Prevent Break-Ins During The Holiday Season
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by: slane475
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We all know this is the season for good tiding and great cheer, but did you also know that the holidays are a season when the number of burglaries can increase?
Now that daylight savings time is over, its dark when people leave in the morning and come home at night. Entire neighborhoods can be dark at 4 p.m. in the afternoon and criminals look for the homes without lights on. Criminals figure there must be something worth stealing this time of year, gifts or something.
Simply being more alert and vigilant this time of year can reduce your chances of being a victim. Keep these tips in mind to reduce your chance of a holiday break-in:
1. Keep all windows and doors locked, even when you are at home.
2. Buy a timer for your indoor lights and adjust it to reflect the early nightfall and late sunrise.
3. Install motion detector lights around entrances to your home, especially in the back yard where most attempted forced entries occur.
4. If you dont have a dog, consider a $100 investment and buy an electronic barking dog alarm. This clever device senses when someone is approaching your home and emits the sound of a barking dog getting louder as a person gets closer to it.
5. If you leave your home for more than a day, have your newspapers and mail held or ask a neighbor to collect these for you.
6. Hire a lawn service to plow out your driveway while you are gone, or ask a neighbor to shovel it for you. This makes your home appear lived in. You dont want to have to shovel out your driveway immediately upon returning home anyway!
7. Keep your garage door closed, even when you are at home. Dont provide potential thieves with any extra temptations.
8. Keep your cars locked and remove all valuables, or put them in your trunk, out of sight.
9. Use deadbolt locks with a high security strike plate and long screws.
10. Consider buying a wireless home security system. These entry level systems are very affordable, yet still quite effective. They will automatically dial your cell phone number when movement is detected by a sensor inside your home. You can even listen in to activity inside your home with a built in microphone embedded in the alarm system.
11. Keep trees and shrubs trimmed away from the house, so criminals dont have a place to hide.
12. Last, but not least, look out for your neighbors. Call 911 at the first sight of anything suspicious no matter what. Its always better to err on the side of caution than missing the opportunity to catch crime as it happens.
Keep these tips in mind and you will significantly reduce your chances of being a victim of crime this holiday season.
About the Author
Steve Lane is an expert in the field of self defense, home security and crime prevention and operates an online business Self Defense Shop. Visit his store to learn some ways you can protect yourself and your loved ones from crime at http://www.laneselfdefense.com
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