Holidays are a time to unwind from your rigorous daily schedule and spend quality time with family, friends, and acquaintances. Most people seize the opportunity to go on family trips; others would rather indulge their various recreational hobbies or visit age-long friends and extended families. While you’re on a road trip, at the beach, or relaxing in the luxury of a five-star hotel on an island, the security of your house or office should never be in doubt.
Burglary cases and break-ins usually spike during winter holidays. The FBI reports that a burglar attacks a home every 26 seconds across the US – an enormous 2.5 million cases a year.
During the holidays, most families leave their homes and offices to travel to their various vacation spots, often without taking adequate security precautions to prevent a break-in. The situation becomes worse when these homes are not equipped with adequate safety measures because they’re susceptible to break-ins from criminal elements who’d most likely have a filled day at the office. Well, I’m sure that’s not what you want. But here’s the question you should answer before hopping on the flight to your holiday destination.
What Makes Your House Vulnerable To Burglary?
How Can You Protect Your Home While On Holidays?
In this article, Silent Beacon serves you the best tips on how to prepare for a safe holiday and prevent your home from being burgled while you’re away.
Ten Mistakes that Make your House Vulnerable to Burglary
Holidays are for relaxing, but that’s not an excuse to let your guard down or soften your security consciousness.
The cheers and merry of the festive seasons are luring enough to distract even the most focused personality.
This is why it is advisable to pay extra attention to the safety of your homes and properties during holidays. Here are the biggest mistakes to avoid during this holiday.
1. Leaving your Christmas Tree visible through Windows: Yes, we know you’re happy to display your gigantic Christmas tree and how shimmering the lights and ornaments combine to show your holiday spirit (we’d love to see it too). However, exhibiting your Christmas tree through windows with expensive gifts around it could attract unwanted and uninvited guests. If your Christmas tree is set up in a room, ensure to shut the curtains and lock windows to block the view from the outside.
2. Hiding a Key to your home: Sometimes, in trying to be security conscious, we end up making things a tad too easy for burglars. Most people tend to keep their keys at strategic spots where they can easily retrieve them. However, this is terrible safety practice as most experienced burglars know all the various places keys can be hidden and might easily sniff it out and let themselves in.
3. Announcing holiday plans on Social Media: Oftentimes, we get excited about our plans for the holiday and spill the news to our online mutuals. Most social media content can be accessible to many user accounts, and one cannot tell who might be viewing your page or trailing you.
4. Leaving Door Notes for Delivery Couriers: It’s a good idea to leave a note (when you’re not home) telling delivery drivers not to put packages on your front door; however, it also confirms your absence to criminals. Instead of using a door note, contact the delivery company directly and provide this information.
5. Not locking your Windows firmly: One of the most popular entry points for burglars is an unlocked window. Before going to bed or leaving the house, double-check that all windows and doors are shut and locked.
6. Leaving Electrical wires through Doors and Windows: While decorating our homes for the holidays, you might need to run electrical cables through windows and doors. This practice leaves the door or window ajar and easy to breakthrough. Burglars might look out for partially open windows around the house to gain entry.
7. Leaving the wrong voicemail on your answering machine: Voicemail recordings are necessary to notify callers that you’re away for a while, but it could be dangerous too. Burglars can easily get your contact by looking up your address and calling to verify if you’re at home during the holidays, and your Voicemail recording will signal them that you’re not around.
8. Leaving your gift packaging on display: So, you got a new microwave and a brand new 4K TV and other gifts for the holidays, and you cannot wait to start using them. Ensure not to keep the empty packaging boxes of your gifts out for everyone to know there is a new gadget in the house (better not to tempt the devil).
9. Making it obvious that you’re not at home: A lack of visible activity, snowy doorways, and an empty garage is another way to tell that the house is deserted. You could ask your pals to occasionally clear your entrance while you’re away or install an automated lighting system to light up your compound and garage at night.
10. Allowing uninvited guests into your home: The festive season’s merriment can be overwhelming, and we sometimes give access to more visitors while collecting food and gift donations. In the same way, burglars can pose as neighborhood residents bearing gifts to gain entry into your house and study what you have inside.
Holiday Burglary Prevention Tips
Protecting your home from intruders during the holidays, whether you’re at home or on vacation, is one essential part of ensuring a merry holiday season. Let’s look at the best safety practices that can easily prevent your home from a burglar attack during the holidays:
- Ensure that you install secondary locks (e.g., window pins, deadbolts, etc.) on your doors and windows. Make sure to have them all locked at night or when you’re leaving the house.
- Place your Christmas tree and holiday gifts in enclosed areas that are not easily visible outside the house.
- Instead of hiding your spare keys around the house, give them to a trusted neighbor or friend.
- Keep your driveway or garage busy by asking your neighbors to use it while you’re away. I bet they won’t reject the offer.
- Call or email your newspaper delivery and postal companies to inform them about your unavailability or reschedule your delivery packages to a later time when you’re at home.
- Ensure to install timers for your lights and decorations to give your home a life-like feel and make people think someone is inside.
- Install security surveillance cameras around your home, and set up alarm systems for your doors, windows, and garages. This is the easiest way to deter a burglar from breaking into your house.
- Make sure to not broadcast your holiday and vacation plans on social media, so you don’t signal to the wrong person that you’re currently not at home.
- Secure valuable items, gifts, and documents using a safe box and lock. Another alternative is leaving them with a trusted friend or neighbor while you’re away.
- Avoid exposing your holiday vacation or date plans in public where strangers can pick up information about your whereabouts during the holidays.
Conclusion
The holidays are a joyful time for families and friends to get together, but it can also be an especially dangerous time of the year.
Before going over your list of possible holiday destinations and booking hotels, be sure to equip the safety measures we’ve highlighted in this article. While you’re at it, you’ll also need to beef up your security (especially if you’re traveling to a location you’re not used to).
Silent Beacon wearable personal safety device offers a range of features to keep you safe. With a push of a button, this Bluetooth-powered security gadget can simultaneously send text messages, emails, push alerts, and phone calls to chosen contacts and emergency services. Remember, holiday crime prevention starts with a proper safety plan.
