Even an amateur succeeds within minutes
As part of a larger campaign to increase home safety awareness, Interpolis conducted an experiment to see how hard it is to break into the average house. It turns out that even an amateur succeeds within minutes.
We found two people from the same neighborhood willing to be participants in our experiment. Jan and Frederique know each other from birthday parties but had never visited each other’s home. We rigged their houses with 24 hidden infrared cameras (so our amateurs wouldn’t be bothered by camera crews) and gave them both a quick workshop by a professional (ex-)burglar to gain some tips and tricks. Our aim was to give them a very authentic experience of what it is like to be a burglar.
It turns out, it is pretty easy to break into a house. To spice up the experience we added a few unexpected obstacles. Frederique was too loud entering the house so she was visited by the police. And what Jan didn’t know is that people were sleeping in the upstairs bedroom…
