Month: September 2020

 

Have you ever stopped to think about how secure or accessible your home really is? After all, your home is where you and your family need to be safe from the daily stresses of life and definitely from crime.

Though many intrusions are non confrontational, have you ever wondered what would happen if you or someone in your family were home during a burglary? Most home burglaries occur during daytime hours, as this is the time many of us are away at work, at school, etc. In fact, if you think like a burglar, the first step in planning a break-in would be to figure out when home occupants would not be at home. To determine that, you would watch their daily routine. The next step would be to figure out how difficult gaining entry to the target house would be.

To make it as difficult as possible for a burglar to get into your home, consider how consistently or well the doors/windows are locked? Is there an alarm system or surveillance cameras? Burglars will preferably enter your home by either walking right thru an unlocked door or open window. If that?s not possible, tools will be used to break in or unlock the existing locks. At last resort, force will be used to gain entry. So let?s look at the initial steps in preventing a burglary.

Clearly, door and window locks are the homes initial barrier to be overcome by an intruder. Typically the garage and rear doors of the house are the weakest entry points, as well as first floor windows on the sides and rear of the home. These areas may also provide cover for the burglar. You will want to make sure your locks make it very difficult to gain entry. Use a solid core or metal door for all entry areas, a quality, heavy-duty, deadbolt lock with a one-inch throw bolt. For sliding glass doors, use blocking bars that can be inserted in the track to prevent the door from sliding open. Since windows are often left open during the summer months, blocking devices are necessary to keep the window from opening further than six inches. Certainly not wide enough to allow a burglar to reach in and unlock or remove the blocking device.

If an intruder does make it into your home via a door, broken window, etc. we suggest the arming of your home with an alarm system that is monitored and dispatched to police, or simply having a detection and sound alarm device designed to not only scare off an intruder but also warn anyone who may be home at the time.

Alarm yard signs and window decals are also a great deterrent, as well as the lighting in and around your home. We suggest using floodlights with motion sensors around the exterior of your home. In the interior, plug in timers on lights and appliances which will turn on automatically, to simulate people at home.

In addition, it a good idea to purchase a video surveillance system to further help deter and/or monitor home intrusions when you are not there. Today?s plug and play systems make it very easy to install and use. As an added level of security, remote access surveillance systems provide real time monitoring over the internet.

 

As domestic heating oil prices continue to rise, the fuel stored in your tank is a valuable commodity and it can become atempting target for thieves. Oil theft is on the increase and as winter comes on its common to see stories in the press about oil being stolen, especially in rural areas. The theft itself isn’t the only problem, thieves will often damage tanks whilststealing oil and this can lead to leakage and result in contamination of the surrounding soil which will need an expensive specialist clean up. The very fact that you’re using oil for heating means that you’re probably a little off the beaten track and may not have near neighbours. This presents potentially easy pickings for a thief but fortunately there are some simple steps you can take tohelp protect your fuel and ensure that your supply stays secure. Lock ’emup At the simplest level you can fit locks to your tank inspection covers and fillers. These are an effective deterrent and relatively inexpensive. A specially designed locking cap will be a little more costly but is likely to be more secure than apadlock as they’re not easily removed using a crowbar or bolt cutters. If your tank is located in an outbuilding make sure it’skept locked up at all times. Stay Hidden By their nature oil tanks tend to be large and easily seen and this makes them uniquely vulnerable. If your tank is visible from the road or a public footpath consider planting shrubs or erecting a fence so that passers-by can’t see it. Having security lighting near your tank is a strong deterrent too as criminals don’t like to be seen in their activity. You might also consider a security camera – even if it’s only a dummy – to provide a further deterrent. Raise the Alarm If you want a more sophisticated anti-theft solution there are alarms that can monitor the level in the storage tank and send out an alert when there’s a sudden drop. This can be used to trigger an audible alarm to scare away a thief or to send a signal to a remote receiver so that action can be taken. If the worst should happen then taking out insurance on your oil can cushion you from the pain of having your heating oilstolen. You can take out a specialist heating oil policy to ensure that you’re covered. Some household policies will cover heating oil but not all do so it pays to check your policy and take out extra insurance if necessary. Oil theft is a problem but by taking a few precautions you can ensure that you don’t fall victim to it and that your supplyremains secure this winter. With domestic heating oil prices rising it pays to become a fuel fighter and take steps to secure your oil against theft.