During summer trip season, use this checklist to protect your property and to make your home seem occupied. These steps may discourage burglars and thieves.

Install quality locks on doors and windows. It is true that an burglar who really wants to get into your house probably can find a way, but most burglaries are crimes of opportunity committed by amateurs. This means that the harder you make it for someone to enter your house, the more likely it is a thief will not chance the attempt.

Install motion detector lights and fake security cameras on the outside of your home, or consider real closed circuit TV. Use automatic timers on inside lamps and day/night switches on outside lights. 

A week or so before you leave, set your timers so you can establish a routine while you are still home. There are even timers available that can vary the on/off times. Occasionally have a radio or TV turned on.

Don't leave valuable items where they can be easily seen from the windows. Video equipment, TVs, stereos, gun collections, etc. should be stored in cellars, closets, upstairs, or left with a family or neighbor. Equipping a storage closet with a good deadbolt lock makes a good storage area too. Leave your drapes in the normal position. Have a friend close them at night and open them at daylight, or use sheers. Sheers help to obscure the view into the house without making it obvious, as drapes would, that no one is home.

Put at least two lamps and a radio on automatic timers. Leave the bathroom light on with the door ajar to add to the idea that someone may be home. Close and lock your garage doors to prevent someone from entering through the garage. Consider putting a lock in the track of overhead garage doors. Remember, attached garages that are not kept locked provide the opportunity for an burglar to get into the garage and work in privacy at breaking into your house, perhaps even with the assistance of your own tools!

Cover your garage windows to prevent anyone from seeing the contents of your garage and see whether your car is at home. Check your homeowner's insurance policy- does it provide robbery coverage while you're staying in hotels and motels? It should. Don't let your travel plans be widely known.

Try to arrange for a house-sitter, but if you can't, provide your immediate neighbors a card with your pertinent information. If you are to be gone for an extended period, you may want a trusted neighbor to:

About the Author: Carl Ringwal

Emergency Radios and Flashlights Available at SecuritySafetySpy.com.

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