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Protecting your home from professional thieves can seem like a daunting task without the right tools, but help can come from many different sources.
If you are concerned about your home security, it is recommended that you request a home security assessment from a Guardian alarm professional. You can also call your local police department and ask that they come to your home and look over your security needs to offer an objective opinion. In the meantime, read our helpful hints and tips on home security and safety.
Here are some simple home security precautions that you can take yourself to increase your home’s security and safety:
Spotlight on Keys and Locks:
1. A spring-latch lock is easy prey for a professional burglar technique called "loiding." Loiding is the process of slipping a plastic credit card against the latch tongue to depress it and unlock the door. Replace any spring-latch locks with a secure deadbolt lock. Deadbolt locks are not vulnerable to loiding.
2. If you lose your keys, change the locks immediately.
3. If you have a cleaning service or pet service that comes to your home while you are not there, make sure you only hire a company that completes background checks and is reputable. Check all of their references before hiring them.
4. Don’t hide a spare key in typical places such as, under the doormat or on a nail around the corner. The small ceramic animals with a “hidden key door” underneath aren’t all that secret, either. Burglars zero in on these areas. Instead, place the key in a small, airtight container and bury it where you can access it easily if need be.
If you are concerned about your home security, it is recommended that you request a home security assessment from a Guardian alarm professional. You can also call your local police department and ask that they come to your home and look over your security needs to offer an objective opinion. In the meantime, read our helpful hints and tips on home security and safety.
Here are some simple home security precautions that you can take yourself to increase your home’s security and safety:
Spotlight on Keys and Locks:
1. A spring-latch lock is easy prey for a professional burglar technique called "loiding." Loiding is the process of slipping a plastic credit card against the latch tongue to depress it and unlock the door. Replace any spring-latch locks with a secure deadbolt lock. Deadbolt locks are not vulnerable to loiding.
2. If you lose your keys, change the locks immediately.
3. If you have a cleaning service or pet service that comes to your home while you are not there, make sure you only hire a company that completes background checks and is reputable. Check all of their references before hiring them.
4. Don’t hide a spare key in typical places such as, under the doormat or on a nail around the corner. The small ceramic animals with a “hidden key door” underneath aren’t all that secret, either. Burglars zero in on these areas. Instead, place the key in a small, airtight container and bury it where you can access it easily if need be.
01/05/09: Homeowner Precautions for Security
Protecting your home from professional theives can seem like a daunting task without the right tools, but help can come from many different sources.
Requesting a home security assessment is an easy, fast phone call away. If you would like a clearly objective home security assessment, you can call either your local police to request one, or you can call your Guardian Alarms professionals. Either call will result in a professional assessment of your home’s security needs.
Here are some simple home security precautions that you can take yourself to increase your home’s security and safety:
• Plan to "burglarize" yourself. There are a lot ways to break into a home, and you might find it an entertaining, and enlightening afternoon if you put yourself in a burglar’s shoes and try to find ways into your own home without benefit of keys. Just make sure you let your nieghbors know what you’re doing! A good neighbor would notice someone acting suspicious and may call the police on YOU!
• Lock your home and set the alarm, even if you are just going down the street for a quick errand. It doesn’t take a good theif very long to break in and burglarize your home.
• Change all the locks in your home if you are not the first tennant or owner. This is especially important when you move into a new house.
• Your house should appear occupied at all times. Use timers to switch lights and radios on and off when you're not at home.
Requesting a home security assessment is an easy, fast phone call away. If you would like a clearly objective home security assessment, you can call either your local police to request one, or you can call your Guardian Alarms professionals. Either call will result in a professional assessment of your home’s security needs.
Here are some simple home security precautions that you can take yourself to increase your home’s security and safety:
• Plan to "burglarize" yourself. There are a lot ways to break into a home, and you might find it an entertaining, and enlightening afternoon if you put yourself in a burglar’s shoes and try to find ways into your own home without benefit of keys. Just make sure you let your nieghbors know what you’re doing! A good neighbor would notice someone acting suspicious and may call the police on YOU!
• Lock your home and set the alarm, even if you are just going down the street for a quick errand. It doesn’t take a good theif very long to break in and burglarize your home.
• Change all the locks in your home if you are not the first tennant or owner. This is especially important when you move into a new house.
• Your house should appear occupied at all times. Use timers to switch lights and radios on and off when you're not at home.
