Residents are taking extreme measures to secure their homes and belongings after startling statistics revealed the extent of the city’s break-and-enter issue. 

Police have welcomed the heightened vigilance, adding that having access to security footage makes “our job twice as easy”. 

Manager of Wilsec Electronic Security Services Timothy Wilson told The Daily Advertiser almost all of his clients have been people who were recently robbed. 

“Boom times are during the holidays, which we’ve just had, because kids aren’t at school,” he said,

“They stay out all night scoping homes and then sleep during the day.

“They say the average person whose home’s broken into loses $5000 in goods, but it’s the emotional trauma – having trouble sleeping for six months – that hurts.”

Mr Wilson himself saw the dark side of the crimewave when a group of juveniles held him at knife-point and threatened his life. 

It comes after roughly three homes were invaded by criminals every day during the June quarter, according to a Wagga Police crime snapshot. 

Turvey Park’s Tiffany Ward, who in 2015 had her house ransacked by crooks while she slept, said she hasn’t encountered a burglar since she upgraded her home security. 

She encouraged others to consider CCTV. 

“It doesn’t only give you peace of mind, but I think it scares them off too,” she said. 

“It set me back a couple of grand to get it all set-up and finalised, but I think it will be worth it in the long run.

“I feel like I can relax a bit more now.”

But the increased use of filming devices has not come without its issues. 

Residents have opened a can of warms on the youth crime debate by posting footage from their security cameras to social media and shaming adolescent offenders. 

After having a pushbike stolen from her property, Virginia Kosman took to the Neighbourhood Watch Facebook page to post footage of the juveniles who crept along her veranda late at night. 

The post led to a number of vitriolic and abusive comments being made about the alleged thieves. 

Concerns were also raised that shared footage could affect legal proceedings under unique circumstances.