Having your home burglarized can be a frightening experience and with thieves getting more creative, there is no better time to ensure your home is secure. We are going to review the how to prevent robbery & burglary crime.
Identifying Easy Targets
Tactic: Just like anyone, thieves are going to look for the easiest targets as they are trying to get in and get out as quickly as possible. They will be looking for homes that are secluded or hard to see from street level. This includes homes covered by trees or other obstructions.
How To Prevent: Ensure that your home is easily visible from the street and that your home has good lighting at night. This will allow others to watch over your home and notice anything out of the ordinary such as a thief snooping around or breaking in.
Casing Properties
Tactic: Thieves are going to want to plan out their attacks to know exactly what they are getting themselves into and make their jobs a lot easier. They will pass by your home multiple times to get to know your home, your schedule of when you are home, and other clues.
How To Prevent: Stay vigilant and keep an open eye on who is coming and going from your neighborhood to notice any unusual activity. Meet with neighbors to help keep an eye out on each others homes to identify anyone who is not supposed to be there.
Checking For Unlocked Doors & Windows
Tactic: When thieves are looking for easy ways into your home, the bravest thieves will check your doors and windows for any unlocked entries. They may disguise themselves as solicitors or other trustworthy people to gain access to your home without being suspicious.
How To Prevent: Ensure that all of your windows and doors are locked at all times. You may even toy with the idea of having smart devices or an alarm system installed to monitor the status of the locks remotely from a smartphone when you are at work or away from home.
Noticing Poor Security
Tactic: When a thief is casing your home, they will look for poor security in the form of unbarred doors or windows that could make for an easy entry point. Thin doors or poorly secured doors can make a thief’s job quite easy and they will be looking for this.
How To Prevent: Setup cameras around your home or at the very least, fake cameras to help thwart would be burglars. Another cheap trick is to set a home alarm system sign in your yard to give the illusion that you have one installed to trick thieves. The best solution is an advanced protection systems that will monitor all of your security points.
Using Easy To Access Tool
Tactic: Thieves do not always carry the necessary tools to break into homes and often use things that they find lying around the exterior of a home to aid in the break in. Simple tools that are left outside from working on your car can easily help a thief break a window.
How To Prevent: Ensure that any and all tools have been secured after use. Take some time to walk around your property and check for anything that can be used to gain access to your home. This can be as simple as getting rid of a pile or rocks that could be used to break a window.
Watching Out For Dogs
Tactic: Nothing stray a burglar away quite like the bark or growl of a dog. Although this is usually something we see most of the times in movies, it is actually quite true when it comes to actual break ins. Many thieves stray away from homes with beware of dog signs or a loud dog that is behind the door or fence. Trying to break into a home with a dog can result in serious injury for a thief and if they can avoid it, they will.
How To Prevent: While the most common way to defeat this is to actually have a dog that is at the very least, a good barker. There are however, ways to get around this if you are allergic or simply do not want a dog. By picking up a Beware Of Dog sign or something similar and placing it at your door or fence, will absolutely make a would be thief think twice about finding out if you are bluffing or not.
Eyeing Vacant Properties
Tactic: Vacant properties are a hot spot for criminal activities. Curious thieves will scour a vacant home for anything they may see as valuable including copper wiring. The risk for being caught is very low as they usually do not have security systems and do not have any occupants (human or dog) to thwart their activity. This is one of the easiest scores for thieves although they usually do not make away with many valuables.
How To Prevent: If you are having to leave one of your properties vacant, it is a good idea to ensure that you do not leave anything of value in the home. You will also want to ensure that all of the doors and windows are boarded up or at the very least, locked down to ensure no one can enter. Vacant homes are not just a target of thieves but can be the home of vandalism and drug use as well.
Targeting Small Items
Tactic: Most thieves are not after your big screen TV or elaborate kitchen appliances, they are going for things that they can easily stash in a pocket or backpack that is easy to grab and easy to transport. Carrying out big items requires a lot of time and work, both of which thieves do not want to do any of. They will most likely be looking for stashed money, jewelry, or electronics that can easily be sold.
How To Prevent: The ideal solution would be to buy a safe that you can bolt down into your home that cannot easily be taken. If this is a little out of your budget, finding a good hiding spot for all of your valuables is the next best choice. Think of places that a thief would normally not look such as in a hollowed out book on a bookshelf.
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