How to Prevent Home Burglary

08-06-2020 -

An open door may tempt a saint

Burglars find it easy locating homes that give them signs to come around. Unfortunately, many people have unknowingly left these welcome signs around their homes. It requires a common sense and some easy, effective and cheap crime prevention measures to make one’s home less inviting to burglars. The tips discussed in this article would help you minimize the chances of falling victim to burglars.

Survey your home

It is necessary to survey your home to know how inviting it is to a burglar. View your home through the eyes of a burglar. Did you see any obvious home security vulnerabilities? Ensure you do the following:

• Your doors and windows should not be covered by shrubbery. Trim shrubbery regularly to prevent undetected burglar activity.
• At nights, have a few lights over doorways, fences and garages. Also, have floodlights in strategic places.
• Ensure that all doors and windows are securely locked. Replace all damaged locks and supplement inadequate locks.
• Give no empty spaces in your home for a burglar to hide.

Common sense is required to identify where your home’s security vulnerabilities or weaknesses lie. You should also seek the assistance of the police in helping you survey your home and provide security recommendations.

Install better locks

A lot of homes have the spring-latch type of door locks, and most of these locks can be easily opened by a burglar. Installing deadbolt locks on exterior doors is recommended by crime prevention experts. For adequate security, the deadbolt lock needs to extend at least 1 inch into the door frame. The pry-resistant rim locks are another better security lock. Crime Prevention Officers are in the best position to recommend the best locks for your home. Endeavor to change your locks whenever you lose your home keys or move to a new home. Above all, you must lock your doors every time. Always remember that the best locks, when they are left unlocked, are as useless as a home without doors.

Secure doors and windows

Solid core doors, unlike wooden exterior doors, can provide the greatest security for your homes. That is because they can withstand burglary. Install a double-cylinder deadbolt lock on exterior doors that comes with a glass panel. A burglar will not be able to unlock such door even after breaking the glass. Burglars would easily have access to the exposed hinges of doors that swing open to the outside. Use the following hinge pinning technique to secure your doors:

• Unscrew and remove all opposing screws from the hinge plates.
• Insert a pin in the hole on the door frame and an allowance of 1 inch.
• Finally, drill out an opposing hole that pin will fit it whenever the door is closed.

Open garage door

An open garage door is an invitation to burglars. You should make sure your garage doors are always closed and locked. If you use your garage as a store to keep your garden tools, bicycles, motor bikes, and mowers, close and lock it every time to prevent the properties from being stolen.

Sliding glass doors

Burglars can easily attack homes with sliding glass doors. Use the pinning technique given above to secure your sliding glass doors. The best means to secure sliding glass doors is by using key operated grips or pins. The method involves:

• Drilling a hole into a downward angle through the top and bottom corners of door’s inner frame and partly into the outer frame.
• Insert a nail or pin.

Securing windows

Burglars usually use windows as their point of entry into homes. With the pinning technique, double-hung windows can be secured. This technique involves:

• Drilling a hole into a downward angle through the top corners of the window’s inner frame and partly into its outer frame.
• Insert a nail or pin.

Installing key-operated locks on windows is another way to keep windows secured. Don’t forget that by keeping your windows open and unlocked, you are inviting burglars.

Make your home look occupied

Homes that look empty and unoccupied attract burglars. However, a burglar will look other homes to attack if he finds out that a home appears occupied. To keep your home looking occupied, use the following tips:

• Always leave a radio playing when you are away.
• Always leave the outside and doorways lights on in the night.

Take the following precautions if you are leaving for a vacation or long trips:

• Let your neighbor keep an eye on your home and pick up your mail.
• Stop newspaper deliveries to your home.
• You can arrange for lawn care.

It is best to inform the police if you are going to be away for an extended period. The police may schedule periodic checks of your home during the period you are away.

Mark your valuble properties

Your properties or valuables should have your driver’s license number engraved on them. With that, your property can be easily traced and identified if stolen. Additionally, a burglar will find it difficult to sell off marked properties, so he would avoid stealing them or else, he would be caught.

Form a neigborhood watch group

Several communities have organized watch groups for themselves to prevent burglar attacks on their communities. Through this watch group, neighbors have common duties of watching the property of one another and report suspicious activities to their local Law Enforcement Agencies.

Use common sense

You need to know the various ways burglars use to enter a home. Ensure your family knows what must be done in certain circumstances. You must warn all members of your family to be careful about how they give out information over the phone. Most burglars call ahead to know who is at home or when residents would be returning.

Other common sense tips

• Avoid indiscriminate opening of your home to strangers. Install a wide-angle door Peephole or viewer in your front door to enable you to see who is outside from inside. Ask and verify the ID of solicitors or repairers before they enter your home.
• Don’t leave a salesperson or repairer alone in your home—not even for a few seconds. Never allow a stranger to use your phone to make calls. Make the calls on his behalf.
• Avoid leaving absence notes or hide any keys outside your home.
• Your house keys should not be left inside your car at the parking lot or garage.
• Your name or license number should not be attached to your house keys. If your keys have those things attached to them, you can be traced to your house with the information on them.
• Don’t keep your valuables including huge sums of cash unprotected. Always keep them in a safe box.

References

1. Wikipedia - Burglary
2. household burglary statistics.

Related articles/services

1. House lockout
2. Lock change
3. Medeco locks