POLICE are contending with a substantial rise in burglaries over the last few weeks, that has contributed to the total number of home break-ins this year increasing by a fifth.

Barnet Police are bracing themselves for a further climb in the number of incidents that begins each year in October, but are already contending with an unusual increase over the summer.

The latest crime statistics, released by the force last Friday, show that in the 12 months ending on July 5 there were 722 residential burglaries in the borough.

That was an increase of 21 per cent on the previous 12 months, between July 2007 and July 2008, during which time there were 595.

At the same time the sanction detection rate, the proportion of reports that lead to a charge or caution, has climbed from 24 per cent to 36 per cent, indicating greater success at tackling incidents.

The summer rise has coincided with the appointment of Chief Inspector Neil Basu as the new borough commander, illustrating exactly what lays in store for him policing one of the capital's most affluent boroughs.

He said: "In the last six to eight weeks there has been a steady increase we wouldn't expect to see.

"It would be easy to say the spike is due to the warm weather. The warm weather hasn't helped, but it's only 20 per cent of the problem.

"We can put some of it down to cross-border crime. In the past we've thought about our own borough borders, but I don't know about a single criminal who does."

He said police activity in other boroughs can “displace criminality” into Barnet.

This has occurred in the Edgware corridor - along the Edgware Road - along the North Circular and in Cricklewood, all of which border either Camden or Brent.

The Met's online crime map shows high levels of burglary in Edgware along the Edgware Road, while over the road in Stanmore, in the borough of Harrow, levels drop significantly.

At the intersection of Edgware Road and Cricklewood Broadway, within the borough of Barnet, burglary levels are recorded as high, but over the road in Brent borough, again, they fall to negligible levels.

“We have travelling criminals, and it's a much harder issue to deal with," said CI Basu. "The job of the SNTs [Safer Neighbourhood Teams] is to know the criminals in their areas and where they see them to stop them, challenge them, speak to them.

“If people are travelling into the borough it makes life much tougher.”

He said that more than any other crime, tackling burglary benefits from a “holistic approach”.

"With most burglaries committed opportunistically, residents can prevent them by securing their homes, making them look occupied and never leaving valuables on display.

"Leaving keys in site of the door, for example, provides a golden opportunity for burglars," CI Basu said.

“If everyone takes these messages to heart we'll see burglary figures drop by half.

“If the public did that there would be more resources directed to the street offences and violent crime that people want to see tackled.”

Childs Hill Councillor Monroe Palmer said: “In some ways we're blessed in having green spaces in Childs Hill but criminals seem to believe they can get away across them.

“The sad thing is that many of the burglaries seem to be against people who don't have wealthy homes, people who can't afford it.

“Of course, nobody can afford to be be burgled, but these are people whose hard earned savings are gone.”

Mr Palmer was himself the victim of an attempted burglary last year, when a glass front door to his house in The Vale was smashed, although nothing was taken.

“I don't personally feel vulnerable or victimised but a lot of people do,” he said. They can't stand the idea that somebody's been through their things.”