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The Honolulu Advertiser
Deception, alarms best defense to protect homes | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper

Posted on: Wednesday, April 6, 2005

Deception, alarms best defense to protect homes

By Mark Coomes
Gannett News Service

If your home were truly a castle, protecting it while you're on a three-day weekend or vacation getaway would be easy. You'd just pull up the drawbridge and let prospective burglars plunge into the moat.

Illustration by Greg Taylor • The Honolulu Advertiser
Securing the modern family fiefdom is a bit more complicated, but not much.

Most burglars target unoccupied homes. Make yours look like someone is there even if you're not. If you're leaving town, arrange to keep your lawn mowed, your mailbox empty and your front porch free of newspapers.

A Consumer Reports survey shows the best defense against burglaries is a professionally installed alarm system. But they aren't cheap. You can pay $3,000 for the hardware, plus about $30 per month for the monitoring system that alerts police when your system is breached.

Don't have an alarm system? Buy a sign that says you do.

A tipsheet for leaving your home

  1. Lock up. You might lock your doors, but what about your windows? Secure sliding glass doors by placing a metal rod or wood slat in the tracks.
  2. Light up. Programmable timers turn lamps on and off at "random" times, eliminating predictable patterns.
  3. Tidy up. An unmowed lawn is a sure sign of abandonment.
  4. Wise up. Get that spare key out from under the doormat.
  5. Check up. Make sure your home insurance covers the full replacement costs of anything damaged or stolen.
  6. Shut up. Tell as few people as possible that you're going out of town.
  7. Unplug. There will be no short circuits, power surges or pointless energy consumption.
  8. Shut off faucets and spigots. Running water can wreak more havoc than thieves.
  9. Stop delivery of mail and newspapers. Most newspapers will allow you to hold delivery on their Web site. To hold your mail, go to www.usps.com, or fill out a hold request at any post office branch.
  10. Park a lot. Ask a neighbor to park in your driveway so that potential burglars see people coming and going.
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