Burglaries in the burglar’s vicinity Akkelies van Nes TU Delft, The Netherlands a.vannes@bk.tudelft.nl Abstract An area’s social and spatial composition influences burglary rates in built environments. A more adequate understanding of the relationship between an area’s social and spatial composition requires data about burglars’ home addresses and about the homes they intruded. For an according, exemplary investigation data of 39 caught burglars operating in the Dutch town of Haarlem were obtained from the regional authorities. In 32 of the 39 cases the burglar lives within a radius of 3 km away from the homes they burgled. In most cases, burglars operated in those areas in their neighbourhood that are spatially most segregated and that have a most broken up street net. As this initial investigation suggests burglars have a detailed practical knowledge of the areas in which they operate. Apparently, their know-how results not just from infor- mation about their victims and their neighbours’ presence, but also from information on comprehensive spatial conditions. The more burglars are living in an area the higher the burglary rates. However, the burglaries take place in the spatially most segregated and unconstituted part of the burglars’ own neighbourhood. 1. Introduction Being able to burgle a home, a burglar must somehow break into it unnoticed by neigh- bours or passers by. Similarly, the burglar must leave the home with the stolen items unseen. He needs alternative escape routes in case he meets someone on his way. More- over, he must hide away the stolen items as soon as possible at a safe place. In this context burglars have to know the area where they operate in very well. In most cases it seems to be in the neighbourhood where they live (Brantigan and Brantigan 1984, p. 237, 337-344, 1995), (Lopez 2004). Before burglars act, presumably careful planning and registration are done in advance. They register to what extent inhabitants or their neighbours are present, whether they have dogs, the quality of security locks and alarms, the degree of cover from bushes and fences, and the location of the best invisible points of entry (Bennett and Wright 1984, p. 2). A planning of this kind implies frequent walks through an area in order to explore all the spatial possibilities with reference to the temporal conditions it offers. Few people in the streets and few people at home in an area seems to be preferred by burglars. Dwelling areas with few people in streets indicate an easy identification of strangers. All above- mentioned aspects taken into account, it is likely that the burglar must be among an area’s inhabitants. Burglars are space explorers driven to gain marketable goods. For this purpose, they depend on an area’s manifold conditions. In an interview of caught burglars, Bennett