Tips: Protect Your House For Summer Vacation

The Home Safety Council offers tips to prepare your house before leaving on summer vacation.

  • Put bright lights over porches and walkways in the front and back.
  • All doors to the outside should have working locks.
  • Garage and shed doors need working locks too.
  • All windows should have working locks.
  • Before you leave, walk through each room of your home to make sure all doors to the outside, sliding doors, and windows are securely locked.
  • If you have an automatic garage door, always, look over your shoulder before leaving the driveway to ensure the garage door has completely closed behind you.
  • Keep bushes and shrubs trimmed under windows so burglars can't hide in them.
  • Keep ladders stored in a locked shed or garage so they can't be used to climb into your home.
  • Keep shades or curtains closed over garage and shed windows.
  • Keep shades or curtains closed over your home windows after dark.
  • Don't leave toys, tools and equipment in the yard.
  • Make your home look like someone is there. Consider using timers to turn selected lights on and off automatically. Timers are also available for outdoor water sprinklers.
  • Do yard work before you leave.
  • Have a family member or friend bring in your mail and newspaper while you are gone. Give them a key to keep at their home; do not leave a key in a hiding place.
  • If you use an answering machine, do not record a message that indicates you are out of town.

Featured

New Products

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”

  • QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    The latest Qualcomm® Vision Intelligence Platform offers next-generation smart camera IoT solutions to improve safety and security across enterprises, cities and spaces. The Vision Intelligence Platform was expanded in March 2022 with the introduction of the QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC), which delivers superior artificial intelligence (AI) inferencing at the edge.

  • ResponderLink

    ResponderLink

    Shooter Detection Systems (SDS), an Alarm.com company and a global leader in gunshot detection solutions, has introduced ResponderLink, a groundbreaking new 911 notification service for gunshot events. ResponderLink completes the circle from detection to 911 notification to first responder awareness, giving law enforcement enhanced situational intelligence they urgently need to save lives. Integrating SDS’s proven gunshot detection system with Noonlight’s SendPolice platform, ResponderLink is the first solution to automatically deliver real-time gunshot detection data to 911 call centers and first responders. When shots are detected, the 911 dispatching center, also known as the Public Safety Answering Point or PSAP, is contacted based on the gunfire location, enabling faster initiation of life-saving emergency protocols.