Clocks go back: Sunday, 31 October.

Thinking of security for those bikes and tools in your shed? They become more vulnerable on 31st October when the clocks go back. It may feel like a long time since the blue skies of summer, but this marks the end of British Summer Time (BST). It also means an extra hour in bed.

When the nights get longer and the clocks go back, don’t be in the dark when it comes to protecting your belongings. Bikes and tools in sheds and outbuildings are particularly vulnerable with 1 in 6 people taking no measure to secure them, as Aviva reports a 15% increase in home theft during October and November while intruders have greater opportunities to hide under the cover of darkness leading to over 22,500 instances of shed break-ins and thefts each year.

uWatch provides solutions for security in sheds, garages, and outbuildings, with the Cube which is accredited by the police’s ‘Secured By Design’ initiative and recommended by a number of police forces such as Staffordshire, Bedfordshire, and Suffolk Police. The Cube has a built-in camera and PIR motion sensor, connects to the strongest out of all available GSM mobile networks and requires no mains power making it ideal for remote locations, with instant notifications including photos and GPS data sent direct to your smartphone in under 30 seconds.

The Cube system is easy to set up, with the intuitive uWatch app and desktop system that allows you to configure your Cube’s settings to work in a way that is tailored to your needs. It can provide time- and date-stamped images, along with notifications of signal strength, GPS location and temperature, allowing you the peace of mind that should anybody try to intrude on your property, you’ll be informed instantly with all the necessary information and evidence for you to share with the police and your local community. Using your uWatch Cube alongside a Bluetooth or long-range LoRa tag means that you can be notified of a gate, shed or garage door being opened, with a photo delivered to your phone or email inbox within seconds, should any intruders gain entry.

This innovative palm-sized system is inconspicuous and can be paired with multiple LoRa tags, allowing the Cube to act as a central hub if the property, shed, or garage you need to protect has multiple points of entry or vulnerabilities. The portable size and nature of the Cube allows for it to be deployed wherever needed, with quick and easy reconfiguration allowing it to be used in scenarios ranging from outbuildings and sheds, to shipping containers and boats.

NFU Mutual have released the Rural Crime Report for 2021.

Rural theft cost the UK an estimated £43.3m in 2020, a decrease on the previous year. The reduction in the cost of rural theft is welcome news but last year was no ordinary year. Lockdown helped to lock criminals out of the countryside, and increased security on farms and rural policing played a role in the reduction.

However, highly-organise criminals continued to plague farmyards over the pandemic, stealing high-value farming Global Positioning Systems, quad bikes and ATVs as the cost of agricultural vehicle theft reported to NFU Mutual remained at over £9m.

NFU Mutual

At uWatch, we have been developing a system which would help many of the issues raised in the report, fly-tipping, suspicious vehicles, GPS and vehicle theft. We have always been aware of the skilled and highly-organised nature of the criminals that we are up against, so we have created a twenty first century approach.

We are passionate about working together in local communities to fight rural crime and our Cube is police-approved.

Victims of rural crime who would usually use 101 and struggle to get through to someone actually on the front line. Our system could alert a local police officer within 25 seconds. Watch the video below to find out more or contact us on 01491 651229.

We are excited to be exhibiting at the Security and Policing Home Office event this year from 9-11 March. As a business we are heavily invested in improving national rural security through technology and see this event as a fantastic opportunity to share our passion with the wider sector.

We’ll be on-hand virtually to support the best we can and our virtual exhibition stand features information on our latest developments and products. Our team will be available on the platform throughout the event to assist with any questions.

You can find out more about the Security and Policing Home Office Event here, registration is open until Friday 5th March.

uWatch in the security sector

The uWatch systems empower the plethora of community “Watch” organisations to be the coordinated eyes and ears of regulatory and enforcement agencies, such as the environment or policing, to capture big data nationally and deliver intelligence and evidence locally, in seconds.  

Obsolete systems using slow, expensive call centres to report fly tipping, pavement fouling, minor theft, hare coursing, trespass, suspicious vehicles and the rest of non-serious crime, need to embrace the power of the smartphone, as Organised Crime does so effectively. The systems are delivered locally and nationally in the local user’s preferred language.

Interested in knowing more? Contact us today on 01491 651229 or lb@uwatch.co.uk.