Vacation Home Safety: 10 Rules to Prevent a Burglary.
Unfortunately, burglars like for you to go away as much as you do. Before you leave on that jet plane - or simply head out the door for work - make sure that your home does not look like the empty house that it is.
1 Neighborly assistance. Arrange for a neighbor to collect mail, newspapers, and put out the trashcans each week. You want activity to continue at your home.
2 Turn down - or unplug - the telephone. Don't let passers-by hear a constantly ringing phone. It's a dead giveaway that no one's home - and the contents inside are ripe pickings.
3 Engage timer trickery.
Put the lights (and maybe the TV or a radio) on a timer to echo the sounds of daily family life in your absence.
4 Driveway drive-by. Either leave your car - or ask a neighbor to park his - in your driveway or out front of your home in your absence.
5 Prevent window-shopping. Remove valuables from plain view from a window.
6 Curtains to burglary. Leave curtains and blinds as they usually are when you are at home.
7 Secure valuables. Put valuables in a safe deposit box well out of sight.
8 Airport (or work) car care. If you leave your car at the airport or at work in an unsecured lot, be sure to remove papers from the dash that show your name and/or address. Why ask for trouble when chances are, it could find you anyway without you assistance?
9 Secure the surroundings. Lock all windows and doors (including the garage door.)
10 Invite a friend. To help out with the `we're home' ruse, that is. Have her stop by regularly to open or close curtains, turn off or on non-timer lights, and to generally just move things around enough to show that someone's home.
