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Your home is your safe space where you keep all your valued possessions including your family and loved ones.
Unwanted individuals gaining unauthorised access into your property is a distressing experience that leaves the victims not just under a financial burden but also severe emotional and mental stress.
Burglaries are one of the most common crimes committed in the UK with over 402,000 reported cases in the years 2019/20, making them a cause for serious concern among homeowners in the country.
What can you do to make your homes safer? How can you protect yourself and your family from the adverse effects of such crimes? Here is a list of our top tips and tricks to burglar-proof your home:
THINK LIKE A BURGLAR
Yes, you read that right. The first step towards protecting your home against burglaries is to understand how they are carried out, which is best achieved by thinking like a burglar and looking for evident signs of weaknesses and vulnerabilities around the property.
Take out the time to go around your house, including the shed and garage, and see if they are easy to break into.
For a better idea, pretend you’re an intruder and try to break into your own house. If you are successful in doing so, know that there’s a lot to be done security-wise.
Carefully assess all the main entry points, including all the front, back, and side doors and windows, and ensure that they are strong enough to withstand and deter forced intrusions.
REINFORCE YOUR DOORS AND WINDOWS
Doors and windows are the most common and popular entry point for burglars with around 67% of them using the front door to break in, which is why a strong front door reinforced with good quality locks is one of the simplest ways to ward them off.
When casing a house as a potential target, one of the first things that burglars look for is ease of access, which can best be achieved through compromised doors and windows.
Therefore, if you want to keep unwanted visitors out of your home, you must ensure your doors and windows are made of a strong material such as wood, composite, or uPVC, and that they are reinforced with good quality locks and steel bars if needed.
Also, if you are moving into a new house, make sure you change all the locks before you bring in all your possessions. This way, you can be sure that no one else, other than the people you have given access to, can enter your home without your permission.
You can also take this opportunity to upgrade to better quality, more technologically advanced locking mechanisms, which takes us to our third tip to burglar-proof your home.
INVEST IN GOOD QUALITY LOCKS
The quality and strength of your locks are a crucial determining factor in how secure your home is against intrusions and burglaries.
There are several types of locks for both doors and windows, and some of the best ones include the trusted deadbolts, mortice locks, rim locks, lever locks, and anti-snap cylinder or Euro locks.
If you wish to take your home security a step further, we recommend investing in keyless entry systems for your home.
What are keyless entry systems? Keyless entry systems, also called access control systems, are used to manage and control access into a property using a variety of authentication methods such as access cards, codes, fobs, biometrics, and smartphones to grant or deny access.
They eliminate the need for keys and, when used in homes, offer much ease and convenience to the homeowners since they don’t have to worry about lost, stolen, or misplaced keys.
If they feel as if the access credentials are compromised, they can simply withdraw access and change them within seconds, as opposed to having the locks rekeyed or replaced with traditional locking systems.
In addition to providing more ease of access to your family and friends, keyless entry systems also allow you to track the access of users, enabling you to keep a check on who entered your house and when such as the cleaners and any service providers that you’ve given access to.
SECURE THE PERIMETER
People have been building walls and putting up gates to keep their properties safe throughout history and will continue to do so.
Perimeter security is an important part of home security and starts with carefully assessing the boundary of your home and identifying all the high-risk areas. For large houses, it might help to use drawings or a design plan to use as a reference.
You must identify all the entry points into your property that include all the doors, windows, gates, and openings, and check to see for any vulnerabilities, such as low walls and broken fences.
You must give special attention to your garden, shed, and garage, and make sure they are given as much attention, security-wise, like the rest of the house.
You can reinforce the boundary wall of your home using spiky defensive plants and security alarms with motion sensors, which we will discuss in a bit.
INSTALL SECURITY LIGHTS
Burglars hate being in the spotlight and actively avoid targeting well-illuminated houses and properties for the fear of attracting attention.
Using security lights to keep the outdoor area of your house properly lit is an effective burglary deterrent and keeps potential criminals at bay by not only indicating that the house is occupied but also making the intruders actions visible to you and your neighbours.
You can install motion-activated security lights anywhere including the house’s exterior and the garage, shed, and garden.
These lights turn on as soon as someone sets foot under them and alert the homeowners of movement on their property or of an intrusion.
You can also use timers on the security lights that enable them to automatically turn on at a set time every day and allow you to control them remotely via a mobile phone app.
These features can be extremely useful, especially when you are away from your home and want to make it appear as if you are inside.
HIDE YOUR VALUABLES
If a burglar can’t see anything worth stealing in your house, chances are that they won’t target your property and risk breaking in.
Keeping this in mind, you must always hide your valuables from plain view since leaving them out in the open might attract unwanted attention.
Avoid leaving cash, keys, expensive gadgets, and other high-value items near the doors and windows since they become easy to access and steal.
Try to keep the curtains drawn and the blinds closed to avoid stalkers and potential burglars from peeking inside your home and targeting specific items of value, such as your laptop left on the table near the window or the television in the living room.
Also, don’t leave expensive tools and equipment out in the garden and make sure to securely lock them in the shed after you’re done using them.
Burglars don’t usually come equipped with tools and rely on things lying around in your house, such as furniture, ornaments, ladders, and crowbars, to help them break in.
Therefore, it is best to not keep tools, equipment, and valuable items in plain sight to simply not give potential burglars the incentive to break in.
