When You're Away
Protecting your home when you're on vacation, or even away for the day at work, is more than locking the front door when you leave. Keeping that in mind, use the following list to make your home secure in the daytime as well as the night.
Consider an Alarm System
There's a disturbing billboard alongside some of the nation's freeways. It says, "Headed to work? So are the burglars." While the "normal" movie burglary scenario takes place at night, many thieves operate in the daytime. Robbing an empty house is much safer for thieves and residents alike. In the daytime, residents and neighbors are at work, police patrols are less frequent, and a burglar is much less likely to trip over telephone cords. A big, protective dog can keep burglars at bay, but he can't phone the police. An efficient alarm system can notify the police-- and can't be bribed with liver treats.
There are many kinds of alarms, ranging from the simple, electric bell or horn that sounds when doors are opened, to infrared sensors, wireless security arrangements and satellite communications. One of the mistakes some alarm-owners make is in not becoming intimately familiar with the workings of their alarm and the home security services that sell them. When people aren't well-acquainted with their home security systems, they tend not to use them properly. Sometimes, they even fail to use them at all, because their own discomfort prevents them for setting alarms or turning them off when they need to. If you decide to invest in a home security system, take the time and effort to make sure the company providing your service answers all your questions and trains you to use your alarm system. Make sure everyone in your family feels comfortable with setting and turning off alarms, and pay attention to maintenance issues such as changing batteries or updating response lists so that when you need your alarm to work, it will.
Vary your Times When Coming and Going
Most people need to leave home at the same time every day in order to arrive at work on time. But when you adhere to a fixed schedule, you're setting yourself up to be the target of thieves. If it's common knowledge that you drive away every morning precisely at 8:45, thieves may feel quite comfortable with planning a 9 AM burglary. Vary the times you leave home as much as you can without fouling up your work schedule.
Keep ‘Em Guessing
Don't advertise your absence by drawing the shades unless your shades are normally drawn when you're home. Your goal is to make your house look lived-in, and the more you can encourage that illusion, the better. The ultimate in maintaining that lived-in-look is to have a friend come and house-sit for you.
Buy Home Security Kits and Services
Home security equipment may include cameras, motion detectors, automated security monitoring services and simple things like window bars and timers Set your lights, radios and television on timers so they turn on and off throughout the day and night. Since most thieves spend less than two minutes breaking into a house, maintaining the illusion that someone is always home may prevent burglary.
Get Help
If you're going to be away for more than a day, ask a neighbor to collect your mail and newspapers. If you plan to be away for a significant period of time, have your mail and papers suspended and held for you at the post office.
Lock Up
Most burglaries are committed by entering through a window, so make sure all possibly accessible windows are shut and locked. Don't forget your basement windows or exterior doors: they should be locked whenever you aren't in the basement.
Shutting a window is not enough to keep out a burglar, but locking it may be. Ground-floor windows should always be locked, or should be fixed so that they can only be opened a little way for air circulation, but not so far that someone could climb in. One old-fashioned but effective way of deterring unwanted visitors is to place a large bolt a few inches up on the frame, so that the window can be opened a little, but no one can get in. Sliding French doors should always be secured with a broomstick laid into the track: the locking mechanisms on many French doors can be jimmied in an instant: the broomstick is a more formidable foe.
Be Proactive
Stay in touch with your neighbors. The more pairs of eyes watching your place, the better. Joining the Neighborhood Watch is a good way to meet your neighbors and build community. When neighbors know each other, they are more likely to take an interest in and a responsibility for noticing people who don't live in the neighborhood.
