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Don't think you are safe because you live in a particular community, or there's a low crime rate where your home is.
Criminals are everywhere. The aftereffects of being robbed can change a person forever even if there is no one home at the time. Read On...
One of the best steps to take to make your home safe is to make it unattractive to robbers. Here are 7 tips you can do without much expense:
1. Alarms. One way is to have some sort of security system. Most home insurance policies even offer a discount if your home as a security system installed. Another option to add a level of security is to have a dog. Yes, barking dogs create alarms that most thieves want to avoid. Post a security alarm and/or beware of dog signs by your doors and on gates as warnings.
2. Outside Lighting. Burglars don't want to be seen. Install light-sensitive and/or motion-activated lighting around the front, sides and rear of your home to deter most burglars, because they do not want to be seen in the light.
3. Trim Shrubs. Keep hedges and bushes trimmed, especially below windows, to minimize hiding places. You can also up security by choosing prickly shrubs. Most burglars don't want to be stuck or seen in the open. Don't give them a place to hide. Don't allow burglars to jimmy windows without being seen.
4. Install motion-activated lighting and/or put lamps on a timer in the front and rear rooms of your home. Set lights on timers, because career burglars usually stake out your house and personal habits to learn when is the best time to rob you. Make sure to locate light fixtures in a place where burglars cannot easily reach in or up to remove or break the bulbs. Make your home appear to be occupied by putting a radio on a timer.
5. Check your doors. Make sure doors leading to outside have a solid core and is, if possible, sheathed in metal. Remove spring-loaded door locks: Replace these unsafe locks with dead bolts and make sure it extends a minimum of one inch into the door frame.
6. Drive 2 or 3 screws into the top area of a sliding door and each window frame: Position the screws over the area where the door and window sit when closed. Leave the screw heads protruding by about 1/4 inch. That won't be enough to interfere with opening and closings.
7. Cut a piece of a dowel or the handle from a hockey stick to a size that just fits into the track of your sliding glass door when it's closed. When laid in the track, it's almost impossible to slide the door open. Do the same with windows.
Keep in mind that if someone is determined to break in to your home, there's little you can do. But for the typical robber who scans the neighborhood to choose an easy house to target, a few steps to deter the break-in is often effective, but nothing in life is guaranteed. A sophisticated alarm system hooked up to police, ambulance and the fire department is a costly investment, but can offer a lot of peace of mind.
Don't forget smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors, fire extinguishers, 3 to 4 boxes of baking soda, a fog horn, bells and whistles. If you want to invest in the best, consider wireless home security systems with camera surveillance and a safe room.