Stay Festive, Not Fearful – Keeping Your Home Secure This Holiday Season

Ho Ho Ho, merry Christmas – Santa Claus is coming to town!

A festive shindig to attend today. A fete already scheduled at the year’s end. Everyone has gathered around in the jolly merriment, with eggnog in their hand.

So let it be known to the last-minute holiday shoppers:

Santa Claus is coming to town…

But wait, who is that who follows close behind?

The Cat Burglars!

They are sneakily walking to-and-fro, sizing your place. They are assessing if someone’s at home or not. And while you are likely to be away at this time of the year, hopping on the dizzying-dazzling busy festive schedule, they will look to capitalize on the opportunity at hand.

People are more desperate during the holidays, so we get more property crimes.

Sargent Scott Johnson explains.

In fact, according to an FBI study burglaries peak during the holiday season.

Well, it seems as if everyone agrees about a potential presence of an uninvited guest outside your home.

And what makes it even more likely?

Your Home is Likely to be Targeted This Holiday Season If…

Now this is where we dig through the confidential papers: Problem Oriented Guides for Police, Series No. 18 – Burglary of Single Family Houses.

Your home is likely to be targeted by burglars if:

• It’s located in a neighborhood populated with large group of offenders.
• It’s located in a low traffic area.
• It has previously been targeted.
• Its landscape provides ample places for thieves to hide.
• It’s empty – note that down!

Period.

So, what you can do to keep your home (and everything in it) safe and secure during this holiday season?

Bad Guys, We Are All Ready to Outsmart You!

We’ve done the homework, gathering information on what security loopholes homeowners tend to leave unaddressed, while busy attending their holiday season engagements. And based on our findings, we’ve put together a list of tips.

All you now need to do is follow them.

Tip #1: Keep your Christmas gifts out of sight

You don’t really need to stack all those gifts underneath the glowing Christmas tree. Especially, if your Christmas tree is placed right at the front of your living room – visible from the outside. By doing so, you would just be tempting the burglars.

Burglars can walk around and window shop.

Advises Ben Hayden, community relations officer for the Coralville Police Department.

Tip #2: Be wary of what you place in the bin

If keeping your Christmas gifts out of sight is important, so is the need to pay attention when disposing the packaging of received presents. Trash bins is the first place burglars look for when casing your property. You don’t have to advertise what you’ve got for Christmas.

Tip #3: Don’t forget to lock your doors and windows

Nothing too jaw-dropping here, but it’s worth reminding: Whether you are at home or not, always keep your doors and windows locked.

And there is a reason why we had to mention this so obvious precaution.

1 out of every 4 U.S homeowners don’t lock their front doors when leaving the house

Now that’s a jaw dropping statistic!

Tip #4: You don’t have to post everything on your social media

Instagramming your winter skiing experience at a ski-resort, posting a picture of your family on Facebook while enjoying Christmas Eve dinner at a relative’s home – it sounds a great idea, but it’s not what you should do.

Potential burglars keep a close eye on social media updates. They are like hawks. Any information that you post, indicating you are not present at home, it’s going to set them in action.

Captain Ron Dickerson says:

Be careful of what you post on these social networking sites. They are observing and watching you.  

Adjust your privacy settings if you can’t help it.

Tip #5: Reinforce your door security

Burglars are adept at lock picking. As such, you should do everything possible to reinforce your door security. You can install high security or double cylinder dead bolt locks. Consumers.org has got a complete list.

If you are looking for a more convenient option, then try SIMLock. It offers a great solution. It’s fairly cheap too.

Tip #6: Avoid running external light wires through a door or a window

Sure they look pretty and create a true festive atmosphere, but just be sure that their wires are not running through a door or a window. All that a burglar needs, is that little wedge of wire left behind to break into your home.

Tip #7: Always be Wary of people seeking donations at this time of the year

Don’t get us wrong, they might actually need your help but it’s always better to urge caution. Burglar often disguise themselves as donation seekers and go door to door asking for charity. However, it’s not really the donation that they seek; they are there to extract valuable information out of you.

They then use that information to determine whether they should break into your home and what would be the best time to do so.

Tip #8: Even if you are not at home, don’t let the burglars know

Remember, we asked you to note this down?

Not being home means a burglar is likely to target your property. Fake it.

You can install a smart home security system and remotely control your home lighting fixtures, blinds and even answer to a doorbell, giving an impression to a burglar that someone is at home. The security system also allows you to monitor your property through strategically placed surveillance cameras.

And well, that completes our list.

Are we forgetting something?

Yes…

We want to wish you and your family, on behalf of our team of 24 hour locksmith NYC, a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!