5 Best Ways to Deter Burglars From Your Home
Make Your Home Uninviting to Burglars
Burglars, like most people, look for opportunities that offer the highest reward for the lowest risk. Unlike burglars, of course, most of us are law-abiding citizens who live honest lives that don’t involve stealing stuff from other people’s homes. Burglary is one of the most common types of property crime in the U.S. and is defined by the FBI as “the unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or theft”. To lower their chances of getting caught, burglars often choose the properties they wish to target carefully.
What Burglars Look For
Homes that offer ease of access to valuable items and have minimal security protection are prime targets for thieves. Professional burglars are known to “case” houses before making their move, spending hours, days, or sometimes even weeks observing activity patterns, security features, and the easiest routes to get in and out of homes without detection. High fences and vegetation around your house can provide cover for burglars—while predictable schedules, low amounts of traffic, and signs that nobody is home can all make your house more appealing to burglaries.
By adding security features and making it more difficult for burglars to move around your home without being seen or heard, you can greatly reduce the chances of your home being targeted by burglars. Here are five deterrents that have the potential to make would-be burglars think twice about trying to enter your property
1. Dogs
In addition to making a wonderful companions, the presence of a protective canine can make it very difficult for intruders to come onto your property without getting noticed. Dogs have keen senses of smell and hearing that allow them to detect even the sneakiest of unwelcome visitors and can alert the whole neighborhood with their loud barking. Even if you don’t have a dog, simply placing a “beware of dog” sign on your fence might be enough to make a would-be burglar reconsider.
2. Alarms
One of the biggest things burglars casing a home look for is an alarm system. The settings and features of modern alarms make them very good at detecting suspicious activity around your home. If anything triggers them, they can emit a loud noise and/or notify a home security monitoring service of a potential home invasion.
3. Motion-Activated Lighting
Denying intruders the cover of darkness by installing security lighting can be an effective deterrent to nighttime burglars. These can be strategically placed around your home and set to go off after dark whenever unusual motion is detected.
4. No Easy Way In or Out
Keeping gates, garages, doors, and windows shut and locked is an easy way to make a would-be burglar’s job more difficult. Burglars always look for easy ways in and out, so by leaving your windows open or your doors unlocked, you’re making your home a very inviting target for a burglary!.
5. Home Security Monitoring Sign
If your home is protected by a home security monitoring system, make it be known. A sign outside your property will let burglars know that your home is under 24/7 watch of a home security monitoring service and has the potential to deter all but the most adamant (and foolish) of criminals.