Wintertime usually brings about the desire to sit by a warm fire and enjoy a hot drink or two. For most people, the warm fire is in the fireplace, but many choose to go to bonfires or hold their own bonfire party during the winter. There is no doubt that sitting next to a roaring fire, toasty warm, while outside on cold winter’s night is a beautiful and classic way to stave off the winter blues, but safety should always be a priority when you are near such a large, usually uncontained blaze.
FREEDOM, N.H. -- The police chief in Freedom, N.H., said two of the three young women burned in a New Year's Eve fire accident suffered critical injuries. Chief Josh Shackford said the women's clothing caught fire when a fellow reveler poured highly flammable lantern fuel on a dying fire to try to re-ignite it just before midnight Wednesday night. Two women were in critical condition Thursday evening at Maine Medical Center. A third was treated and released from Huggins Hospital in Wolfeboro. Shackford said the victims were among about 18 men and women in their early 20s who were friends from their college days at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. The critically injured women are from the Boston Shackford said the group was around a fire in a small grill that had died down. He said one of the group members said he poured fuel on a log to re-ignite the fire and it exploded into flames.
If you are attending a bonfire or sitting near an open flame, always remember to keep a safe distance and use the appropriate tools to start and maintain the fire. Never create a fire anywhere near a structure and remember to take precautions to ensure that the fire itself is contained, such as using a fire pit or another approved method.
FREEDOM, N.H. -- The police chief in Freedom, N.H., said two of the three young women burned in a New Year's Eve fire accident suffered critical injuries. Chief Josh Shackford said the women's clothing caught fire when a fellow reveler poured highly flammable lantern fuel on a dying fire to try to re-ignite it just before midnight Wednesday night. Two women were in critical condition Thursday evening at Maine Medical Center. A third was treated and released from Huggins Hospital in Wolfeboro. Shackford said the victims were among about 18 men and women in their early 20s who were friends from their college days at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. The critically injured women are from the Boston Shackford said the group was around a fire in a small grill that had died down. He said one of the group members said he poured fuel on a log to re-ignite the fire and it exploded into flames.
If you are attending a bonfire or sitting near an open flame, always remember to keep a safe distance and use the appropriate tools to start and maintain the fire. Never create a fire anywhere near a structure and remember to take precautions to ensure that the fire itself is contained, such as using a fire pit or another approved method.
01/03/09: What is on the Burglary Menu Tonight?
After the first day of the year, many homeowners settle back down into their home routines as they head back to work. This included putting out the garbage, especially the boxes and bags accumulated from the gift-giving bonanza of Christmas the week before.
While putting out the garbage is a normal, mundane task, homeowners should be aware that a large percentage of burglars regularly peruse the garbage, especially large cardboard boxes that are put out the week following Christmas.
Why would a burglar care what boxes and garbage you put by the curbside? Because your garbage actually serves as a Stolen Property Menu for a burglar.
Stolen Property Menu:Garbage = Phillips 42” plasma HDTV
Nintendo DS with Accessories
Rockband 2 for Xbox 360
Bose Surround Sound speakers
Oh yes, every time you put the boxes out after Christmas, you are actually advertising all of the wonderful goodies you got for the holiday. Every box that advertising a high end, easily sold for cash electronic item is simply telling a burglar exactly what is in your home that they can steal.
If you have boxes that clearly label the types of items that you have in your home, consider taking the boxes directly to the local trash facilities yourself rather than leaving them beside the road for town curbside pickup. It may be a little more work for you, but it will certainly cut down your risks for being marked as a burglary target.
While putting out the garbage is a normal, mundane task, homeowners should be aware that a large percentage of burglars regularly peruse the garbage, especially large cardboard boxes that are put out the week following Christmas.
Why would a burglar care what boxes and garbage you put by the curbside? Because your garbage actually serves as a Stolen Property Menu for a burglar.
Stolen Property Menu:Garbage = Phillips 42” plasma HDTV
Nintendo DS with Accessories
Rockband 2 for Xbox 360
Bose Surround Sound speakers
Oh yes, every time you put the boxes out after Christmas, you are actually advertising all of the wonderful goodies you got for the holiday. Every box that advertising a high end, easily sold for cash electronic item is simply telling a burglar exactly what is in your home that they can steal.
If you have boxes that clearly label the types of items that you have in your home, consider taking the boxes directly to the local trash facilities yourself rather than leaving them beside the road for town curbside pickup. It may be a little more work for you, but it will certainly cut down your risks for being marked as a burglary target.
