Do blinds deter burglars?

Yes, according to the police and security experts, window blinds can actually help to deter burglars and reduce the chances of your home being targeted by either opportunistic thieves or professional criminals.

How you use your blinds (in terms of the times and situations in which they’re open or closed) is an important part of this. This blog post will talk about how blinds can help you to reduce the chances of robbery, and even what blinds are best to deter burglars (and why).

Why do blinds deter burglars?

Starting with the basics then, why do blinds deter burglars, and what is it about seeing a house with blinds that reduces the chances of your friendly neighbourhood crook from targeting it?

Basically, blinds prevent people (including those in striped jumpers carrying bags marked “swag”) from seeing into your home. This in turn stops them from being able to familiarise themselves with the layout of your home, and also stops them from seeing what valuables they might be able to score if they break in successfully.

Now, if you’re anything like me, you maybe sort of giggle-scoff at the idea that you’re fancy enough to have what one might consider “valuables;” but bear in mind that the term “valuables” refers to many things far less highbrow than your collection of diamond tiaras.

Your car keys, laptop/other tech, even higher-end portable household appliances like a Dyson; all of these things (the car keys assuming the car can be had too, obviously) have value/resale value for crooks.

Unless your home security is very poor and your home, cars, and neighbourhood make it more or less a safe bet to thieves that you’re going to be worth robbing (and poor security and lots of good stuff to nick rarely go hand in hand) few thieves will bother trying to break in on the off chance that you might have something good lying around; and that applies to both opportunistic have-a-go-heisters and those with graduate-level skills in planned pilfering.

Stopping strangers from getting a clear view of the inside of your home is why blinds help to deter burglars.

Do blinds deter burglars if they’re left open during the day?

Now, other than in the height of summer when you might be using your blinds tactically to keep your home cooler (and as part of this involves various configurations of leaving windows open, I’m guessing most of you wouldn’t be doing this if you were out anyway) most of us open our blinds during the day, whether we’re in or out. So, do blinds deter burglars if they’re left open during the day?

This question is a bit circular/tricky. If your blinds are open during the day, anyone who can get close enough to your house to look in (either discreetly if you’re close to a road/pavement, or blatantly if your home is more remote or not overlooked and they sneak up) can potentially see what you’ve got and how your home is laid out.

However, most of us don’t want to spend all day in a dark house in the hopes of preventing one would-be crook from seeing in; and if you are out all day, leaving the blinds on the ground floor closed can actually serve to potentially indicate your absence.

Here’s an interesting statistic that possibly isn’t overly reassuring: most burglaries take place between 10am-3pm, because this is the time of day when people are most likely to be out.

So, maybe worry less about things that go bump in the night, and worry more about things that go bump while you’re down at Asda?

More usefully though, if your blinds are fully closed during the day (by which I mean all the way shut/down, so that the room behind them would be in very dim light or darkness) this can indicate that there’s a good chance nobody is in and so actually add another point to the “burgle this one” column that your thinking man’s housebreaker is weighing up their odds with.

If the windows are open and the blinds closed, this gives out a rather different signal, as few people leave their windows open when they go out and burglars know this.

Like most of us, burglars tend to find it uncomfortable to be observed going about their work, particularly when they’re doing something naughty like pulling a cheeky heist.

Most burglars prefer to perform their work without the risk of being interrupted and potentially getting into a fight or flight situation that is apt to end well for exactly no one, and if your theoretical burglar is one of the few that don’t give a hoot about your presence or absence either way, then your blinds aren’t going to be relevant to them one way or the other anyway.

For the average burglar-about-town that’s hoping to avoid life imprisonment if they fail their next escape-room style escapade though, if they don’t know for sure that you’re not in or at least, can’t make an educated guess that your home is unoccupied, they’re unlikely to take the risk.

So, there is an argument to be made that closing your blinds during the day if you’re out can help to indicate that you’re out; but on the flipside, leaving them open might allow a burglar to start working on their wish list of what you’ve got that’s worth having.

What’s the solution then if you’re out during the day?

If you have blinds that can only be open or closed (like roller blinds or Roman blinds) then weighing everything up, you might want to leave them closed, particularly if people passing by can otherwise see in, see what you have, and see where you keep it, with ease.

However, if you have blinds that can be adjusted to filter light and increase your privacy, I suggest using them in such a way as to obscure or possibly effectively block the view people on the street would have, whilst also retaining the plausible illusion that somebody may well be in behind them.

What blinds are best to deter burglars?

Is there a best type of blind to deter burglars in general? Theoretically, in a way; due to the point I made above. Blinds that can be adjusted to control light and privacy have a little more going for them than non-adjustable blinds, because they offer a greater degree of control and can be used to obscure or hide the interior of your home without leaving the impression that there is nobody in there, unless they’re shuffling around in the dark.

Overall, one type of blind is considered to have an edge when it comes to deterring burglars too – and these are vertical blinds.

Why do vertical blinds deter burglars more than other types of blinds? First up, their louvres can be tilted and adjusted, which as mentioned, helps to obscure the view of inside during the day. But the trait that vertical blinds have in this respect that gives them an edge over even the other adjustable blinds is that their louvres are connected at the bottom by a chain that holds the louvre array together.

This means that if a burglar tried to walk through a vertical blind (such as they might find on a patio door) they’re going to be slowed down and risk getting tangled up/leaving potential evidence behind. Also, vertical blinds make a distinctive sound when disturbed, which can serve as an indication to the householder that someone is trying to get in – but more so, that burglars know this, meaning they’re more likely to swerve a window or house with vertical blinds entirely.

How to use blinds to deter burglars

Hopefully you’ve got a reasonably good understanding of how blinds deter burglars and how to use them to greatest effect now, but here are a few more tips to finish off with:

• If you’re going away on holiday, ask a friend or neighbour to open and close your blinds regularly and in different configurations so that your absence isn’t so obvious.
• Don’t leave the keys for windows in or near the window themselves.
• Use blinds to obscure the interior of rooms during the day, without closing them fully if you’re out and this can be avoided.
• As soon as it starts to get dark out and you’re thinking of putting some lights on, close the blinds.