Daylight Saving Time Has an Unexpected Benefit for Home Safety

Amid springing forward woes like sleep disruption, there's one spot of good news for the early-year daylight saving time. Jumping ahead an hour means the evenings are brighter, and that has a direct impact on break-ins. After spring DST, the number of burglaries start to fall, especially in more moderate climates, giving your home security tech a break.

At first, this may seem puzzling. As our conversations with criminologists have shown, many burglars prefer to strike homes in the middle of the day, when they're more confident the house will be empty. But plenty of burglars still like to wait for the cover of darkness, and research has shown DST has a significant impact on their behavior.

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Studies such as this research from Jennifer Doleac and Nicholas Sanders (PDF) have shown (even with other factors accounted for) the extra hour of daylight leads to a decrease in crimes such as robberies, which fall by as much as 27% during the sunset hours to save around $246 million in social crime costs each year. That also applies to reported crimes such as murder and rape, which fall significantly as the evening brightens -- murder reports by as much 48% and rape by 56%. 

While researchers noted that "Individuals discover a burglary upon returning home, or a stolen car on the following morning, but have no idea what time during the day the burglary occurred," the trend appears to apply to all spur-of-the-moment crimes -- which most break-ins fall under.

The reverse is even more noticeable for home crime. When home security company Vivint compared crime rates, it found that home burglaries and related crimes jumped 16% when daylight savings time ended in the fall.

So while moving our clocks backward and forward can be a pain, keep in mind that March's DST shift is helping to keep you and your home safer. There are also signs that bright streetlights can have a similar effect, helping to cut down on all kinds of theft. It turns out people prefer the dark when they get in a stealing mood and a brighter atmosphere makes them less likely to act out.

Heat can also play a role

While more active daylight hours tend to reduce property crimes, the temperature can have an opposing effect. Unseasonably warm winters and hot summers tend to increase certain types of crimes like burglaries. Much of the increase is due to more opportunities: People leave their windows and garages open more often, they go on vacation more frequently and they move around more. In northern states, the lack of snow and ice also makes property crimes easier. So be careful when you're making your warm-weather plans and use my guide on prepping your home for vacation. 

To add a bit more light around your own home, you should stop by our picks for the best security cameras with floodlights for a similar effect. Look up our list of tips to deter burglars to learn even more.