01/02/09: Amazing Features of your Alarm System
Your home security alarm is an amazing piece of technology that can do many, many things that you probably are not even aware of. Our installation professionals try to remind customers of all of the functions of our alarm systems and give instruction manuals listing the functions, but inevitably some customers forget some of the more uncommonly used functions of their home security systems.
Here are just some of the amazing functions of your home alarm system:
Two Way Audio Monitoring:
Small microphones mounted throughout the house allow the central monitoring station of your alarm company to listen to sounds in your home when the alarm is triggered. Small speakers allow the operator to talk to you without the phone.
I'm OK" Monitoring:
Designed for people living alone, and especially useful for the elderly or those with medical issues, this feature alerts the central monitoring station if the system's motion detectors do NOT sense any motion for a certain amount of time. If this is the case, the central station alerts a neighbor or family member to check in on the homeowner
Duress Code:
If someone follows you into your home and forces you to disable the system, keying in a special code disarms the system, but sends a silent panic signal to the monitoring station
Customize Your "Chime" Feature:
Your system is usually programmed to beep if the front door is opened. But you can also have your installer program any of your windows to do likewise. This is handy if you have small children with bedrooms on the second floor. The keypad will beep if any of the kid's bedroom windows are opened, hopefully preventing an accidental fall.
Here are just some of the amazing functions of your home alarm system:
Two Way Audio Monitoring:
Small microphones mounted throughout the house allow the central monitoring station of your alarm company to listen to sounds in your home when the alarm is triggered. Small speakers allow the operator to talk to you without the phone.
I'm OK" Monitoring:
Designed for people living alone, and especially useful for the elderly or those with medical issues, this feature alerts the central monitoring station if the system's motion detectors do NOT sense any motion for a certain amount of time. If this is the case, the central station alerts a neighbor or family member to check in on the homeowner
Duress Code:
If someone follows you into your home and forces you to disable the system, keying in a special code disarms the system, but sends a silent panic signal to the monitoring station
Customize Your "Chime" Feature:
Your system is usually programmed to beep if the front door is opened. But you can also have your installer program any of your windows to do likewise. This is handy if you have small children with bedrooms on the second floor. The keypad will beep if any of the kid's bedroom windows are opened, hopefully preventing an accidental fall.
Many online retailers offer basic alarm systems for home security without the ability for that alarm system to be monitored. In essence, it a siren with door and window contacts that functions much like a stand alone smoke alarm. If there is a fire, or smoke is detected, a stand alone smoke alarm sounds a claxon siren that alerts anyone in the home, and any neighbors within hearing distance, to the presence of smoke or a fire.
A stand alone home security system will function the same way. It will sound the alarm if the home is broken into, but the only people to hear it are the homeowners (if they are on the premises) and any neighbors within hearing distance. With a stand alone home security system, no police will be called, no emergency responders will be alerted. It is simply a siren.
A true home security system is professionally installed and monitored 24 hours a day to ensure that emergency responders and police can be dispatched to your home at the first signs of trouble.
If you wish to have your home’s security properly assessed, make sure you contact a licensed professional, such as Guardian, to come out to your home and conduct a full home security assessment. This also ensures that your home alarm system will be installed, maintained and monitored by a professional team with all intact licenses and professional certifications for the work being done. Remember too that having your home security system installed by a licensed professional is used as proof of bonding for your insurance company. Your insurance company will need proof of licensed installation and monitoring services in order to discount your home insurance policy.
A stand alone home security system will function the same way. It will sound the alarm if the home is broken into, but the only people to hear it are the homeowners (if they are on the premises) and any neighbors within hearing distance. With a stand alone home security system, no police will be called, no emergency responders will be alerted. It is simply a siren.
A true home security system is professionally installed and monitored 24 hours a day to ensure that emergency responders and police can be dispatched to your home at the first signs of trouble.
If you wish to have your home’s security properly assessed, make sure you contact a licensed professional, such as Guardian, to come out to your home and conduct a full home security assessment. This also ensures that your home alarm system will be installed, maintained and monitored by a professional team with all intact licenses and professional certifications for the work being done. Remember too that having your home security system installed by a licensed professional is used as proof of bonding for your insurance company. Your insurance company will need proof of licensed installation and monitoring services in order to discount your home insurance policy.
