Top 10 Preventative Security Measures for your Home
How safe do you really think your home is?
- Lock the doors. This no-brainer doesn’t just mean when you’re gone all evening. It means during the daytime when you’re home. There’s no reason for doors to be unlocked when you’re inside the house. Does your lock consist of a deadbolt? Don’t rely on just a simple lock and key system. Think layers.
- The garage is also a door. Make sure it’s locked at all times. And if you think a skinny intruder won’t slip in through that “little crack” that the garage door is open by in the name of ventilating summer air, think again. Sometimes, the thief is a grade school child. Unplug the garage door when you travel.
- Charlie bars. Place rods in the tracks of your sliding doors to prevent them from being opened. Invest in “door reinforcement technology”. Google it.
- Alarm system. Do you wait till it’s bedtime to put the alarm on? Sociopaths can have an early bedtime. They’re not going to wait till you’re fast asleep to bust into your house. The alarm system should be on at all times. You just never know who might be lurking outside.
And if you’re worried about accidentally opening a door without first turning off the alarm, then train your mind to avoid making this mistake. Installation of an alarm system is easier than ever these days and they come with all sorts of features like motion detectors.
- Lighting in and out. The general idea is to make your home seem occupied even when it isn’t. Lighting on timers is an option. Check out the BeOn. BeOn is a burglar repellent that “learns” your home’s pattern of light usage. So if you then leave the house for a long time, BeON will replicate this pattern. If anyone’s been casing your house and observing your lights-on, lights-off schedule, they will be fooled into thinking you’re home when BeON replays the pattern while you’re out.
- Make some noise. Leaving on the TV or radio is one way to do it. A barking dog is another. The BeOn system will make some noise in its next iteration. Check out their Kickstarter campaign and invest in your homes security.
- Outdoor deterrent. A proven deterrent is a thorny type of shrub placed near entry points—close enough to them such that a burglar would have to endure being painfully poked in order to hide or attempt a break-in.
- Speaking of outdoors…Don’t hide keys outside. Give them to trusted people.
- Blinds and curtains. Do you realize how easily a burglar, casing your house, could see inside, even in broad daylight? They’re not just looking for valuables, but what the house’s occupants look like. Do you look like Jean Claude Van Damme? Or do you look like the average Joe Schmo? Are you female? Unless you resemble Laila Ali, you might want to consider keeping your blinds, shades and curtains down even during the day, at least for rooms where it’s not essential to have “natural light.”
- Guess what burglars like to do online. They like to peruse Facebook pages to see who’s on vacation. Though half the world is on Facebook, have you been lucky enough in your life to feel certain that a thief will never just stumble upon YOUR Facebook page with all the posts about your upcoming vacation, complete with dates of departure and return?
Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BeOn Home Security discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.
