Home Security

Learn how to make your home difficult to break into.

Establish Basic Perimeter Security

• Lock doors, windows, garage doors, and fences.
• Exterior doors should have deadbolts.
• Sliding glass doors need a readily-removable securing bar or dowel to keep them from being pried open.
• Fence your yard and secure the gates if you can.
• Use heat or motion-sensitive lights to eliminate hiding places.

Create the “Lived-in” Look

• Alternate lights on timers, have TV's and radios on while you are not home.
• It is helpful to find a trusted person to house-sit for you while on vacation. Almost every burglar knocks on the front door first to see if anyone answers.

Manage your Property

• Don't make it obvious you have a new electronic(s) by leaving the boxes in front of your house. Cut them up and put them in the trash.
• Don't keep large amounts of cash or jewelry in a residence, or suggest to anyone that valuables might be there.
• In case property is stolen, it's best to keep an itemized list of your serialized property.
• Photograph jewelry items, and have them appraised.
• Critical, irreplaceable documents need to be in a safety deposit box.

Vehicles

• Never leave a vehicle parked unlocked, especially with the keys in the ignition.
• Never leave valuable property in plain sight in the vehicle.
• The safest place to leave a vehicle parked is in a locked garage. At other times, pick secure, well-lit places.
• Use a vehicle alarm.