GET A SECURITY SAFE FOR YOUR HIGH-VALUE POSSESSIONS
Seasoned burglars know exactly what to steal and where to look, and are aware of all the common hiding places that homeowners use to keep their valuables.
No matter where you keep your valuables hidden – under the mattress or inside your closet – an experienced criminal is sure to find them.
Therefore, the best idea is to steer clear of these well-known hiding places and, instead, invest in a sturdy home security safe that won’t just make unauthorised access impossible but also keep your valuables safe from the risk of floods and fires.
Security safes can be used to store a variety of things including cash, jewellery, watches, guns, debit and credit cards, and personal documents such as birth certificates and bank statements.
There are various types of home safes available for you to choose from and they come in a range of locking mechanisms such as traditional key locks, digital locks, combination locks, and biometric ones.
BE FRIENDLY WITH YOUR NEIGHBOURS
Getting to know your neighbours and establishing good relationships with them may not only make your stay a pleasant one but also help deter burglars since a close-knit neighbourhood where everyone looks out for one another is what keeps such threats away.
Your neighbours will get used to seeing the type of visitors you get and common behaviours around your home, such as delivery men or service providers working inside the property.
They can easily spot when something is amiss and will alert you instantly if they suspect something. You can also rely on them to respond to your security alarms if you are away from home and have a bells-only system.
When you are travelling and your home is empty, you can ask your neighbours to keep a close eye and do certain things that give the illusion of the house being occupied, such as mowing the lawn and picking up your mail.
Also, if you don’t already have one, consider forming a neighbourhood watch scheme that can help reduce crime, create more awareness, and discuss any suspicious activities around the neighbourhood.
GET A DOG
If you didn’t already have enough reasons to get a dog, we are giving you another one. They are great for security purposes and are one of the oldest burglary deterrents out there.
Dogs have been used to guard property and livestock for centuries and are trusted upon by millions around the globe for protection against threats.
Dogs are inherently curious and love sniffing around. This quality of theirs, coupled with proper training, can be used to pick up on suspicious behaviours around the property.
They are also quick to react and develop what you call a territorial instinct, making them extremely loyal to their owners.
While some dog breeds are better at being security dogs than others, almost all mutts have a natural tendency to bark at strangers and unusual behaviours.
Some security dogs also have a natural hunting tendency that, if triggered, doesn’t just make them bark at criminals but also attack them if need be.
While dogs are a great addition to home security, they alone cannot be relied upon to stop burglars from breaking into your home.
It is becoming difficult to outsmart burglars using basic security measures which is why you should consider investing in a home security system that includes burglar alarms and CCTV cameras for maximum protection.
INSTALL A SECURITY ALARM SYSTEM
Burglar alarms are one of the most effective burglary deterrents that don’t just keep criminals away from your house but also scare them away if they try to break in.
They work using different types of sensors, such as door and window sensors, vibration detectors, and passive infrared (PIR) detectors which, when placed in the right places, detect intrusions and sound a loud siren-like noise, often accompanied with flashing lights, to bring attention towards the intruders.
If a burglar knows that your house is alarmed, they would most definitely stay away and not try to break into it, which is why you must invest in one and make it clear to passers-by by putting up signs or window stickers.
You can either opt for a basic burglar alarm system that relies on people nearby to respond to it or go for one with more advanced features such as professional monitoring and notification alerts.
PUT YOUR HOME UNDER CCTV SURVEILLANCE
CCTV (Closed-Circuit Television) cameras have become a common sight around the world with millions of businesses and homeowners relying on them for constant surveillance of their properties.
They are one of the most effective burglary deterrents available in the market today that not only deter criminals but also provide valuable evidence in the form of recorded CCTV footage.
The reason that burglars avoid targeting homes under CCTV surveillance is that they fear being recorded on camera and getting identified and caught.
In addition to working as a crime deterrent with recorded evidence, CCTV cameras provide many other benefits to homeowners such as allowing them to monitor family members and deductions on their insurance premiums.
There are many different types of CCTV cameras to choose from and the type you choose for your home security depends on various factors such as the placement of the cameras (indoors or outdoors), the lighting conditions, the field of view, the camera’s resolution, and most importantly, what exactly you wish to monitor.
Regardless of the type of camera you choose, there are certain features that you must look for that include motion detection, mobile notifications, remote monitoring, night vision, wi-fi capabilities, two-way communication, local or cloud storage, and weather-proof and tamper-proof casing for outdoor use.
While you are allowed to use CCTV cameras on your domestic property, there are certain laws and legal requirements that you must adhere to, especially if you intend to monitor areas outside the boundary of your house.
Your use of CCTV cameras must be as transparent as possible to the people around you, which can best be achieved by putting up signs that the area is under surveillance.
Also, you must place the cameras in a way that they don’t infringe on your neighbour’s privacy and take full responsibility for the system and its recordings, ensuring that the information is not used for any purpose other than security.
CONSULT WITH A HOME SECURITY EXPERT
At Calder Security, we provide a comprehensive range of security solutions that include not just professional installation but also monitoring, maintenance, and repair services.
We are experts in the field of home security and can recommend the best security solutions to burglar-proof your home and make it safe from all kinds of threats.
We are members of the Master Locksmith Association (MLA), approved members of the Security Systems and Alarms Inspection Board (SSAIB), and also conform to all the relevant British and EU Standards.
We follow all the best practices in the industry and install only high-quality, state-of-the-art security systems that include:
Contact us here or call us on 0800 612 9799 to talk to our home security experts right away!
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash