The number of burglaries in the first half of this year dropped by 15%, according to new figures from the justice ministry on Thursday.

The fall follows justice minister Ivo Opstelten’s decision last year to put burglaries at the centre of policing policy. His aim is to reduce break-ins by 33% by 2017 compared with 2012 when there were 91,500 burglaries.

In 2013, the number fell 5%.

Burglar-proof

Most of the police effort is being put into encouraging people to make their homes more burglar-proof and into keeping victims informed on the progress of their case.

However, according to the AD, the number of burglars who are actually caught by the police is still very small. Just one in four burglaries are solved, the paper says.