Is Your Home Secure

Now is as good a time as any to do a security survey of your home or small business for that matter. This is a simple process that you can do yourself in less than an hour. A friends home was broken into recently and the fact that he was a police officer did nothing to deter the criminals.

He was like most of us and had all his banking information on his laptop. Well of course they took his laptop. He can tell you first hand about the pain of changing accounts and passwords.

First it helps to think like a burglar. Drive by your house and compare it to how other houses look in your neighborhood. Do you have windows covered by high bushes or trees. Do you leave your garage wide open when you leave for work. At night is there any type of lighting outside your home, especially at entrances.

Lets take a look at a basic home security survey you can do for yourself.

If you have trees in your yard are the limbs trimmed to about 6 feet off the ground. You dont want burglars to be able to climb from the tree limbs to an open upstairs window.Make sure you put away ladders,lawn mowers and bicycles when they are not in use. These can be used to climb also.

Most people leave their garage door openers in their car. Not a good idea. At a minimum lock your vehicles with the car alarm on. If you have a detached garage or shed make sure you have a good lock on the door. Speaking of garages make sure your garage windows are frosted or have curtains over them to keep the bad guys from looking in to see what you have. Also keep the entrance door from the garage into the home locked. This may be kind of obvious but be sure to remove your keys from your car in the garage.

Next check all your doors and make sure they fit snug. If you need new locks, replace then now.You probably want to add a dead bolt or chain lock if you do not have them on your doors. If you have sliding glass doors install pins in them. Its very easy to lift them off their tracks. Lastly its a good idea to keep your doors locked even when you are home.

Do your windows have good locks on them? Do you keep them locked? Check your screens and replace them if you need to. If you have window air conditioner units make sure they are anchored in a way that they cannot be taken out of the window from the outside. If you have a fence around your home put a good lock on it.

Criminals look for homes they can enter quickly and easily. Make it harder for them and they will move on.

Here are a few suggestions to protect you and your valuables.

1. Get a good safe and use it. Bolt it down where it cannot be easily removed.
2. All valuable papers should be kept in a safe deposit box.
3. Make an accurate inventory of all your valuables. Serial numbers,makes,models,etc.
4. If phone lines are cut have your cell phone close by to call police.
5. I would engrave items of value with some sort of code. Police often find stolen items.
6. Do you shred papers with your personal information on them before putting them in the trash?
7. Ask neighbors you can trust to watch your home while you are away.
8. As a matter of fact give that neighbor your contact information while you are away.
9. If you are going away for an extended period of time let your local police department know.
10.Last deactivate your garage door opener while you are away.

Of course I did not mention a home security system. If you cannot afford a monitored home security system or just do not want one you can always get a do it yourself system. You can get a good wireless system that reqires very little mechanical ability to install. Most men and women can install them with ease.