Recently, Delaware County experienced a new low: Burglars robbed a series of homes, all of which involved attendees to publicized funeral events. News such as this continues to remind us how ruthless criminals are and how desperate those looking to steal can really be.
While there is no way to know when a robbery may occur, these three tips may help your home stay secure while you’re away.
1. Keep Your Information Private
In the example above, we mentioned one instance where burglars took advantage of a situation when they knew those residents would be gone. Some information such as a notice in the newspaper about a funeral are important so that they are able to pay their respects – little can be done. But think about it this way: Any public information is always subject to be used against you.
In our modern age, you hear about scams online and identity theft, but how would that affect your home? A prime example would be to control your privacy settings in the applications you use online. This includes Facebook, Twitter or even Instagram. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use social media or post anything online, but be smart and take a minute to look at your settings and what is being made publicly available. Chances are if someone is looking for a resident in your area going on vacation, they can easily follow you on Instagram and see that you’re taking photos at the beach. That is, only if you’ve allowed your profile to be public, which most applications default to.
2. Going Away? Tell Someone.
Year after year, it continues to surprise me how overlooked being proactive with your local law enforcement can be. The truth is, Police want to protect you which means the more information you can provide, the safer your neighborhood will be.
Examples of this range from simple things such as suspicious activity to unfamiliar cars circling your neighborhood. But most importantly, if you’re going away, call the police and tell them you’ll be gone for a week. Your local officers will make a note to check up on your house throughout the week! Remember, your local law officers want you to be safe, so tell them you’ll be gone and your home will be that much safer.
For those who don’t want to tell the police, but are just worried about your mail getting picked up, did you know you can call your local post office and have them automatically hold your mail? That’s right, and they’ll deliver it all the date you get back!
3. Befriend Your Neighbors
Perhaps the most simple way to keep your home safe is to make those around you feel more connected to you. How could this possibly keep you safe? Quite simply, people care for those who care about them.
So perhaps you haven’t been the friendliest neighbor. Maybe you turn the lights off on Halloween. That’s okay, but make sure your neighbors know who you are. Chances are, the more they know you, the more they’ll care about you. That means increased security for your home.
While making friends as a means to an end is no way to go about life, make friends with your neighbors and they’ll share your common interest in keeping your home safe too. It’s proven that constant communication builds strong relationships. Just as keeping up with your kids on a daily basis helps foster a strong relationship, so does mingling with your neighbors. Five minutes to stop and ask how your neighbor is doing will foster a relationship, and when the time comes to go away, chances are they’ll look to you, just as you would look to them for some help picking up your mail or taking out your trash.
While you can certainly rely on a good home security system from Delco Alarms, what better security could you have than your active neighbors looking out for you just as they would look out for themselves? Build good community relationships, make yourself known to your neighbors and you’ll be more secure in the end.