Secure Your Home When Traveling

/ Personal Security, Travel / By

Your home can be most vulnerable to burglars when you are away.  So here are some tips to help you secure your home when traveling.burglar3

It is important to secure your home when traveling because  FBI compiles crime statistics that show:

  1. Every day, 5400 burglaries are committed in America.  That’s about one every 15 seconds.
  2. Homes are most often (74%) targeted
  3. Residential burglaries happen most often (65%) during the day

The typical burglar is a young male, living within 2 miles of your home, looking for quick cash to fund a drug habit.  California reports the highest number of burglaries each year.  Surprisingly, most often a burglar is someone that the victim knows.

Outside:

  1. During summer months, mow your lawn just before you leave.  If you will be gone more than a week, arrange to have the grass cut while you are gone.Car In Driveway
  2. In the winter, arrange to have your driveway and walkways cleared.  At a minimum, have a friend or neighbor walk back and forth a few times between the street and your door to leave tracks.
  3. If you have an unused car, park it in your driveway.

Inside:

  1. Turn off ringers on your telephones.
  2. Lock all windows, doors, gates.  Don’t forget garage doors. Disable automatic garage lifts. Also, place a padlock in the garage track to prevent its being raised.
  3. Place valuables / jewelry in a safe or your bank’s safety deposit box.

Friends:

  1. Arrange to have a friend pick up mail, deliveries, newspapers, etc. on a daily basis.
  2. Have your friend go inside periodically to be sure your HVAC is working, no leaks, flooding from broken pipes, broken windows, signs of forced entry, etc.
  3. If you don’t have a car to leave in your driveway, ask a friend to park their’s at your home.

Other:

  1. Never post to social media about an upcoming trip.  Instead, wait to share trip photos on Face Book until after you have returned home.
  2. Never write your home address on luggage tags.  Just provide your last name and cell phone number.
  3. Consider using timers on a few indoor and outdoor lights.  Set them to come on and off at various times while you are gone.

Have other tips to secure your home when you travel?  We would love to hear from you and add your ideas to the list.