Whether you live in an urban or suburban area, safeguarding your home against potential crooks needs to be a priority. You don’t want to deal with the consequences of a break-in or the loss of stolen property.
Read on to learn how to make your home a safer place and deter criminals from targeting your house.
Monitor Your Property
In the age of mobile devices, people can control almost anything with a few clicks of a button. Your home security is no exception with the introduction of smart home monitoring. All you need to do is set up sensors around your property and connect them to your smartphone.
The smart sensors will tell you when doors or windows open and close. They’ll alert you if there’s any suspicious movement on your property. If you get an alert, you can connect to your home security camera and watch live footage of what’s going on.
You also can set off security alarms remotely. This will scare anyone who’s on your property away. You won’t need to wait for the authorities to show up and arrest them.
If worse comes to worst and they don’t stop, your monitoring software will still let you know what the person looks like. You can call the police immediately once you get a notification of a potential break-in. You’ll also get the chance to screenshot a picture of the criminal, which wouldn’t be the case without smart home monitoring.
Keep Security Cameras Visible
People who install security cameras at home have 300% lower chances of a break-in.
This is because criminals want easy marks. They don’t like the stress of thinking that they may be watched or recorded. They’d rather leave your property alone and go somewhere else without the threat of surveillance.
When you put your cameras up, make sure that they’re positioned in a way that people can see them. Put them front and center by your door so people know that you can see anything. Place them at various intervals around the perimeter of your property so people don’t try to get around them at odd angles.
It’s a good idea to connect the cameras to your smartphone for top-notch monitoring. But in some cases, the threat might be enough.
Use Lighting and Signage to Your Advantage
Speaking of deterrents, lighting and signage can also deter crime. If your property is thoroughly brightly lit, criminals may be more worried about being seen. This is especially true at night, so set a timer to turn on your brightest lights as soon as the sun goes down.
Signs are also a good idea to keep criminals at bay. Some things to post include:
- Trespassers will be prosecuted
- Beware of dog
- Home under surveillance
- Property monitored 24/7
Basically, if something makes the criminal anxious or creates challenges for those breaking in, use it to your advantage. Scare them off.
Reinforce Your Traditional Locks
Modern surveillance tools are great, but you also need to lock up your house. Get high-quality windows and doors made from durable materials. They’ll be extremely hard to kick down, so trying to do so would attract attention from neighbors and passersby.
Strong locks are also really hard to pick. Get a lock that requires multiple keys to open. An upper keyhole and a lower keyhole will be more challenging to pick than just one single lock.
You also aren’t limited to a traditional lock-and-key system. Many homeowners find that smart locks are an even better choice for their homes. Try:
- Fingerprint protection
- Facial recognition
- Key fobs for electronic clearance
A combination of these possibilities is even better!
Keep Your House Looking Lived-In
If you’re going away for longer than a few hours, you want your home to look like you’re still living in it. After all, criminals want no-hassle break-ins. They don’t want a homeowner there to make their job more difficult.
You can install a timer switch for in-home lighting. When you go away overnight, these lights will turn on automatically and make your home look lived in.
Burglars will opt for a home with no lights on because they generally don’t want an altercation. Meeting the homeowner could lead to them being recognized and arrested. Lights mean that the person has a higher likelihood of being home, so they’ll try to break into another building rather than your property.
If you’re going away for a few days, ask a neighbor to bring in your mail. Better yet, put a hold on it at the post office. Nothing screams ‘no one’s here’ like a pile of unopened boxes and newspapers on the doorstep.
Get an In-Home Safe
There’s always a chance of a break-in no matter how much you prepare your home. It may be a slim possibility, but it could always happen. This makes an in-home safe a critical final addition to your home security system.
If someone does bypass your monitoring and security software, they’re going to start looking for valuables inside your home. Thieves like to work fast and get in and out. They don’t want to wander around looking for hidden objects since they’re more likely to get caught if they linger.
Leaving money and valuable jewelry out in the open makes it a target. The same applies to documents like your birth certificate or social security card- identity theft is a big problem. But if you get a well-made and high-end safe, criminals aren’t going to be able to get into your things.
Just make sure that your numeric or alphabetical passcode isn’t something easy to guess like your name or birthday. Random combinations of letters or numbers are the best possible deterrent. No one is going to guess something that looks like nonsense code.
If possible, hide the safe behind a hidden bookshelf door or behind a wall under the stairs. Criminals won’t be able to find the safe even if they start wandering around the house.
Secure Your Home the Right Way
Securing your property and possessions means keeping the things you own safe. Now that you know how to deter break-ins and theft, it’s time to learn more about keeping your home crime-free. Check out the ‘appliances’ tab on our home page to learn more about the tech you can use to secure your house.
