Series of burglaries: window manufacturer upgrades
In the cantons of Aargau and Lucerne, a window drill burglary series unsettled residents. A window manufacturer directly affected is now drawing the consequences.
700 window drilling burglaries perpetrated by a single perpetrator: the sheer number proves how simple and promising a burglary using the window drilling method is. And yet residents, police and window manufacturers in many regions have so far been spared this phenomenon. The reason is obvious. Window drills usually occur as part of regional burglary series. Either one has never heard of it or one knows immediately of several acquaintances who had a traumatic encounter with a window borer.
And suddenly the window drill was real
This was also the case for the Aargau window manufacturer Frank Hauri. As a specialist in burglary protection, he was familiar with the window drilling method, but had rarely encountered it in practice. In June 2015, this changed abruptly. Within a few days, dozens of window drilling break-ins were reported from Staffelbach and surrounding villages. Great uncertainty spread among the population. Hauri suddenly found himself confronted with a previously unspoken customer need: "We don't want to be surprised by the burglar at night!"
Drilling protection as a solution
The best-known remedy against window borers is the lockable window handle. However, Frank Hauri points out: "The great weakness of this is the fact that it is only of any use if it is also locked. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case." In his search for more effective protection, Hauri came across the Drill blocker from the Swiss startup Scherrer System GmbH. The plate made of resistant manganese steel prevents windows from being drilled out in the critical area.
Unlike locks or alarm systems, the drill blocker is an extremely simple protection with the advantage that - once installed - it does not have to be reactivated every time. Countless home and apartment owners from the region subsequently had their windows retrofitted with this security system by Hauri.
All accessible windows are retrofitted - free of charge
The conversations with the victims and the realization of how easy it is to protect oneself led Frank Hauri to an important decision: "From March 2017, we will install the drill blocker as standard and at no extra charge in all windows that are accessible to the perpetrator". Hauri is happy to bear the cost of the drill blocker and installation in view of the fact that he is now the first window manufacturer in Switzerland to offer all his customers this long overdue protection.
"Hardly any danger has been so criminally neglected in the past in burglary protection as that of window drilling," says Martin Scherrer, Managing Director of Scherrer System GmbH. In this respect, Frank Hauri's entrepreneurial decision cannot be overestimated. "Without a doubt, other window manufacturers will follow Hauri's example".
