How to Prevent Home Burlaries

Every year, about 2.2 million homeowners are the victims of burglary in the United States. Contrary to what many people think, most of these burglaries take place during broad daylight, when people are least likely to be home. And about 40 percent of those burglaries didn’t require any use of force to enter the premises. The burglar was simply able to walk, climb, or crawl into the house almost as easily as if they had been given a key. Unfortunately, once your house has been burgled, the thief is unlikely to be caught, as the average arrest rate for burglaries is only 13 percent. While these statistics may seem alarming, there are plenty of ways to secure your house against burglars. Here are just a few tips to make sure that your house is safe against any intruder.

One of the best home security tips is the most obvious: lock your windows and doors. While this may seem like common sense, many people fail to do it, as is evidenced by the statistic mentioned above regarding forced entries. If your doors have multiple locks, make sure you are always locking the deadbolt for maximum security. And don’t forget to lock the doors you might use less often such as the door leading from the garage to the house, or a shed door. Secure and double-check more vulnerable doors like sliding glass and patio doors to ensure they are strong enough to withstand kicks.

While securing your home itself is important, there are some things you can do that require little more than putting a sign in your front yard. Home security equipment can be a great option when considering ways to secure your home, but just having the sign of a home security equipment provider can help deter burglars. A burglar will often head elsewhere if he sees a home security monitoring sign in the front lawn.

If you want to avoid losing the average $1,275 that victims of home burglaries incur, one of the best ways is to not give a thief any place to hide. Most burglars favor houses with tall shrubs or large trees which they can use to hide. Keeping your hedges and trees trimmed can make it harder for a criminal to wait and hide for the coast to be clear, but this doesn’t mean you need to get rid of all the trees and bushes in your lawn. Simply make sure that they are well-manicured, so as not to create any easy hiding spots. Make sure to cut away tall tree branches to prevent a thief from entering from above. Additionally, if you’d like to add to your landscaping, placing thorny bushes in front of windows can create a natural deterrent against would-be thieves.

Finally, if you’d like to have complete peace of mind, consider having home security equipment installed in your house. Home security equipment will make sure that your home is protected continuously. Anything can happen while you’re at work, or even if you just step out of the house for 15 minutes, and home security equipment can help to make your home more secure while you are away. Monitoring is also available on much home security equipment, allowing emergency personnel to respond faster, as the home security equipment company will be notified as soon as your alarm is set off. With 6.4 million customers in the United States and Canada, ADT is one of the largest security companies, and can provide you with the home security equipment you need to put your mind at ease. Get more on this here.