Home Security Tips

Inside your Home

• Ensure your doors have adequate locks - protect doors with dead bolt locks. Statistics show that 80% of all break-ins are through a door.
  
  
• Secure all your sliding glass doors with a metal bar or wooden dowel placed in the door track.
  
  
• Close and lock your doors and windows - even if you are only going out for a short time.
  
  
• Don't leave valuables in sight through windows where burglars can see them.
  
  
• Don't leave keys in their locks - ensure they are put away, even if you are at home.
  
  
• Ensure that all ground and basement windows are fitted with locks.
  
  
• Use a security marker pen to mark your postcode on your property - this will enable the police to return any stolen property to you. Make an inventory and keep the list in a safe place.
  
  
• Light up inside your home - ensure that you have appropriate lighting. This is one of the most cost-effective deterrents to burglary as it gives the impression that a home is occupied.
  
  
• Invest in a monitored home security system - alarm systems are an effective deterrent.
  
  
• Security Systems provide peace of mind through 24-hour monitoring and can contact the Police or Fire Brigade where appropriate.

Outside your Home

• Light up outside your home - in addition to keeping your home well lit, invest in motion-detecting outdoor floodlights around your home.
  
   
• Maintain your garden - ensure that your back and front gardens provide maximum visibility to and from your home.
  
   
• Tree limbs should also be trimmed to prevent thieves from climbing into windows.
  
   
• Lock away garden tools - ensure ladders and garden tools are out of sight and secure to prevent burglars from using them to break into your home.
  
   
• Ensure your garage door is secure - especially if there is an adjoining door into your house.
  
   
• Keep garden gates locked.
  
   
• Fit a trellis on top of garden fences - this makes it more difficult for burglars to climb into your garden.
  
   
• Never leave door keys under the doormat or under a plant pot outside.