BURGLARY PREVENTION- Don’t Be a Summer Burglary Victim

Summer, with the longer days, more people on vacation, and windows open for ventilation is prime time for burglaries. Burglaries are 11% more likely to occur in the summer than in the winter. Most burglaries happen during the day between 10am and 3pm. Here are some things you can do to prevent burglary to your home:

• Install lights by all exterior doors, use lights at night, install outside light fixtures where bulbs are hard to reach. Lights, especially those covering where you park your cars, if you park them outside, helps prevent car prowls. Having your lights on timers gives the impression that you are around, even when you are away on a trip.
• Trim shrubs back from doors and windows. Don’t give burglars places to hide.
• Close the garage door and cover windows so no one can see inside.
• Hide the garage door opener from open view in your car.
• Always lock your doors and windows.
• Use dead bolt door locks on exterior doors and double cylinder dead bolt locks if glass is within 3’ of the lock.
• Add auxiliary track-type locks, removable drop bars, wooden dowels, or pinning devices to windows and sliding glass doors.
• Upgrade locks to defeat bump keying. Bump keying is a technique to pick a lock by using a specially designed blank key for specific locks. This technique has been recently recognized as vulnerability in modern locks.
• Trim tree branches 7’ off the ground, prune shrubs to under 3’ from the ground.
• While on vacation hire a house sitter, ask neighbors to help with your trash bins and newspaper, park a neighbor’s car in your driveway, use timers on indoor lights to give the impression you are home.

For more information about burglary prevention go to:

Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office:

http://snohomishcountywa.gov/DocumentCenter/Home/View/443