Now that a new year is upon us, it’s time to turn your attention to your home security, especially if you’ve never conducted a security review of your property before, or have sadly been a victim of crime and want to reduce the chances of it happening again.
The best place to start is to look at the biggest threats to your home security since without acknowledging the vulnerabilities, it’s impossible to strengthen your game. So here are some of the top aspects to consider to guide you.
Not Taking Your Security Seriously
It might sound like an obvious point to start with, but given there were 267,931 burglaries in 2021, it’s clear that improvements still need to be made where home security is concerned.
Nobody ever thinks a burglary or any other kind of crime will happen to them. However, thoughts alone will not stop you from becoming a victim of crime, though taking preventable action to deter criminals will certainly go a long way to help.
If you have never taken an objective look at your property to check for vulnerabilities, then now is the time. Consider if there are any ways a criminal could enter the property or any aspects which could be attractive to thieves. Even leaving garden tools outside can make it easy to gain access to your property, and wheelie bins can also be used to access upstairs windows. The sooner any such issues are rectified the better, but you must think like a criminal in order to be able to outsmart them.
No CCTV
As a supplier and installer of CCTV across the UK and Ireland, it would be impossible for us to cover the biggest threats to home security without mentioning the eyes and ears of your home security – the humble CCTV camera.
Without CCTV, you have no tangible evidence to hand to the police should a crime take place. CCTV can even alert you about suspicious activity before a crime can be committed, whether you happen to be at home, at work or on holiday. Compared with waiting until you get home to experience the devastation of a burglary, CCTV makes it much easier to not only prevent the situation but identify any culprits.
There are many types of CCTV systems available these days, though here at RE:SURE, we supply remote CCTV monitoring. This means we can communicate with any perpetrators directly and even call the police on your behalf. Your property will never be left unattended as our motion sensor technology will instantly alert us if we need to take action, which we will do without hesitation.
Insecure Boundaries/Fencing
Similar to how Jordan Pickford could be seen animatedly reminding the England defence to keep the ball away from the goal in the 2020 Euros, your fencing is there to do the same job for your property – i.e keep unwanted people away from the goods.
In domestic homes, the legal height limit for fences is 2 metres (6.5ft), and planting trees or hedges along your boundary walls can offer even more privacy. So if your current fence is either quite low, non-existent or has gaps that need to be repaired, consider that there is nothing stopping criminals from crossing your private land to gain access to your home. Very few criminals happen to be Olympic pole vaulters, hence being able to step right over a boundary line is more than ideal for someone looking to make a quick getaway.
Gates are also pretty sophisticated these days, with electric gates or gates that have spikes on top some of the most secure available. Another option is to place your mailbox outside so that only those who buzz for access can be allowed into your grounds. Though, you’ll need to place a CCTV camera over your mailbox to prevent theft.
Lack of lighting
If there’s one thing that puts a spanner in the works when you’re trying to commit a crime, it’s when a strong beam of last is cast upon you. That’s why sensible homeowners install motion sensor lighting so that anyone who approaches their property will instantly be illuminated.
Also, lighting improves the general safety of homeowners too. For example, if looking for your keys or leaving in your car at night, because you’re able to see what is going around you, any would-be attackers have less chance of being able to strike.
Light will also help improve CCTV image quality, which could make all the difference if it’s relied upon to secure a conviction since the likes of facial features and number plates will be easier to identify.
Social Media
You might wonder how a few innocent snaps on Facebook or Instagram could possibly cause a security problem for your property.
The reality is, even if your accounts are set to private, there’s still no way of knowing for sure who is viewing the information you post, which could include details of valuable possessions, or even that you are away on holiday meaning nobody is there to stop a burglar. With public accounts, such messaging could potentially reach hundreds if not thousands of people without you even realising it.
In addition, social media posts that reveal you are on holiday may also invalidate your insurance if a burglary were to take place, seen as in the eye of insurers, announcing your home will be vacant is practically sending out an invitation to criminals.
Inferior Locking Systems
When was the last time you changed your locks, let alone upgraded them? Given how easy it is to have a copy of a key made, if you live in rented accommodation especially, then any number of people could have a key to the property.
Likewise, inferior locks that are easy to pick or don’t have a multi-point locking system could be easy to break into.
If you haven’t caught our post on smart locks, we’d highly recommend giving it a read to learn how to best protect your home or commercial building.
CCTV Installation
We hope the above tips have given you food for thought when it comes to improving your home security.
As mentioned, the one aspect we can certainly help you with is installing CCTV in your home, whether you currently don’t have any systems installed, or want to upgrade to remote CCTV monitoring.
We’re ready and waiting to help secure your property, so please get in touch on IRE 01 691 7100 | UK 028 8676 1183 and our friendly team will assist you further.