Your home should be a refuge from daily life, from the grind of work and the stress of everyday responsibility. In order to preserve that refuge, you need to protect your home. Home security protects your home from shady characters who want to do you or your family harm.
Call the Local Police
Did you know your local police department will send an officer to your home free of charge to provide you with a safety assessment of things they think might need improvement? They can help you figure out how to make your home more secure, offer useful suggestions, and help you with tips and tricks you didn’t know were even possible. Try this to help ensure your home is more secure than ever. The police have a vested interest in keeping your home secure. They would rather prevent break-ins than try and track down the criminals afterward. Help them do their job by letting them help you.
Get Home Security
It is important that you have a properly functioning security system to protect your home. Locking your doors and windows is a good first step, but backing that up with technology is even better. While it may not seem very appealing, if you display signs or stickers in your windows advertising that you have a security system, that alone may deter some criminals. They don’t want to get caught, so they are likely to just move on to the next place.
You should also make sure that your home security system is a good fit for you and your family, and that it is a high-quality system. The top home security companies include ADT, Vivint, and Simplisafe. Talk to representatives from all of these companies and any others that you see around your neighborhood to see what they offer and how you can fit this in for your home. Consider getting motion-detector lights, an alarm system, and a monitoring system.
Remove Potential Hiding Places
If you have a lot of vegetation around your home, make sure you keep it well-groomed and that there aren’t good places for intruders to hide. Tall trees with branches near windows on the upper floors of your home give intruders easy access to the second floor, where more windows are left unlocked. If you do want vegetation surrounding your home and under your windows, consider planting bushes that are harder to climb through. Thick bushes with thorns are particularly ideal for discouraging intruders.
Be Careful About Opening Your Door
This one may seem a little impractical, but it can be very important. If you are home alone and you aren’t expecting someone, don’t open the door. It may just be a salesman, but it could also be dangerous. This also applies if it is late at night and you aren’t expecting someone. If it is a friend or neighbor, they will call you or try again later. This doesn’t mean you have to unfriendly, you just want to be cautious. If you are new to the area, ask your neighbors about the security of the area and how often you get random strangers knocking on your door. Understanding the neighborhood patterns can help you feel more secure about answering your door.
The best thing you can do to keep your home secure in addition to adding a home security system is to be smart about what you do. Get to know your neighbors, lock your doors, and remove any potential hiding places. While it may seem an obvious suggestion, make sure you don’t advertise when you are at work or when you are on vacation. This is prime information and only serves to endanger your home. Your home is only as secure as you make it.