How your home appears to the typical amateur or semi-professional burglar, who cases your home anywhere from a few hours to a few days, has a lot to do with their decision to burglarize your home. Security systems are an important protective measure, but there are ways to deter burglars from approaching your home.
No Trespassing Signals
If you maintain the outside of your home, a burglar is likely to assume you also take care of the inside of your home by securing doors and windows and hiding valuables. Most people trim their grass for aesthetic reasons, but a well-manicured lawn could divert potential burglars from choosing your home as their next hit. Over-grown trees and shrubs might provide a burglar with a way into upper-level windows or simply the shade to hide suspicious activity.
Here are some other security options that will send no-trespassing signals to would-be burglars:
- Motion-sensor lights visible from the road
- Random timers to turn lights and appliances on and off when you are not home
- Non-privacy fences to slow the thief, but not conceal the crime
- Large or noisy dogs to draw attention to the thief
Don’t Lay Out the Welcome Mat
Homes may provide burglars with incentives to burglarize.
What you leave lying around outside may prompt thieves to pay a visit. When you purchase new, expensive furniture, appliances or technology, don’t leave the empty boxes visible when you throw out the trash.
The same is true for what you leave in plain site through your windows. Should the burglar enter your home, what you leave out will matter. To lighten the burglar’s loot, create diversions by hiding more expensive valuables. Placing a phony safe – one in which no real valuables reside – in plain view may also distract burglars from lifting your real treasures, as they usually only spend a few minutes in each home.
Leaving Portland for the week of to Hood River
Also, leaving messages on your door or answering machine that say you are away are green lights for burglars to enter your home free of the burden of possible interruptions.
Most burglars look to enter through doors with easy access. However, there are safeguards that can help:
1. Doors with decorative sidelight panels should be made of break-resistant material
2. Sliding doors should have the reinforcement of a metal or solid wood rod on the inside track
3. Garage doors should always be closed and locked, with the inside door secured
By taking these basic precautions, burglars may not even come within reach of your home. Send a no-trespassing message to potential burglars that the welcome mat isn’t for them.
{ 0 comments… add one now }