HOLIDAY HOME SECURITY TIPS
Most all of us look forward to the holiday season as a time of family, sharing, and caring. But to certain factions of our society, it is “prime picking” for residential burglaries and thefts…and can easily destroy the season for all of us. With that in mind, I’d like to share some thoughts on ways that you can minimize the opportunity for the proverbial “bad guy” to turn you and your home into a victim. As we always teach, we can’t get rid of the bad guy…he will always be a part of our society…so all we can do is take away his opportunity to turn us into a victim:
- Lock doors and windows WHENEVER you leave the house.
- Determine what drapes and curtains DON’T need to be open, and keep them closed.
- Do not allow holiday gifts to be visible through outside windows.
- If traveling over the holidays, request local police to do “vacation checks” on your home.
- Plant thorny bushes in front of ground level exterior windows.
- If you have an attached garage, only unload packages from the trunk of your vehicle from inside the garage with the garage door closed.
- Use motion activated lights for outdoor lighting.
- Be alert for suspicious vehicles or people in your neighborhood.
- Never leave purchased items visible in your car…anywhere! This includes in your driveway at home.
- Packages delivered to your house should be brought in ASAP. Communicate with your trusted neighbors and work together to help each other out.
- Covert security cameras have come a long way, and can now be purchased built into outdoor lighting. Most of these are motion activated, and record the images onto an SD card, or something similar.
- Do NOT share your travel plans on social media. Watch sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc and see how many of your friends publicize that they will be traveling. This is an automatic tip to the bad guy that the home will be unoccupied. Remember what I said about opportunity…
- Set your social media settings so that only known “friends” can see your page. A bad guy with basic computer skills can look at a picture you posted (as simple as your kids playing in the toy room) and decode that to determine your address using GPS technology.
- Install a home security system. When purchased from the right vendor (I suggest local instead of national chains) they are affordable and a reliable means of protection.
We don’t want to see anyone’s holiday turn tragic, but at the same time, we also must realize that WE ARE OUR OWN FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE! As parents and grandparents, we work hard to give our children and grandchildren happy and joyous memories of the holidays. Don’t let the bad guy turn those precious memories into a nightmare.
On behalf of all of us at Sorensen, Wilder & Associates, we wish you a happy holiday season and a safe and prosperous 2023.
Stay safe and stay in touch!
SORENSEN, WILDER & ASSOCIATES
Steven S. Wilder
COO and Senior Consultant
