With summer in full swing, millions of Brits are going to be jetting off overseas for a few weeks of R&R. Many more will take to beach towns, sunny coasts and beautiful countryside locations around the country, hoping to create some unforgettable holiday memories.
But while we’re away from our homes, enjoying a slice of the good life, our valuables are vulnerable. Over 800,000 homes are burgled during the summer season as their owners bask in warmer climates. The practice is disturbingly common and can absolutely ruin your time away.
The last thing you want to be doing while on holiday is worrying about your home, but, at the same time, we don’t all have the time and money to invest in seriously high-tech security options. So what can you do the make sure you reduce the risk of your house being targeted by unscrupulous holiday thieves, without breaking the bank or going overboard?
- Security Cameras
The number one deterrent for thieves is a CCTV camera. They want to avoid the risks of being caught and video recordings certainly ramp up the danger factor. You can get CCTV and Alarm Installation for your home and give yourself peace of mind whether you’re out just for the night or away on holiday.
- Home Safes
Let’s just pretend, for a moment, that the worst should happen. Somebody breaks into your house. What are they going to take? It’s not the big TV they’re going for — not usually. Instead, they want simple items they can fit into their pockets or a backpack. Items with value that are easily concealed and easily sold on. Objects that won’t arouse suspicion if a witness was to catch them leaving the scene of the crime.
The most commonly stolen items are:
- Jewellery
- Money
- Laptops or tablets
- Cameras
- Mobile phones
There are plenty of home safes for sale in the UK that can be picked up relatively cheaply and installed for either a low cost or none at all, but that provide real security for your smaller possessions.
Safely locking your most valuable belongings away puts up a barrier that many burglars simply won’t be able to get past. While Hollywood may make it seem like safes can be cracked fairly easily, with new technology, such as biometrics, multiple access protection and more, most criminals will never be able to open them. Thieves want an easy ride: low risk with high reward — that’s why they target homes during the holidays. A burglary usually lasts just 10 minutes. Thieves want to be in and out, not spending hours breaking into safes.
Safes make things difficult and stop them in their tracks.
- Timed Lights
People are often advised to leave the lights on when they go abroad: it shows you are in, some claim. But, in reality, it actually just makes it more obvious that you aren’t home. Burglars will often stake a property before going in. If, night after night, your lights are on until the crack of dawn, it’s a pretty clear indicator that you aren’t actually in the house.
On the contrary, a home lit up on a street of dark houses is far more likely to attract unwanted attention. But if your house remains completely blacked out for days on end, that’s also a striking signal that it is empty as well.
How can you win? Timed light switches.
Easy to find at a homeware store, timed switches allow you to set lights — and even TVs, computers and radios — to come on during certain hours of the day. This kind of activity can mimic normal household life: a flashing TV on during the evening or lights coming on at dusk and going off around midnight. A natural setup makes your house look lived in. Burglars will look to avoid this, in favour of easier targets.
- Recruit Your Neighbours
Nothing says “we’re on holiday” like mail stuffed into the letterbox and your recycling bin sat on the curb where the binman left it over a week ago. Any indicator that your home is inactive is a call-to-action for burglars, letting them know your home is a prime and easy target. This is where your neighbours come in.
Simply asking those nearby to move your bins and take in your mail can make a huge difference. You can also ask them to enter the house and do things like open closed curtains, to show would-be thieves that people are inside. Another way notifying neighbours helps is that, if somebody were to enter your home, they’d be aware and call the police if they noticed movement. This is especially effective in flats and terraced housing.
- Avoid Social Media
Social media is all about sharing and what’s more exciting to share than your big trip abroad? Checking in at the airport, those holiday snaps of hot-dog legs, glossy white beaches and a dedicated pool that looks fit for A-List celebs.
But holiday social sharing presents a problem.
Posting your holiday advertises that you are not in your home. It lets people on social media know that your home is vacant and an easy target. Just as you wouldn’t display your finest jewellery in the window, don’t create advertisements that attract criminals. As difficult as it may be, hold off on sharing the holiday photos and messages until after you return home.
