Whether you live alone or with a family, your home is your sanctuary. It’s a place where the most valuable people and things in your life are, which is why, naturally, you want to feel safe in it. One of the ways to achieve this is by making your home a less likely target for any burglar or maniac out there. Fortunately, there are some steps you can take to improve your home security. Here are some of them.
Get Cameras
If you get CCTV cameras, you’ll be able to monitor and record anybody moving around your home or peeping through your windows. Furthermore, one common issue these days are packages that get delivered to you while you’re away, but regularly go missing before you return home. A way for you to put a stop to these ‘porch pirates’ is by keeping track of what’s going on at home, even while you’re not there. This is why you should opt for one of the smart camera systems that cater to all your safety-related needs. This means that, for example, you can use an app on your phone to see things through your camera in real-time, but also that the camera produces high-definition images so that you can actually see the face of the person who’s entered your property and use the picture or video to report them. Furthermore, night vision is something your camera should have, as well as the two-way-talk option and plenty of clouds or local storage, so that you don’t lose anything important due to the low memory capacity of your camera.
Make It Bright
It’s much easier for anybody to approach your home, observe if you’re there and what you’re doing, or actually break-in when it’s dark. This is why you should make it more complicated for burglars by placing lights in strategic positions all-around your property. That way there’s a higher chance you or somebody else will see a person or people walking around your home at night. It’s crucial that you don’t only cover the front of your home, but the backyard and the pathways, too. In addition, make sure that your garage or any other outdoor structures you own aren’t in the dark either. Motion-sensor lights are recommended, but you should also invest in smart lighting, so that you can switch on the lights remotely or on a schedule, making it appear you’re in even when you’re not.
Set up an Alarm System
If a burglar notices an alarm system on your home, it’s quite possible they’ll just move on, looking for a more available place to operate. And if they don’t notice it and decide to take a chance on your home, the alarm system can still protect you. Depending on the type of alarm or security system you choose, the most likely scenario is that, if anything happens, the system alerts the central monitoring station of the company that sold it to you, from which point the people from the company inform you and the authorities of the break-in or whatever else that occurred. Modern alarm systems respond similarly to other emergencies, such as fire, flood or even medical emergencies, so they are tremendously useful when it comes to the safety of your home and the people in it.
Put up a Fence
Aside from fences making you feel more sheltered and comfortable on your property, they also offer effective protection from any sort of intrusion. However, it’s essential that you decide on the right kind of fence. The short, wooden ones are more of a decorative element than a protective one. Luckily, today there are some high-quality security fences, which will do more for your home security than you might think. That’s why you should only invest in premium fencing supplies and from a supplier that will give you proper advice on which type of fence is best for you and your home. Steel or aluminium would be some good choices for fence materials, while you can opt for a swing or a sliding gate in the size you specify, for full control over who gets to enter your yard and who doesn’t
Connect with Your Neighbors
Knowing your neighbours is a good thing for a whole list of reasons. For example, they’re the ones closest to you and the ones who you will go to if you realize you’ve run out of coffee in the morning. They’re also the ones who’ll hear you scream for help if anything bad ever happens. This is why it’s important you know each other’s names and phone numbers. When you know who lives in your immediate proximity, it will also make it easy to notice a new face walking around the neighbourhood or a strange car driving slowly by your neighbours’ house, especially at times you know they aren’t home, in which case you’ll share this information with your neighbours. Logically, they will do the same for you. After all, you all have the same agenda, which is to keep your homes safe. That’s why they’ll let you or the police know if they see somebody climbing over your fence or entering your yard when you’re away.
Don’t Let People Know You’re Gone
A lot of times, it’s the owners themselves who aren’t cautious enough, making their home an easy target for burglars. Doing something that seems benevolent to you can be an invitation for somebody who is just looking for an empty house to raid. So, if you’re letting your friends know you’re on vacation via social networks, you’re also advertising your home as empty to people you don’t even know who is following you online. Even if you’re just going somewhere for a few hours, by posting a real-time photo of your family having dinner in a restaurant across town, you’re actually telling somebody they have just enough time to enter your home, take what they need and leave. Furthermore, don’t tell your plans to door-to-door salesmen or anybody else of that sort, no matter how friendly and chatty they are. Finally, bear in mind that piled-up mail and promotional material on your porch or in your mailbox are a clear sign nobody’s been home for days. Therefore, if you’re going away for a while, ask one of your neighbours or relatives to pick up your mail and just check your home for anything out of the ordinary, just to stay on the safe side.
Your home is where you keep everybody and everything you hold dear and it’s understandable that you’re keen on keeping it as safe as possible. By following the excellent advice above, you’ll enhance the safety of your possessions, but more importantly, the members of your family. If you start paying more attention to your home security today, you might avoid an unpleasant and frightening situation in the future.