Who is watching you at night?
It’s easy to think of burglars as masters of deception and cunning; athletic types that have skeleton keys and special ways to gain entry. In the main, burglars are simply criminals looking for an opportunity. If you offer them a chance of breaking into your home, you can be sure they will strike.
Thinking like a burglar is one of the best ways to prevent the distress of a break-in at home. If you know how to gain entry to your house without a key, beware; the burglar is probably aware of the same access points too!
Lawful Entry
Breaking into your own home is not a crime, and being able to shimmy up a drainpipe can save some embarrassing situations. How many times have we locked ourselves out, only to remember the key we’ve hidden under a rock ‘just in case’?
While climbing through your toilet window makes for a good anecdote, your ability to gain entry won’t have gone unnoticed by intruders. In fact, they’ve probably scoped out your house already and spotted this simple alternative entrance. If you’ve forced a door open, or climbed a fence, imagine how easy it would be for a burglar to do the same thing under cover of darkness.
Sensible Precautions
Locking all of your doors and windows is the easiest way to prevent an opportunist burglar. If you get in the habit of closing them before bed, you’ll start to develop a more secure night time routine. Make sure you store all keys away from the front door so that they can’t be fished through the letterbox, and keep your window keys near the window, but out of sight.
Never hide keys outside under stones or plant pots, as this is the first place a burglar will look. If you really need a spare outside, invest in a key safe and have it securely fixed to the wall in an inconspicuous place.
Security Tech
Opportunist burglars look for easy burglaries that won’t lead to them being caught and identified. There are two ways to deter them using technology: fitting an alarm system, and like many residents in Purley who are installing CCTV.
Alarms act as a deterrent because of the obvious noise, and because the burglar can’t tell if the alarm is linked to a control centre. CCTV deters the burglar from approaching the property because they’ll want to avoid getting caught on camera. Not only could this identify them, but it could prove they were somewhere they shouldn’t have been.
If you want to go further, you can do other things to improve your home security. Change the locks, particularly patio door locks that may be susceptible to being snapped open. Install security lights front and back; modern LED lights take batteries and can be installed in a couple of minutes.
Finally, invite an expert supplier like Angel Security to do a security audit. They may spot some surprising weak points in your home security plan, while making suggestions to make it more robust.
Inexpensive Changes
Changing your routine, and improving security, need not be expensive of inconvenient. Angel Security can suggest small improvements, or more major work to implement new equipment – whatever you can afford.
For more information, or to arrange a free visit, contact us today. When it comes to home security, it pays to be proactive so that your family and possessions are never put at risk.
