An unusual symbol appeared on the house of a University of Lincoln student last week.
The symbol, sprayed on with blue paint is believed to be ‘Lambda’, the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet and is used as a symbol for wavelengths.
The graffiti has split the opinion of many people in Lincoln, with many speculating that the sign is a symbol of burglars planning their next break-in, and others believing it is simply just graffiti.
Chloe Till, who is living at the house just off the High Street, posted the picture of the ink to the Facebook group Overheard at Lincoln to ask people what they thought it could be.
People responded that it could be a “burglar mark” and told her to get in touch with the police as soon as possible.
Chloe said: “It was very scary to see that this symbol has appeared on our house. We don’t know what it means, and we are the only house on our street that it has appeared on.”
The markings are used by burglars to communicate with each other to let each other know which properties are easiest to break in to and which should be avoided.
It is an on-going argument as to whether ‘thieves code’ is actually used to target homes, but people are urged to be aware of any unusual graffiti appearing on their properties.
ABUS, a company which sells alarms has made a video to give more information about thieves code:
Lincoln resident Erin Walker said: “I have seen many patterns of graffiti around the city. It does make sense for them to be a way for burglars to communicate, but to me it seems silly for them to make their plans for break-ins so obvious.”
Dom Jones, a student at the University of Lincoln, said: “I believe that it is burglars doing the graffiti, to scare people. I think as students people need to be more aware of break-ins as they can happen any time.”
Lincolnshire police have refused to comment at this time. However, if you are concerned about your safety then contact Lincolnshire Police on 101 or read their safety guidelines here.