We are approaching the holiday season. During the holiday season, unoccupied homes filled with new or unopened gifts are inviting targets for thieves. A poll revealed that 60 percent of homeowners going away on vacation worry that their home will be broken into while they are away. There are several points to consider before leaving home for a week or two during the holiday season, or even for just an extended weekend. The first is to make a friend, neighbor or family member aware of your plans and have them visit the house several times during your vacation. They should remove newspapers, mail, or packages from sight and check the entire property. Unclaimed mail is a major indicator to many burglars that a family is away for the holidays.
It is also important that you make sure all of the doors and windows, including the garage door, are closed and locked. Surprisingly many people will go on vacation and leave their garage doors open as they leave. Although one may feel that there id not anything of concern or value in their garage, though that is not always the case, a common way for burglars to enter homes illegally is through the sub standard door traditionally hung between the home and the garage. If closing the garage door is not a frequent habit of a household, then the inner, connecting door should be replaced with a strong reinforced steel door that locks with a high quality deadbolt.
You may also want to consider installing impact resistant doors and windows in your home. Leaving in South Florida, storms are commonplace, and you should not have to worry about your homes safety while away, enjoying a vacation. In light of this, make sure to place any valuable or vulnerable items inside your home where they will be safe while you are away.
Get an automatic timer for your lights. This is a classic method of creating the appearance of occupancy, and with the advent of “smart timers” that will turn lights and equipment on at random times this can be a great trick and burglary prevention method.
Something that many homeowners do not consider while away is to turn the answering machine volume down. Although the message should never clearly state that residents are not at home or will not return until a certain date, nor should a potential intruder be able to hear any of the incoming messages. Whoever is calling your house and leaving a message may know you are away and include something in the message to indicate this. A burglar who may be spying out your home may hear this and think he’s reached his golden opportunity.
The holidays are also a good time to update or create your home inventory. Take photos or make videos of items, and list descriptions and serial numbers. If your home is burglarized, having a detailed inventory can help identify stolen items and make insurance claims easier to file.
Finally, considering installing a home security system. For year round protection there really is nothing to compare with a monitored home security system, such as ADT. A home security installer will be able to indicate areas of weakness in a home’s security and make the appropriate recommendations to effectively eliminate them. And to give homeowners even greater peace of mind, you may be contacted on your cell phone in case of an emergency by the ADT monitoring center.
Here are some additional holiday tips for home safety and security before going on vacation:
• Don’t display gifts where they can be seen from outside.
• Keep bushes and trees near your house well trimmed.Thick, tall shrubbery provides cover for a burglar and lets him work undetected.
• Keep the area around your house well lit. Exterior lights are important, especially near doors or in the rear of the house, where thieves do most of their work.
• Organize a Neighborhood Watch program. Neighbors working together make one of the best crime-fighting teams around.
• Never leave a house key in such obvious places as a mailbox or under a doormat. Put your house and car keys on separate key rings, and do not put identification tags on keys.
