Home Security

The facts about burglary...

• More than six million residential burglaries occur every year in this country.
  That's one every ten seconds!


• Nearly half of these burglaries are committed without force — that is through
  UNLOCKED doors and windows! http://www.goldenalarm.com/assets/images/Burglary3.jpe
  
• Most of these burglaries could be prevented.


• Always lock your doors and windows even when leaving for “just a minute.”


• Never leave a house key available: under a doormat, in a flower pot, on the ledge of
  the door. These are the first places a burglar will look.


• If you would like to make life even harder for crooks — remember the
  following tips:
  • Exterior doors should have “dead bolt” locks with a 1 inch strong metal bar extending
  into the frame.
  • Sliding doors and windows should all have “ventilation” locks as well as auxiliary locks
  to bolster security.
  • Be sure to include good locks for
  garage, cellar, patio or other doors that lead out through storage areas or a spare
  room.

For more information on locks, contact your local law enforcement agency or write for
the Attorney General's Home Security Handbook.

Going Out?

• Lock all doors and windows.


• Use timers so that lights, radio, TV, go on and off throughout the house to
  indicate someone is home.


• For longer trips be sure to stop mail and newspaper delivery or have a neighbor collect
  them daily.


• In short make your house look, “LIVED IN.


• Remember, if you come home and see a broken window or a jimmied door, don’t go in.
  Confronting a burglar can be dangerous. Phone the police immediately.
  

Other Tips

• Install a wide angle lens viewer in the front door. Never open the door without knowing
  who is there.


• Consider alarm systems or trained security dogs for additional protection.


• Whenever you move to a new home, have the locks changed.

Operation I.D.
Another deterrent to “would be” burglars is Operation Identification.

• Mark your valuables with your driver’s license number preceded by the letters “CA.”


• Post Operation I.D. stickers in doors and windows to warn housebreakers
  to stay away.


• Burglars don’t want marked merchandise because it is difficult to fence and
  evidence of guilt if they are caught.


• So mark your items as conspicuously as possible without defacing them.


• Photograph those items that cannot be engraved (jewelry, silverware, antiques).


• Operation I.D. also facilitates the return of stolen property when it is recovered.
  

Don’t let them knock your block off!

• Want to know the best crime prevention tool ever invented? A GOOD NEIGHBOR!


• Law enforcement officers can’t be everywhere at once, but you and your neighbors
  can. You’re the ones who really know what’s going on in the neighborhood.


• Put that neighborhood know–how to work. It’s simple: just use your eyes and ears —
  then your telephone. If you spot something suspicious, call the police or sheriff immediately.


• Don’t try to stop a criminal yourself —it can be dangerous.


• Neighbors working together in cooperation with law enforcement make one of the best
  crime fighting teams around.


• For more information on how to start your own NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH GROUP —
  contact your local law enforcement agency or write the Attorney General’s Crime and
  Violence Prevention Center for your own Neighborhood Watch Guide.

Article by:
Daniel E. Lungren
Attorney General
Crime and Violence Prevention Center
California Attorney General’s Office

[PDF] available @ http://www.lapdonline.org/prevent_crime/content_basic_view/1175#CrimePreventioTipsfortheHome