Rules for Safeguarding Your Home
If you have already experienced a break-in or are looking to make sure it never happens, it’s important to stay up to date with your home’s security. While Canada’s burglary has been steadily falling since 2003, it’s still important to make sure your home is secured. For this reason, the first thing you should do when buying a new home directly after experiencing a break-in or going through a bad break-up is to change your locks. Locksmith services will come to your home and help quickly and easily install a new deadbolt on all your external facing doors, allowing you to feel confident that you are the only person with access to your home. It’s also important to involve your family and children in home security. Educate your children on not leaving valuables in plain sight, never leaving the door unlocked at night, and not opening the door to strangers until a parent or guardian tells them it’s okay.
Other Base Rules Can Include:
Closing and locking the garage door at night Locking the doors, even if you’re only outside doing work Using your alarm system at all times, even if you’re only going to visit neighbors or making a quick trip to the store
It’s also important that you don’t use a “hidden” house key. Thieves are adept at looking for hidden house keys, and our methods of concealing our house keys are not nearly as nifty as we think. If you have teenagers coming and going and aren’t certain if they will take good care of a personal house key, considering having locksmith services install a keypad along with a deadbolt option so that your loved ones can gain entry with a code, as opposed to a physical key. Be sure to change this code if it’s revealed to too many people.
Warning Signs and Other Deterrents
You may not have a guard dog, but would-be thieves don’t need to know that. Putting up “Beware of Dog” signs, or “Camera System in Use“, can act as a surprising deterrent to many opportunistic thieves. Place these signs in visible locations at the front of your home or near the head of your driveway to make sure they are highly visible to passing vehicles. Want to take it a step further? You can even get a “barking doorbell” that lets you of a volley of angry barks when you’re not home.
Light It Up
Whether you’re home or not, it’s important to have a well-lit exterior. Well-lit areas deter thieves since their actions would be easily visible to a passing neighbor or security camera. The light will also help you gain access to your house quickly and easily and see if anyone is lurking near your door. If you are going to be leaving on vacation, install timers that turn on random lights in your home and allow your home to look lived in and occupied, even when you’re not there to guard it.
