Life can be a bit scary from time to time, and despite the fact of living in a good, relatively calm neighborhood, there is always the potential for someone to break in, or to otherwise compromise the security of your home.
While you may be reluctant to turn your home into an armed fortress, with 20-foot tall barbed-wire-covered-walls, there are some relatively straightforward things that you can — and should — do in order to secure your home if you have even the faintest reason to feel that there could be a threat to your security.
Here are some easy ways to improve your home security.
Install security cameras
Surveillance cameras come in many different forms and are often far most affordable than most people would tend to assume.
Installing a surveillance camera system outside your home can help to improve your home security in a number of different ways.
Firstly, the sight of the security camera itself is likely to have a deterrent effect on opportunistic, would-be criminals, as it sends a signal that the house is secured, in general, and it also threatens the anonymity that such predatory people tend to thrive on.
Secondly, a security camera can help you to spot and record anyone lurking around your property and acting suspiciously before a crime is committed. This can allow you to contact the police and take action as soon as you notice someone casing your home.
Create obstructions around the home but avoid creating a cover
Home invaders often target places with lots of covers, so that they can commit their crimes without being easily spotted by onlookers or neighbors, and can make their getaway unseen, as well.
Some things that an opportunistic criminal might look for as items of cover include solid brick walls surrounding the home, thick, dense hedges blocking the view of windows and doors from the road, and so on.
To deter such intruders, create obstructions to entry from the road, but to avoid creating a cover. Opt for bar fences rather than walls. Protect your privacy inside the home with net curtains, during the day, and blackout curtains at night.
Buy a dog or two
Dogs certainly aren’t a foolproof home security system — they can be drugged, or distracted, or may just be inattentive — but they can play a big role in safeguarding the property nonetheless.
Dogs typically bark and cause noise when an intruder approaches. Dogs also represent a threat to would-be intruders.
When picking a dog for guard-dog duty, you don’t need the most aggressive breed in the world. But bigger is typically better than smaller.
Buy a strong front door
Some houses have ornate front doors, filled with glass panels, which could be broken open with a modest push. Opportunistic criminals are likely to see such doors (as well as open, or accessible ground floor windows) as a tempting entry-point.
A simple way of enhancing your home security in this regard is to have a strong front door installed, instead. Something solid and made of hard-wood, with an effective lock.
The kind of door that no one can force open without a battering ram.