12/30/08: Shared Access = Increased Security Risks
One of the risks taken when a home is within an apartment complex, condominium complex or duplex is the ability to access shared space. One family in Pennsylvania recently found out why a trap door with a shared access attic was a security risk for them:
APNNews reported:
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) - A family didn't realize it had an unexpected Christmas guest until a man who had been in their attic for days emerged wearing their clothes, police said.
Stanley Carter surrendered Friday after police took a dog to search the home in Plains Township, a suburb of Wilkes-Barre about 100 miles north of Philadelphia. He was charged with several counts of burglary, theft, receiving stolen property and criminal trespass.
"When he came down from the attic, he was wearing my daughter's pants and my sweat shirt and sneakers," homeowner Stacy Ferrance said. "From what I gather, he was helping himself to my home, eating my food and stealing my clothes."
Police said the 21-year-old Carter had been staying with friends who are Ferrance's neighbors in a duplex. He apparently accessed the shared attic through a trap door in a bedroom ceiling.
Carter disappeared Dec. 19, and the friends filed a missing person report a few days before Christmas.
Ferrance said she had heard noises but thought they were caused by her three children. She notified police on Christmas Day when cash, a laptop computer and an iPod disappeared, then called police again the next day when she found footprints in her bedroom closet, where the attic trap door is.
Carter kept a list of everything he took, said Plains Township police Officer Michael Smith.
"When we were going through the inventory of what he did take, we found a note labeled 'Stanley's Christmas List' of all the items he had removed from the residence and donated to himself," Smith said.
Carter was in jail Sunday at the Luzerne County jail with a preliminary hearing set for Jan. 5. He did not yet have an attorney.
If you are living in a home with a shared access space, please remember that you can still talk to your landlord and have a security system with motion sensors installed in your home to eliminate this risk.
12/29/08: Dangerous Household Poisons Part 2.
Here at Guardian, we believe that household safety and security isn’t just a matter of preventing burglaries, break-ins and fires. Household safety and security is something that must be assessed and managed by homeowners every day in order to maintain a home that is safe for your family.
Every parent should be concerned about poison safety and the take steps to eliminate the risks of accidental poisoning. The statistics on accidental poisoning clearly show that each year, more than 100 children ages 14 and under die as a result of unintentional poisoning. Non-pharmaceutical products such as cosmetics, cleaning substances, plants, foreign bodies, toys, pesticides, art supplies, and alcohol are responsible for 56 percent of poisoning exposures for children under 5 years of age.
By learning about which items in the home pose a danger to children, parents can take steps to store these products up and away from children, preferably in a locked cabinet. In addition, parents should always have the number of the Poison Help phone center. (1-800-222-1222)
Dangerous Household Poisons Part. 2
detergents
automatic dishwasher detergents
furniture polish
perfume & aftershave
mouthwash
gasoline, kerosene, and lamp oil
paint and paint thinner
mothballs
alcoholic beverages
miniature batteries
flaking paint
cigarettes, tobacco products
rat and mouse poison
Every parent should be concerned about poison safety and the take steps to eliminate the risks of accidental poisoning. The statistics on accidental poisoning clearly show that each year, more than 100 children ages 14 and under die as a result of unintentional poisoning. Non-pharmaceutical products such as cosmetics, cleaning substances, plants, foreign bodies, toys, pesticides, art supplies, and alcohol are responsible for 56 percent of poisoning exposures for children under 5 years of age.
By learning about which items in the home pose a danger to children, parents can take steps to store these products up and away from children, preferably in a locked cabinet. In addition, parents should always have the number of the Poison Help phone center. (1-800-222-1222)
Dangerous Household Poisons Part. 2
detergents
automatic dishwasher detergents
furniture polish
perfume & aftershave
mouthwash
gasoline, kerosene, and lamp oil
paint and paint thinner
mothballs
alcoholic beverages
miniature batteries
flaking paint
cigarettes, tobacco products
rat and mouse poison
12/28/08: Dangerous Household Poisons Part 1.
Here at Guardian, we believe that household safety and security isn’t just a matter of preventing burglaries, break-ins and fires. Household safety and security is something that must be assessed and managed by homeowners every day because your families well-being depends on it.
Poison safety should be at the top of every parent’s list. Each year, more than 100 children ages 14 and under die as a result of unintentional poisoning. Non-pharmaceutical products such as cosmetics, cleaning substances, plants, foreign bodies, toys, pesticides, art supplies, and alcohol are responsible for 56 percent of poisoning exposures for children under 5 years of age.
