BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford said that over the last 30 years, burglary rates appeared to have peaked at times of economic hardship, like the mid-1980s and the early 1990s.
But Ms Smith told the BBC: "My argument is that has been the historic situation. I don't think there is anything inevitable about that happening this time."
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith
The summit, which will also involve Neighbourhood Watch representatives, aims to work out ways of limiting opportunities for burglars and coincides with the launch of a crime prevention campaign. It will be backed by a special fund to help people on low incomes improve their security.
And people are being alerted to a three-minute test on the Home Office website about their own home security, at the end of which they will get a score for their level of protection and advice on how to increase it. The summit comes as police are warning householders to beware of what they believe is the growing problem of "car key burglary", in which a person's car keys are stolen from their home.
Because of improved car security, many vehicles cannot now be stolen without the keys and the Association of Chief Police Officers says this kind of targeted theft now accounts for 8% of all break-ins.
Last year, a leaked memo from Ms Smith to Gordon Brown warned of a likely increase in "acquisitive" crimes, including burglary, as a result of the economic downturn. |
