Home Security*

A burglar’s three worst enemies are light, time and noise. Use this to your advantage and consider these security tips to better protect your home.

• Trim trees and shrubs near your doors and windows and think carefully before installing a high, wooden fence around your backyard. High fences and shrubbery can add to your privacy, but privacy is a burglar’s asset. Consider trading a little extra privacy for a bit of added security.
• Install exterior lights, mounted out of easy reach, to reduce the darkness a burglar would seek.
• Make the prospect of robbing your home a noisy job. Consider investing in a burglar alarm. The most effective ones also ring at an outside service.
• Make sure you have strong doors. Outside doors should be metal or solid hardwood and at least 1¾ inches thick. Frames should be made of equally strong material. Installing a peephole or a wide-angle viewer in the door is safer for identifying visitors than a door chain.
• Deadbolt locks are best. They usually are locked with a key from the outside and a thumb turn on the inside. The cylinder (where the key is inserted) should be pick-resistant. Ask your hardware dealer for a reputable brand, or buy your locks from a locksmith.
• Key locks are available for all types of windows.
• When improving the security of your home, it is also important not to exchange security for personal safety. Don’t make your home such a fortress that you are unable to escape in case of an emergency.
• Establish a routine to follow to make certain that all doors and windows are locked and alarm systems are turned on.
• Handle your keys carefully. Don’t carry house keys on a key ring bearing your home address or leave house keys with your car in a commercial parking lot.
• Don’t hide your keys in “secret” places outside your home — burglars usually know where to look!

This information is being provided for general informational purposes only. Meemic Insurance Company does not assume any liability in connection with providing this information.

*Source: Home Security Basics, Insurance Information Institute.