Fencing
Electric fencing is the ultimate perimeter barrier. A safe but memorable shock is sufficient to deter would-be intruders, and even the physical presence of an electric fence is a strong visual deterrent. The best electric fences prevent up to 99% of external theft and are more cost-effective than full-time security guards. Depending on the provider you choose, you can opt for a security-as-a-service plan that includes installation and maintenance with no upfront costs.
Access Control Systems
Access control systems use technologies like key fobs, PIN codes, and biometrics to verify credentials and prevent unauthorized entry to your property. Though they are potentially vulnerable to credential theft and tailgating tactics, these systems are an excellent way to augment an electric fence and keep a record of who enters your property. Access control systems also allow you to restrict access to key areas within the wider area your electric fence secures.
Building Intrusion Detection Systems
Building intrusion detection systems use sensors, motion detectors, and glass break detectors to trigger alarms when anyone attempts to enter the property while the system is armed. You can combine an intrusion detection system with an electric fence to trigger an alarm should an intruder try to damage the fence.
Video Surveillance Cameras
Video surveillance cameras let you monitor your property for later review or real-time observation, enabling remote monitoring, providing evidence for investigations, and helping deter crime when set up in prominent positions. While video surveillance cameras alone are not enough for robust security, as they have blind spots and record crime without stopping it, they are an important part of a multi-layered security strategy.
Security Guards
Security guards can deter or intervene to stop criminals. Guards are helpful if you allow foot traffic during work hours and need someone to observe and intervene if necessary. However, it’s worth noting that employing or contracting security guards is expensive, and they can only be in one place at a time. For comprehensive, always-on perimeter security, an electric fence is a much more reliable solution.
Lighting
Though lights alone won’t stop a determined intruder, security lighting helps to deter nighttime crime by increasing visibility and improving the effectiveness of your video surveillance system. Consider installing alarm-based lighting that illuminates the perimeter with bright lights and an accompanying alarm if someone attempts to breach your electric fence.
Stop Crime Day and Night With AMAROK
If your business aims to guard its property, people, and profits, you need a multi-layered 24/7 security system. The data shows that criminals work around the clock. The good news? So does AMAROK.
The Electric Guard Dog™ Fence by AMAROK is a constant perimeter security solution that prevents 99% of external theft after installation. Every 1.3 seconds, The Electric Guard Dog Fence delivers a safe but memorable 7,000-volt pulsed shock to stop any would-be intruder from accessing your property and assets. Businesses installing The Electric Guard Dog Fence save money by stopping thieves and eliminating the need for on-site security guards, resulting in a 5x ROI on critical asset protection.
Contact us today to learn more about our 24/7 security solutions and stop theft before it happens.
