Danish Govt Confirms Burglary Reduction Stats

A report from Denmark’s Ministry of Justice officially confirms that SelectaDNA forensic property marking reduces the risk of burglaries by at least 25% when proper deterrent signage is displayed.

The report is based on a trial of more than 6,600 homes in the city of Aarhus and was carried out in association with East Jutland Police.

A total of 6,607 households participated in the trial, running over 16 months from 2016-2017. Of these, 3,382 were randomly selected as ‘test’ houses, while the remaining 3,225 houses were ‘control’ houses.

The test group was asked to use SelectaDNA to mark their household valuables and then display SelectaDNA deterrent warning stickers in their porch, on their windows and on their letterboxes. The stickers warn thieves of the potential risks associated with committing a house burglary. As a result of this action, the test group reported a 25% reduction in burglary compared to the control group.

Henrik Olsen, SelectaDNA distributor in Denmark said: "Although the official reduction figure is at least 25%, we feel that this figure could actually be as high as 40% as we have since learned that not all the deterrent warning stickers were put up correctly by the test group. As this is an integral part of the process, we feel it would be a fairer reflection if the report stated a 25-40% reduction figure."

Nevertheless, the police are very pleased with the official result. Helle Kyndesen, Director of East Jutland Police, said: “Everyone knows that it is an unpleasant experience to come back home when there have been uninvited guests. Therefore, it is extremely positive that we now have another tool (SelectaDNA) for preventing burglary.”