Lower Your Home’s Curb Appeal: When a burglar looks at your home from the street – do they see an easy target? Or do they see a clean Alarm sign, window decals in good shape, strong locks, no places to easily hide around a home that looks like it may be occupied. Homes with Alarm systems are about three times less likely to be burglarized than homes that do not have a security system. So having an alarm system is a good place to start. If you have an expensive flat panel TV, a guitar collection or other valuables, you may want to close the blinds in these rooms. There are numerous articles on how to make your home look “occupied” that can give you some good ideas that are easy to follow.

Security Lifestyle: Being aware of security and protecting your family, home and business does not have to be difficult. Many of the steps required to “toughen” your home and avoid a burglary are essentially one time steps such as installing a deadbolt lock on the front door. It doesn’t take any longer to lock a good lock than it does to lock a cheap – in the door knob lock that can be easily defeated. Equally important most things like security lighting need to be automated. Whether you choose motion activated outdoor lighting or photo- cell controlled lights that turn on when it gets dark – they can be simple automated systems. Lights that turn on when the alarm system is set off also should be automated. Even the control of your security system should be as simple as possible or you may not end up using the system. Most of our customers want a system that can armed with either their keypad or even remotely by their blackberry or I-phone. Protecting your home and family should require about 1 minute per day – so that it becomes an easy habit for you to maintain.

Layered Defensive Systems: If you study the countries such as Israel that know the most about security they all use a layered defensive approach to their security. This does not mean that you have to go overboard with this concept. The first layer is visual deterrence which makes the home or business look like a difficult target so burglars go somewhere else. The next layer is physical deterrence with good locks on the doors, locked windows and lighting. The third layer is electronic deterrence with a working alarm system – with the yard sign and window decals. The final layer is a safe that is bolted to the floor.

Install quality Locks and Use them: Make sure you have quality deadbolt locks on your doors and double check to see that door and the door frame are strong – a strong lock on a weak door or frame is a waste of money. When you go out or go to bed at night walk the home or business and double check everything is locked up tight. Use your locks when you are at home during the day as well as at night or when you go out. Most burglaries do occur in the daytime during workdays. If you move into a new home – change the lock cylinders and get new keys. Lately, we have been using the new security films on store windows and we have seen these windows stand up to bricks and even a large hammer. There are new digital locks that are very strong and are easy to use.

Alarm Systems that offer Real Protection: Ideally, the presence of a good alarm system will stop a burglar from even trying to break into a home. We like to create a perimeter system that covers all the accessible doors and windows to stop a burglar while they are still outside the home. This way you can move freely within your home and have a system that is highly resistant to false alarms. It is a good idea to have a cellular link to the monitoring station so there is no way a burglar can cut the phone line. Systems that do not cover the windows or protect the phone line – may not be protecting you properly. The system has to be easy to use or many people will not bother to use their alarm system.

Get a Safe and Bolt it to the Floor: There are safes that have digital keypads that can opened in a couple of seconds that will secure your jewelry, credit cards, passport, spare car keys and other valuable objects. If you keep a loaded handgun in your home – you should lock it up in a gun safe that opens with a biometric reader or palm combination lock. If you need a lot of storage for a low cost, a large gun safe can be used to lock up sterling silver or other big items. It is surprising how many people pass through a home such as cleaning people, the exterminator, rug cleaning firms, friends of your children and even guests at a party. If you lock up the jewelry and other valuables – then you don’t have to worry about them.

Identity Theft and Privacy: A decent shredder only costs around $60 and should be used on anything with your name, account numbers or other private information on it. Sooner or later someone will probably go through your garbage – and just think what kind of person would do this. Speaking of Garbage – when you throw out the box for the new LED TV – you may want to cut up the box and not advertise that you just unpacked an expensive product that someone may want to steal. Many people are investing in a credit protection – monitoring service. Equally important if you have a laptop computer, I-phone or black-berry do not leave them in the car. It is often a good idea to stop pre-approved credit card offers from coming to your mailbox. There is the Direct Marketing Association – do not mail list and the 1-800-5OPT-OUT to stop pre-approved credit card offers. If you live on a rural route you can get a locking mailbox – where the mail comes in the top and you need a key to open the locking section.

Face Book, Twitter and the Internet: You may have to remind your children (and yourself) that it is a good idea to be careful about what you put on the Internet. If you are going on a two week vacation to Hawaii – it would not be wise to tell everyone when you are going and when the house will be empty. Teenage children are sending a variety of interesting text messages today – remind them that anything sent electronically can be shared with entire Internet – forever.

Stop Burglaries, Thefts and Problems Before They Happen: Working in the security industry we often see families and businesses after there has been a problem. The price of the items stolen is just the beginning. Often the bigger cost is the lost of intellectual property – such as the information on a laptop, checks, credit cards, family heirlooms and business information that may be on a computer. Sadly, many of the things that get stolen can never be replaced. Equally damaging are the mental or emotional costs of having your home invaded. Protecting your home or business is not that hard. The positive side of protecting your home and business is peace of mind. When you know your home is well protected you can sleep better and worry less. If there is a windy night and a tree branch makes a noise – you won’t be wondering if it is a burglar. Most important, you can do a good job of protecting your family so they can focus on the nicer things in life.