Lock crime out of your home

Effective home security starts with properly locked doors and windows.

• Invest in quality-keyed knobs and strong, reliable locks like double-cylinder deadbolts for your front, rear and side doors.
• Secure sliding glass door, windows with keyed locking devices or put a piece of wood, broom handle or metal bar in the door/windows track.
• Make sure your windows have good locks, particularly those at ground level.
• Install a wide-angle door viewer or peephole on your front door.
• Always keep laundry rooms and storage areas outside the house locked when not in use.
• Always lock up before retiring at night or when going out, even if only for a few minutes.

Let there be light

Lighting is one of the most cost-effective deterrents to burglary.

• Keep at least one light on throughout then night inside and outside your house.
• Install exterior lighting near front, rear and side entrances, as well as in your porch, garage and all other points of entry. Make sure all entrances, porches and outside areas are well lighted at night.
• Aim some lights for areas of dense shrubs and trees that could serve as hiding places.
• Consider investing in security gadgets or devices - such as an automatic timer that switches lights on and off at preset times, and cost less than P400; motion-sensing lights or alarms, which turns on automatically as someone approaches, or exterior photoelectric sensor lights that automatically turns on at night and off at daytime.
• Report missing or busted streetlights or poor street lighting to concerned authorities.

Snip crime at the bud

Proper landscaping can help make your home burglar-free.

• Trim any shrubs, brushes or trees that hide doors and windows or could conceal criminal activity near these areas.
• Cut back tree limbs/branches that could be used to climb into windows.
• Aim some lights for areas of dense shrubs and trees that could serve as hiding places.
• Cut the grass regularly in your backyard and around your house to provide maximum visibility of your surroundings.
• Make sure that common areas around your house and in your street are also well maintained.

Take a second look

A little common sense can go a long way in preventing break-ins.

• Never hide your door keys under the doormat or in flowerpot. That's the first place the burglars check.
• Keep ladders and tools inside properly locked storage areas when you're not using them. They can me break-ins easier and faster.
• Draw your window and door curtains at night and when you leave the house.
• Keep your valuable property like TVs, VCRs, PCs, laptops, stereos, cameras and cellular phones away from windows.
• Train your pet dog, if you have any, as a watchdog. It can sense intruders and threats to your home and property much more effectively than most alarm systems or devices.
• Get a whistle for each member of your family/household to keep at his bedside. An ordinary toy whistle can come in handy in alerting everyone during the night or driving away intruder.
• Keep a list of Emergency Hotlines posted near your telephone and bedside. Better still, store them in your cellular phone directly and make the rest of your family do the same.
• Watch out for suspicious persons and unusual activities in your neighborhood. Report their presence immediately to any Emergency Hotline, even if no crime seems to have been committed.
• Familiarize your family/household members with Emergency Hotlines and security and safety precautions.

Don't panic

When caught by surprise, burglars can panic too and may do worse things that steal.

• If you see something out of the ordinary - like a slit screen, an open door or a broken window - when coming home, DON'T enter your house. Call any Emergency Hotline from your cellular phone or a neighbor's house.
• If you think you hear someone breaking in at night, leave your house safely if you can, then call any Emergency Hotline from outside your house. If you can't leave without being detected, lock yourself in a room with a phone or cellular phone, and call the hotline.
• If an intruder is in your room, pretend you are asleep.
• Never attempt to accost an intruder who breaks into your house. Remember that burglars can assault, hurt or take you or any of your family/household members as a hostage if someone surprises them or if they break into a house that is obviously occupied.
• If you see a prowler in your yard at night, call an Emergency Hotline, then turn on some lights inside and outside your house, and alert your family/household members.