Daylight Saving Time Has an Unexpected Benefit for Home Safety

In the middle of misfortunes arise like sleep disturbancesthere is good news for the start of the year summer time. Going forward an hour means that the evenings are brighter, which has a direct impact on break-ins. After spring daylight saving time, the number of burglaries begins to decline, especially in more temperate climates, give your home security technology a break.

At first glance, this may seem confusing. As our conversations with criminologists have shown, many burglars prefer to hit homes in the middle of the day, when they are more confident the house will be empty. But many burglars still like to wait until after dark, and research has shown that daylight saving time has a significant impact on their behavior.

Studies such as this research by Jennifer Doleac and Nicholas Sanders (PDF) have shown (even controlling for other factors) that the extra hour of daylight leads to a decrease in crimes such as thefts, which decrease by up to 27% during sunset hours, saving an estimated $246 million in social crime costs each year. This also applies to reported crimes such as murder and rape, which drop significantly as the evening gets lighter: reported murders by up to 48% and rapes by up to 56%.

While researchers noted that “individuals discover a burglary on the way home, or a stolen car the next morning, but have no idea what time of day the burglary took place,” the trend seems to apply to all impulsive crimes – which most break-ins fall under.

The opposite is even more visible for domestic delinquency. When home security company Vivint compared crime rates, it found that burglaries and related crimes jumped 16 percent when DST ended in the fall.

So while moving our clocks forward or back can be a pain, keep in mind that the March DST change helps keep you and your home safe. There are also signs that bright street lights can have a similar effect, helping to reduce all kinds of theft. It turns out that people prefer darkness when they’re in the mood to steal, and a brighter atmosphere makes them less likely to take action.

Heat can also play a role

Although more active daylight hours tend to reduce property crimes, temperature can have the opposite effect. Unusually warm winters and summers tend to increase certain types of crime, such as burglaries. Much of this increase is due to more opportunity: people leave their windows and garages open more often, they go on vacation more often, and they travel more. In northern states, the lack of snow and ice also makes property crimes easier. So be careful when planning your hot weather projects and use my guide to preparing your home for the holidays.

To add a little more light around your own home, you should check out our selection of the best floodlight security cameras for a similar effect. Check out our list of tips for deterring burglars to learn even more.