How to secure your home after a burglary and make sure they don’t come back
There can be few tragedies as disturbing and saddening as having your home broken into. Our homes are our safe spaces – where we rest our heads at night and curl up with our families after long days at work. To have that space violated by an intruder is often devastating and can leave lasting emotional scars.
If a burglar has broken into your home recently, first allow us to extend our sympathies. However, whilst lightning rarely strikes the same place twice, burglars have often been known to return to the scene of the crime for another go around, particularly if they were met with little resistance the first time.
So, once you’ve called the police, filed a report, spoken to your insurance company and cleaned up after the thieves, here are a few measures you might want to take to better safeguard your home so you don’t get hit again!
Call in the locksmith
If your locks were broken during the robber – they are going to need to be replaced. Chances are, in fact, that the reason your doors or windows were so easily compromised the first time is that the locks were old and rusty or simply not the most suitable lock for your home.
A professional locksmith will know exactly the best lock for each individual situation and will know how to properly install them to allow for the most secure and aesthetically pleasing fit.
Even if your lock hasn’t been destroyed during the break-in, it would be a good idea to get the locks changed as the thieves could have duplicated your keys during their initial break-in and could be scheduling another, even easier ‘visit’ sometime in the near future as a result!
Secure the perimeter
When it comes to security, the perimeter of your house is quite literally the first line of defence and if a burglar has managed to circumvent that first line before they will undoubtedly try to do it again.
The first thing any thief will do is examine the surrounding area of the house for vulnerabilities. For example, if the garden or front of the house is insufficiently lit, you are that much more likely to have a break-in during the night.
While fences and gates are a good way to make you home seem less inviting to burglars, meanwhile, extra shrubbery is not recommended, as they might actually use this to their advantage when it comes to hiding.
Perimeter protection doesn’t need to damage the look of your home either, as there are a number of systems that use invisible beams to detect intruders.
There are even options that can be buried underground, though if they are not properly configured, they could end up being set-off by local wildlife!
Install a security system
Of course, if your home has already been broken into then it’s likely that you don’t already have a security system installed as studies have shown that having a visible system in place dramatically reduces the likelihood of your home being broken into.
There are, of course, several options to consider here, from the bells and whistles setup with an integrated system that you can view and control from your smartphone to a more subtle affair with a few CCTV cameras and an intruder alarm.
Security systems today are not the luxury items they once were, they are a necessity for many modern homes particularly those situated in vulnerable areas.
If a burglar has already invaded your home and decides to come back for another round, they are unlikely to step much further than the threshold if they notice a camera pointed in their direction and a big sign on that window.