By learning about which items in the home pose a danger to children, parents can take steps to store these products up and away from children, preferably in a locked cabinet. In addition, parents should always have the number of the Poison Help phone center. (1-800-222-1222)
The Most Dangerous Household Poisons:
These are especially hazardous household items. Homeowners should buy only the quantity needed and discard unneeded extras. Make sure these household poisons are always out of a child's reach, preferably locked away.
1. Antifreeze (Antifreeze is notorious as a poisoning agent for children. It’s sweet taste leads many young children to ingest it. Both children and animals seem to like the taste of antifreeze, meaning they ingest more amounts which are often fatal.)
2. Windshield washer solutions
3. Drain cleaners
4. Toilet bowl cleaners
5. Insecticides
6. Artificial nail removers
7. Topical anesthetics (i.e. Products that may be used for sunburn pain)
8. 9. and 10. Medicines, medicines, medicines!!!!
Poison safety should be at the top of every parent’s list. Each year, more than 100 children ages 14 and under die as a result of unintentional poisoning. Non-pharmaceutical products such as cosmetics, cleaning substances, plants, foreign bodies, toys, pesticides, art supplies, and alcohol are responsible for 56 percent of poisoning exposures for children under 5 years of age.
By learning about which items in the home pose a danger to children, parents can take steps to store these products up and away from children, preferably in a locked cabinet. In addition, parents should always have the number of the Poison Help phone center. (1-800-222-1222)
The Most Dangerous Household Poisons:
These are especially hazardous household items. Homeowners should buy only the quantity needed and discard unneeded extras. Make sure these household poisons are always out of a child's reach, preferably locked away.
1. Antifreeze (Antifreeze is notorious as a poisoning agent for children. It’s sweet taste leads many young children to ingest it. Both children and animals seem to like the taste of antifreeze, meaning they ingest more amounts which are often fatal.)
2. Windshield washer solutions
3. Drain cleaners
4. Toilet bowl cleaners
5. Insecticides
6. Artificial nail removers
7. Topical anesthetics (i.e. Products that may be used for sunburn pain)
8. 9. and 10. Medicines, medicines, medicines!!!!
Home security is something that every homeowner, and every home renter, should be concerned about. Safety and security are two of the most important factors for any home and the people who live within it.
If for any reason you do not feel that you can afford the installation of a security system, you should consider the following safety tips to help ensure the safety and security of your home:
Replace or Reinforce Sliding Doors:
Sliding doors are a notorious security risk because they provide easy access for a burglar to break in. The door must simply be lifted out of the tracks in order to open it.
To prevent the door from sliding, you can use the most cost efficient security measure of all… lay a broom stick in the track. You can also install a pin lock to hold the sliding door in place and keep people from being able to lift the door out of its track.
Windows:
Another security risk is the common sash lock that is found on windows. As a security measure, you can install and use keyed sash locks instead of the ordinary sash locks that are found in windows.
Lighting:
Lighting is important because it gives the impression that the home is occupied, even when it isn’t. It is also useful to light commonly dark or shadowy areas of your yard immediately next to the home; shadowy places that provide a key hiding spot for burglars who are about to break in. Correct lighting of dark places around your home eliminate hiding areas for burglars and make the susceptible to being seen and caught by alert neighbors.
If for any reason you do not feel that you can afford the installation of a security system, you should consider the following safety tips to help ensure the safety and security of your home:
Replace or Reinforce Sliding Doors:
Sliding doors are a notorious security risk because they provide easy access for a burglar to break in. The door must simply be lifted out of the tracks in order to open it.
To prevent the door from sliding, you can use the most cost efficient security measure of all… lay a broom stick in the track. You can also install a pin lock to hold the sliding door in place and keep people from being able to lift the door out of its track.
Windows:
Another security risk is the common sash lock that is found on windows. As a security measure, you can install and use keyed sash locks instead of the ordinary sash locks that are found in windows.
Lighting:
Lighting is important because it gives the impression that the home is occupied, even when it isn’t. It is also useful to light commonly dark or shadowy areas of your yard immediately next to the home; shadowy places that provide a key hiding spot for burglars who are about to break in. Correct lighting of dark places around your home eliminate hiding areas for burglars and make the susceptible to being seen and caught by alert neighbors.
