Podcast

Home Security Safety Tips

• Keep your doors locked and install dead-bolts and peepholes. Never open your door to strangers. Ask service persons for the proper identification - call the company the person says they represent, if you have any question. Sliding glass doors need extra locks such as bars, dowels or insert pins.

• Bedroom doors in your house should have locks. If someone does break in and you can't get out, you can lock the door until police arrive. It is also a good idea to have a telephone in bedrooms.

• Have good lighting both indoors and outdoors. Motion sensor lights are good for your yard. Immediately replace broken or burned out lights.

• Shrubs, fences and walls should not obstruct the view of your house from the roadway. Keep shrubs waist high and low limbs cut back. Remember, shrubs and fences that provide privacy for the resident also provide privacy for a burglar.

• Don't hide your spare house key outside; keep it with a neighbor.

• Secure roof openings and exhaust systems.

• Put extremely expensive valuables in safe deposit box. Have jewelry and antiques appraised. Record the serial numbers of your valuables and video or photograph them. Keep all your receipts and consider getting an alarm. Do not keep your valuables in your sock drawer, that's the first place a burglar will look!

• Lock up ladders and tools in your garage or storage shed when not using them. Don't provide burglars with the tools they need to break into your house.

• Window air conditioning units should be bolted to the wall to prevent them from being taken out of the window, or pushed in to allow access.

• Garages should be protected the same way as the main house. Very expensive equipment is kept in the garage. Be sure to include the serial numbers of your lawn care equipment on your list. The door between your garage and house should have a dead-bolt.

• When you go on vacation, stop the delivery of mail and newspapers. Put your inside house lights on a timer and turn your phone down. Have your yard tended and contact the Franklin Police Department to request a patrol check for your residence.

• If you see something going on at a neighbors house, and you know they are away, call the police. Do not attempt to approach them. Try to give the dispatcher a description of the house, suspects, and any cars that are in the area. Many criminals have radio scanners to listen to the police. By giving the dispatcher a car description, it increases the chance that we can stop the car and check out the suspects.