When you are going around your property to improve its security, you'll want to check the windows, doors, garage doors, outhouses, RVs, gates and all other known weaknesses to ensure they are durable and kept locked. Then, you want to take things a step further and look at your entire property as if you were trying to break in. Look at it during the day and at night. Leave everything just as it would normally be at those times of the day and night. Take notes while perusing the house. Ask yourself the following questions.
Where do I feel the most comfortable trying to break in?
Locate the areas you feel you would make you feel the safest if you were really trying to break in unnoticed. Then, determine what it is about that area that makes it your choice. Do you feel best breaking in a window on the side because you don't have a neighbor on that side and there are bushes to conceal you from the street? Do you feel best trying to get in the back door because the tall privacy fence would hide you and the door looks easy to kick in? Do you feel best walking right in the front door because you always keep a key under the mat?
Whatever your answers are, those are the things you are going to want to change around your property. You'll want to cut back that shrubbery on the side of the house, you'll want to have a stronger door and lock installed in the back and you'll want to stop hiding keys in places thieves are familiar with.
Don't forget to also check out the outbuildings to make sure they are also hard for someone to break into unheard and unnoticed. Your RV should always be shut, and you should check it regularly for signs of someone trying to pry it open or for broken windows. Someone could be living in there for all you know if you don't check on it. Also, for this same reason, check the outbuildings regularly.
What are the two biggest things I can do to truly ward off criminals?
Think about how safe you would feel if you were trying to break into your home with a camera pointed right down at your face and a big ferocious sounding dog growling at you from inside. You'll more than likely not want to continue with that house. A criminal will feel this way also. However, you do want a dog with a scary bark and a security system that's a top of the line model. Many criminals can get right past outdated security systems and they'll figure they can just kill a small dog if they have to, or just toss it in the bathroom until they are done.
For more help, contact a locksmith service in your area.
