Seven ways to secure your home against burglars

IT is no longer news that burglary has become a worrisome experience for many people. Sadly, many have lost lots of valuables, properties, suffered great damage to their properties and consequently left to nurse psychological wounds. Some people, also reportedly lost their lives when they tried to confront the unwanted guests or happened on the scene.

Burglary, otherwise known as housebreaking is an unlawful entry into a building or a location for the purposes of committing an offence. Unknown to many people, the act which is the most common crime act is the easiest to prevent. It happens at the home and the break-in usually happens when the homeowner(s) is not around.

A Lagos-based security expert, Mr Festus Abiola, described burglary as a frightening and dangerous crime, adding that, “It comes in any form of home invasion, where robbers force their way into an occupied home or any apartment to commit robbery.”

He added that, “This can only be avoided through vigilance and putting in place adequate security measures. We have discovered that the perpetrators could either be from within or outside. This is why people must always be on the alert, especially when they are indoor whether in day time or at night. Most Importantly, people should also avoid noise, such as high volume of radio or TV or heavy sound of generator. This will enable one pick suspicious sounds around the home.”

There are lots of measures to be put in place to boost home security and make house burglary-resistant without much stress. The following includes the some of the easiest ways to secure your family and home safe from burglars:

Fence: Building a fence is a superb way to keep unwanted visitors off your property. Also, an open chain-link or ornamental metal fencing seems to be a secured ideal in preventing any form of lifting. Solid fences can be easier to climb and offer thieves a place to hide, though some homeowners prefer them to privacy and noise reduction, but one can be better secured by having sharp pointed tops, rougher look or barbed wire.

Doors and Locks: This is one of the first steps that will make any home more difficult to enter. Burglars will simply bypass your home, if it requires too much effort than they possess. Most burglars go through the front, back doors. This is why it is important to invest in quality doors and locks which will give burglars hard times or no entry into your home. It is always good to keep your home intact with good locks whether when you are indoor or outside which tends to avoid any vacuum that could give anyone clue or easy access to gain entry into your vicinity or your apartment.

Lighting and CCTV: Installing sensor lighting and CCTV cameras will, no doubt, aid the security of any home. Shine a spotlight on a potential intruder before he can even touch your doors or windows by adding extra lighting with motion detectors, such as CCTV at entrances and especially dark corners of your home.

Neighbours: Having a cordial relationship with your neighbours tends to be lower crime in tight-knit communities, because neighbours are more likely to look out for each other and can easily spot a stranger. Neighbours can be one of your best assets in home crime prevention because they offer extra eyes and an outside perspective. More so, a well-lighted neighbourhood will likely prevent burglars from an area, or even make it very difficult anyone to perpetrate any evil.

Windows: According to research, this is one of the avenue burglaries are carried out successfully, because windows are usually left unlocked and open more times than doors. The ground floor windows are more susceptible to break-ins for obvious reasons, while upper floor windows become attractive if they can be accessed from a stairway, tree, fence, or by climbing on balconies. Windows have latches, not locks and therefore should have secondary blocking devices to prevent sliding them open from the outside. Inexpensive wooden dowels and sticks work well for horizontal sliding windows and through-the-frame pins work well for vertical sliding windows. The more people are painstaking with the opening and closure of their windows, the safer they are from theft.

Alarm Systems: Alarm systems definitely have a place in a home security plan and are effective, if used properly. They deter burglaries because it increases the potential and fear of being caught and arrested by the police.

Dog: Dog has long been a cited method of maintaining a safe home and preventing burglars. Burglars are much more likely to target a home that does not have a dog. In fact, large dogs are intimidating because of their appearance and pitch of their bark. It should be noted that while having a dog in the home is an additional measure to guarding against burglary.

Additional information from crimedoctor.com