Many people travel during the summer, making our homes easy targets for a break in. However, there are ways to help prevent being burglarized! Many police departments will do a vacation home security check while you’re gone. You could even start a Neighborhood Watch program in your neighborhood.
Here are some facts for you:
- More than six million residential burglaries occur every year in the U.S. That’s one every ten seconds!
- Nearly half of these burglaries are committed without force – through UNLOCKED doors and windows!
So how do we prevent this from happening to us? For starters, always lock your doors and windows, even when just running out for a quick errand. My neighbor’s home was broken into in the 15 minutes it took her to run her child to school a mile away and back – that’s quick (and preventable)! Second, never leave a house key hidden in your yard. Burglars will look for them and likely find them.
Here are some more tips for making it even harder for your home to be burglarized:
Start with your locks!
- All exterior doors (including garage doors, patio doors, etc.) should have dead bolt locks with a 1 inch strong metal bar extending into the door frame.
- Sliding doors and windows should all have “ventilation” locks, as well as auxiliary locks to bolster security.
- If you need more help with finding the best locks, visit a local hardware store that has a knowledgeable employee available to assist you.
- When you leave the house, make your home look occupied.
- Always lock all doors and windows – even the bathroom window.
- Use timers so that lights, radio, and TV go on and off throughout the house to indicate someone is home.
When you are home
- Install a wide-angle door hole view in the front door and never open the door without knowing who is there.
- If someone knocks and you do not know them, don’t answer the door... BUT, make sure they realize someone is home by telling them, “No thank you,” or something similar. Be sure that older children who are sometimes home alone follow this as well.
- Engrave/mark your valuables with your phone number or driver’s license number and place Operation Identification stickers on your entry door and a front window. Marked merchandise is harder to fence and evidence of guilt if caught.
- Photograph items that cannot be engraved (jewelry, silverware, antiques).
Vacation tips
- If you’ll be gone for a few days, make sure to stop mail and newspaper delivery or ask a trusted neighbor to collect them daily for you.
- Give the same neighbor your contact information in case they need to get a hold of you.
- Never broadcast your travel plans on social media. Remember, if you “check-in” on Facebook or Instagram, everyone knows you aren’t home!
- Arrange for someone to mow your lawn if you will be away for a few weeks.
- Make sure garbage cans are hidden behind a fence. If your cans are empty and everyone else’s are full, that’s a sign you are not at home.
- If you still have a landline, turn ringers to low or off so that people outside of your home will not hear the phone ringing go unanswered.
- Lock garage door. If possible, have a friend or family member park a car in your driveway occasionally so that it looks like someone is coming and going.
- Leave blinds and drapes in their normal position on second floor windows and closed on ground level.
Around the neighborhood
- Contact your local law enforcement agency for more information about starting a Neighborhood Watch Group.
- Know your neighborhood! Use your eyes and ears – if you spot something suspicious, call the police immediately.
- Do not try to stop a criminal yourself – it can be dangerous.
- Remember, if you return home and it appears as if your home has been broken into, DO NOT enter the home! Confrontation can be dangerous. Get to a safe place and all the police (911) immediately.
Thank you to the Fremont Police Department for the tips provided for this article.
