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Very interesting topic.

I did a cursory glance at some criminal statistics reports from the FBI and they are somewhat difficult to interpret. The FBI has quarterly criminal reports on banking crime. Picking a few at random it seems about 7% are successful using the metric. A curious wording makes it hard to tell if the number meant burglary involving a safe or burglary of the safe. Carrying off a locked container is considered a burglary involving a safe. Even something as simple as a tin cash box with a cabinet lock.

Ran into some law office and law research websites along the way. Apparently a defendant is more likely to be charged with safe-cracking or an analog charge by using a stolen combination, key, or by unauthorized nondestructive access than actual damage.

I found no information at all on the rates of manipulation or sophisticated tool use.

There are current rising trends of this crime in areas around the US. One investigator in Texas insisted little skill and no specialized tools are being used. Anecdotes typically involve a sledge hammer and carrying the safe off.

In 93% of the cases safes are successful in protecting the family jewels? Wow!I didn't expect it to be better than in Germany, because what I have seen there are a lot of Residential Security Containers (and less) which are not screwed to the (wooden) wall.

German police distinguishes between tin cash box (with cabinet lock) and safe (which might be not have better secury like the safe with the potato lock (="lock which can be opened with a potato")). The German police does not publish anything after an arrest of a suspect and suspects are not named or shown. The proceedings after the arrest are the issue of the courts and attorneys.

I have in 300 crime related safes seen only one case where a sledge hammer was mentioned. This was a burglary where the criminals broke into a DIY superstore and tried to open the safe with all the tools they found there ... and failed. (So it was certainly not a safe sold there.) In total 19 cases (including the DIY superstore) "luxury tools" were mentioned. The luxury tool is nearly always an angle grinder, once a gas axe and once this "use all you can find". I can't say in how many percent of the safes a luxury tool is used, because in many cases no tools are specified ("safe was opened") and in most cases tools can be just implied ("safe was broken from the wall" or "safe was pried open" = probably a pry bar or a good screw driver).

There was one photo of a stolen safe which had still on all four sides wood from the furniture it was in. And this was in a stolen wheel barrow.

The numbers I looked at was only for banks. Bank robberies and burglaries.

I'd expect the numbers to be much worse for everyone else.

The sledge hammer use was rather interesting in details, but I didn't want to post anything here since I'm pretty sure discussing destructive techniques is forbidden.

The only thing I can find with banks are ATM burglaries. I know also a method there involving a sledge hammer, but bearly all are blown up with gas sometimes destroying the building. I can't understand, why the banks don't build in gas protection. For me it is a SEP, so no statistics.

Saw in Muenster in a shop window this burglarized safe. The broke of the dial (I assume the same as that on my safe no.4) and tried to pry open the door without the tiniest success. Then they broke the safe out of the wall and opened it either on site or off site.

ATM opening with hydraulic spreaders:

https://translate.google.com/translate? ... er-fest%2F

A few stolen safe videos on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4WSvfgw2S8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLr0uFTeU0I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN0ZzysJqNA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYDfQKrBqS8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wm3koQU-Ac
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDeZvHNem0U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wABDw8kFHM8

Interesting videos and stats. Clearly most of the videos are mussle work, not brain work. Seems to me the safes were mostly pourly anchored or they would not even have been succesfull.