Houston Home Security Advice On What To Do If Someone Breaks Into Your Home

Protecting home and family is priority number one for most homeowners. Protection includes installing locks and home security systems, as well as taking practical, common sense steps to make your home less attractive to burglars. Sometimes, though, bad things happen despite every attempt to prevent them. If you are faced with a break-in, these tips from Houston home security experts Safeguard Home security can help you take the safest actions.

If your alarm system monitoring service has notified you of a break-in at your home, do not enter the house. Wait outside or at a neighbor’s house for the police to arrive. By staying outside, you avoid putting yourself in danger from intruders who may still be inside, and allow the police to investigate first. You also avoid being mistaken for the intruder, which could have even more serious consequences.

If you have a license to carry a weapon or have a weapon available to you, it could be tempting to enter the house and confront the intruder. Remain outside the house and keep your weapon in its place. If the police arrive, you could end up being mistaken for the intruder, or push an intruder into taking an action he didn’t intend.

If you’ve received a call from your alarm monitoring company, call the police before you arrive at your home and ask if the police have responded to the call yet. Identify yourself as the owner of the property and give the operator a description of yourself to be relayed to the responding officers. When you get out of your car, take your ID with you so that you can identify yourself to any officers on the scene.

Keep a flashlight in your vehicle or somewhere you can get it without entering your home so you’ll have it handy if the intruder tampers with your electricity.

Walk around the perimeter of your house to see if there are signs of a break-in. Look for open doors, broken windows or doors, or any signs of entry from the roof.

If you arrive home and note signs of a break-in, even if your security system company has not notified you, do not enter the house. Use your cell phone or a neighbor’s phone to call the police. If you have no access to a telephone, drive yourself to somewhere you can use a phone or to the nearest police station.

If you’re inside your house and hear unusual noises, or if you come upon an intruder, activate your security system panic button and get out of the house if you can. Do not put yourself between an intruder and the exit if you can avoid it. Most of the time, an intruder will bolt rather than stick around to hurt you. Leave his path clear and alert the authorities after he leaves.

Make sure that your entire family understands the above tips. Your home security system is there to protect you and to alert the authorities if someone breaks into your home. Don’t nullify it by putting yourself in danger.

Home Security Systems Don’t Go on Vacation

Home security systems can help prevent you from becoming one of the growing number of homeowners targeted by summertime thieves. July and August are top months for break-ins and burglaries, says the Insurance Information Institute. Burglars keep an eye out for telltale signs that homeowners are away from home for extended periods or even that they’ll be gone all day long. Home security systems can keep you from being a victim, especially those that include home alarm monitoring. Houston police say that most thieves will avoid a home that has an alarm system in favor of more inviting targets.

While Houston crime rates – including burglaries – are down generally, Houston police also warn that the summer months are among the busiest for burglars and thieves. If you’re going on vacation, you need to be especially careful especially careful not to let burglars know you’re going away. Following these tips from the Insurance Information Institute can ensure that you don’t get home from a day at the water park to find your precious belongings gone.

Look at your home the way a burglar does to find easy entrance points. Those are the places that should be wired into home security systems.

Keep your bushes and shrubs trimmed, especially those that are near doors and windows. Give them a good trim before you go on vacation so that they don’t provide cover for burglars breaking into your home.

Choose a home alarm system that includes alarm system monitoring, and notify the alarm monitoring company that you are away from home so that they can immediately notify police if there is a problem.

Consider home security systems that sound a loud alarm if you have neighbors. Let a few neighbors know you’ll be gone. Neighbors are more likely to notify police of a burglar alarm if they know the homeowners are away.

Get the best locks you can afford for your outside doors, including the door between your garage and your home. According to police, 80 percent of all burglars come in through a door. If a thief has to work more than five minutes to get through a lock, there’s a good chance he’ll abandon the effort and move on.

Use photo-sensitive switches to turn on lights, televisions and radios while you’re gone. Automatic timers are cheaper, but savvy thieves will recognize a pattern if your lights go on and off at the exact same time each day.

Stop mail and newspaper deliveries while you’re on vacation. Piled up mail and newspapers are a prime clue to burglars that no one’s home.

Turn off the ringer on your telephone and lower the volume on your answering machine, or use a voice messaging service. A constantly ringing phone lets everyone know that you’re away from home.

Don’t Facebook or tweet your vacation plans. It’s a virtual invitation to burglars.

If you don’t have a home security system, get one installed. Wired or wireless home security systems with alarm monitoring can have police at your home before the thieves have a chance to make off with your belongings.