7 Tips for Protecting Your Home Over The Holidays
The holiday season is here and keeping your home safe and secure should be your primary goal. When the dark hours are long and families are traveling more than ever – we’ve put together a list of 7 tips that can help you keep your home safer this holiday season.
1 Get to know your neighbors: We mean it. Whether you’re in the city, suburbs, or countryside, you are part of your neighborhood, the rewards of knowing your neighbors immense. From small things, like a hello and a wave, to taking in a package for you or helping you move something into your house, they are people you should know and trust. Neighbors have a sense of what’s right in the community, and when there is something wrong, attentive neighbors know and take action. Thats why, at the top of our list, we recommend getting to know your neighbors, to built trust in your community and safety at your home.
2 Secure your doors: This may sound obvious, yet when you’re coming and going out of the house this holiday, be sure to keep your doors locked. Opportune thieves may see you leave, and may just check the doors. If locked, they often won’t break a window or cause commotion to enter – yet if the door is open – they may just slide in and grab a laptop. This can happen in 1 minute. This includes your car doors too – opportunistic thieves are quick to try doors – and they walk away from locked ones.
3 Keep your windows shut: Similar to securing your doors, keep your windows shut as well. A window left open can easily be lifted and entered through. In the case of a car, an open window can allow someone to unlock the car and open the door. Its pretty cold these days, so be sure to keep windows shut for the most part – unless you’re surely home all day!
4 Keep a few lights on and the TV on when you’re gone: A home with no cars in the driveway and the lights off is an easy target for thieves. If you are traveling for the holiday, be sure to leave on a few select lights in your home – not too many to make it obvious – just enough to make it seem like someone is there. The TV is especially helpful to leave on, especially if the flicker of light can be seen from the outside.
5 Don’t forget about the garage: The garage is a high leverage area for thieves. Often times, expensive equipment, such as bikes or tools – is stored in the garage. More often than not, the garage is separate from the home and closer to the street, two key factors that make it easy to get in. We recommend a strong deadbolt on all exterior garage entrances . We recommend a sturdy garage door, and if you have a mail slot, limiting the range of motion or locking this when you are not expecting mail, as trained thieves can fish the release cable from here!
6 Get a dog: Aside from the increased levels of happiness dog owners feel, a dog is also a great security measure. A few yaps when a person approaches the front door is enough to send prospective criminals packing. Furthermore, a dog left at home while you are out will be on heightened alert, often waiting for their owner to arrive home, so they usually react to any sounds at the doors. Dogs are a major theft deterrent.
7. Get a Deep Sentinel Home Security System: Deep Sentinel takes care of one through six. Deep Sentinel is the only home security system with Guards On Duty that watch your cameras live – whenever a person enters the field of view, our Guards watch. If a person steps up to the property who shouldn’t be there, we step up and make our presence known. Simply by making our presence known – potential suspects simply leave the property. And with the fastest police response time of any security system, if anything transpires, law enforcement knows who to look for and shows up quickly.