Tips: Protect Your Home From Burglars

  • Jun 15, 2010

The FBI reports that more burglaries occur during the summer months than any other time of year and that every home is a potential target. According to U.S. Department of Justice statistics, an American home is broken into about every 15 seconds. The best defense against burglary is prevention. With planning you can help make your home unappealing to burglars.

Patrick Fiel, public safety advisor of ADT Security Services said, "There are a few simple, yet important, steps homeowners can take to make their homes less of a target."

To help homeowners secure their homes this summer, Fiel and ADT recommend the following home burglary prevention tips:

  • Secure your garage. Garages can provide intruders with easy access to your home. If you have an automatic garage door opener, make sure you protect the remote control and never leave it visible in your car. Also, be sure to lock the door that leads from your garage to your home. Many people do not lock this door, creating a weak point in their home security.
  • Equip your home with strong doors and locks. Exterior doors should be made of steel, other metals or solid wood, which are able to withstand more of an impact than hollow-core doors. Deadbolt locks offer the best protection from picking and prying. Always make sure to lock your doors and windows when you leave home.
  • Never hide keys around the exterior of your home. Thieves look in mailboxes, under doormats and above doorways for keys. Do not make it easy for them to get into your home. If you will be out of town on vacation, leave emergency house keys with a trusted friend or neighbor.
  • Consider a monitored burglar alarm system. A recent Rutgers University study found that alarm systems are an effective deterrent, making a home less attractive to intruders. Make sure your burglar alarm system includes a loud inside alarm, detectors at all exterior doors and motion sensors. It's also important to have monitored protection which links your home to a monitoring center where trained professionals can quickly notify first responders. Most insurance companies also offer a discount of up to 20 percent off homeowner's policies for monitored alarm systems.
  • Never let burglars know you are away from home. As you plan for vacation, you may be tempted to post updates on social networking sites, including specific dates and times of your vacation. But criminals have been known to troll these sites for vacant homes and unsuspecting victims. Always keep your vacation plans as private as possible and have a trusted friend or family member collect your mail and check in on your home while you and your family are away.

Fiel said, "As summer starts to heat up, we hope these tips will help you prevent home burglary and protect your possessions before, during and after your vacation."

Featured

  • Gaining a Competitive Edge

    Ask most companies about their future technology plans and the answers will most likely include AI. Then ask how they plan to deploy it, and that is where the responses may start to vary. Every company has unique surveillance requirements that are based on market focus, scale, scope, risk tolerance, geographic area and, of course, budget. Those factors all play a role in deciding how to configure a surveillance system, and how to effectively implement technologies like AI. Read Now

  • 6 Ways Security Awareness Training Empowers Human Risk Management

    Organizations are realizing that their greatest vulnerability often comes from within – their own people. Human error remains a significant factor in cybersecurity breaches, making it imperative for organizations to address human risk effectively. As a result, security awareness training (SAT) has emerged as a cornerstone in this endeavor because it offers a multifaceted approach to managing human risk. Read Now

  • The Stage is Set

    The security industry spans the entire globe, with manufacturers, developers and suppliers on every continent (well, almost—sorry, Antarctica). That means when regulations pop up in one area, they often have a ripple effect that impacts the entire supply chain. Recent data privacy regulations like GDPR in Europe and CPRA in California made waves when they first went into effect, forcing businesses to change the way they approach data collection and storage to continue operating in those markets. Even highly specific regulations like the U.S.’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) can have international reverberations – and this growing volume of legislation has continued to affect global supply chains in a variety of different ways. Read Now

  • Access Control Technology

    As we move swiftly toward the end of 2024, the security industry is looking at the trends in play, what might be on the horizon, and how they will impact business opportunities and projections. Read Now

Most   Popular

Featured Cybersecurity

Webinars

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.” 3

  • A8V MIND

    A8V MIND

    Hexagon’s Geosystems presents a portable version of its Accur8vision detection system. A rugged all-in-one solution, the A8V MIND (Mobile Intrusion Detection) is designed to provide flexible protection of critical outdoor infrastructure and objects. Hexagon’s Accur8vision is a volumetric detection system that employs LiDAR technology to safeguard entire areas. Whenever it detects movement in a specified zone, it automatically differentiates a threat from a nonthreat, and immediately notifies security staff if necessary. Person detection is carried out within a radius of 80 meters from this device. Connected remotely via a portable computer device, it enables remote surveillance and does not depend on security staff patrolling the area. 3

  • 4K Video Decoder

    3xLOGIC’s VH-DECODER-4K is perfect for use in organizations of all sizes in diverse vertical sectors such as retail, leisure and hospitality, education and commercial premises. 3