How to keep your home safe and secure

Your home should provide all its occupants with a strong feeling of comfort and safety. But how do you achieve a secure home without fortifying it? ADT Security Services Director Christian Dorau explains that you don’t need to kit out your home with fierce or fancy security gadgets. By employing a commonsense approach, following a few standard rules, and getting a basic security system, you can adequately ward off thieves and guard your property.

Functioning locks

Ensure the windows and doors all have working locks. Dorau suggests that keeping windows and doors locked, even when you are home, is a positive habit to keep. He also advises that home occupants remember to secure the shed or garage with adequate locks. Thieves steal tools, not just television sets, and could use items in the shed or garage to help break into your property.

Assess weaknesses

“Think like a thief and take a walk around your property to assess it for weak spots,” says Dorau. Ask yourself:

• Would a thief think your neighbourhood was an affluent area, worthwhile to scope out and rob?
• Will a thief know you are away on holidays because your bins are not out on bin day, your mailbox is overflowing, and your car is parked in the same spot for weeks?
• Do you have gifts or expensive items, like an iPad, near a window, enticing a thief to break in and grab?

Once you know your weak spots, make a plan and find ways to strengthen them.

Lighting

Motion detector lighting located around the exterior of your home can deter thieves and boost your feeling of security.

But, Dorau says you don’t have to have a home that looks like a well-lit fortress, and adds that lighting can be very elegant.

He recommends installing strong floodlights at the back and sides of the building you are securing, and discrete lighting at the front of the property.

Landscaping

Ensure the property’s surrounding landscape does not include natural ladders for thieves to climb on and get into higher parts of the house. Keep trees a distance from the walls of your property and trim hedges to ensure no thief can hide in them.

Garbage

Your garbage is an indicator of the items of value you have in the house.

“Burglars scoping out a neighbourhood will see that you just made a high-end electronics purchase if you leave the box your giant television came in near the bins,” he says. Break up the packaging and place it in the recycling bin instead.

Social media

Thieves use Facebook too. Ensure you don’t publicise the contents, location and availability of your property on social media sites. Omit the details of your departure for a holiday from Twitter and avoid posting photos of new purchases online.

Security systems

Install a monitored security system that combines alarms, cameras and motion sensors to monitor specific zones or the whole property. Alarms can be activated even when the home is occupied. Once a sensor device picks up motion, the system can send you an automated text message and video clip, kept in the cloud, revealing details of the motion perceived.

The first aim of a home security system, Dorau explains, is to deter thieves from your home and minimise loss.

“Most importantly, they are about avoiding confrontation with a burglar. These systems protect the home and its inhabitants by sensing and letting you know who is in the house and where.”

“Home security and safety is not about being paranoid. It’s about being responsible. So be proactive: having a feeling of security can enhance your lifestyle.”