Safety Programs

• Keep emergency phone numbers handy as well as written directions to your home. It is easier to read them off to the dispatch center during an emergency than to try to remember them. If possible, preprogram your emergency number into your phone.
• Be sure your house number is visible from the street.
• Use your first initial and last name on mailboxes.
• Keep doorways, windows and porches clear by pruning shrubbery. Cut back tree limbs that could help burglars gain access to a window.
• Entrances, windows, porches, and yards should be well lit at night. Consider timers or motion detectors.
• Store ladders and tools inside of a locked garage, basement, or storage shed.
• Never leave notes indicating you're not home or when you will return. This also applies to messages placed on an answering machine.
• Never have a name or address attached to your keys.
• Don't give any information to a wrong number caller.
• Never leave a house key under a doormat, in a flower pot or on the ledge of a door, in a mailbox or in a fake rock. It is better to give a spare key to a neighbor you trust.
• Make sure all exterior doors are solid wood or metal, and fit tightly in their frames with hinge pins on the inside.
• Install a peephole or wide-angle viewer in all entry doors so you can see who is on the outside without opening the door.
• Make sure every external door has a deadbolt lock.
• Secure sliding glass doors with commercially available locks or with a wooden dowel in the track to prevent the door from being forced open. To prevent the sliding door from being lifted off its track, drill a hole in the frame that goes through to the fixed frame and insert a pin.
• Secure double-hung windows by sliding a nail through a hole drilled at a downward angle in each top corner of the inside sash. Be sure to secure basement windows as well as other openings such as air conditioners.
• Garages are favorite target places for burglars. A garage door should be locked at all times. If you have automatic garage door openers be sure to lock the doors internally when you leave for vacation, and consider using openers with a scrambling code.
• If you move into a new home or apartment be sure to replace or rekey the locks.
• If you see a screen slit, a window broken, a door ajar, or any other signs of forcible entry, do not enter. Call the police from a neighbor's house or a public phone.
• If you hear a noise in the middle of the night that sounds like someone breaking in or moving around inside your home, call the police and wait for them to come. If you are sure you can leave safely, do so. If not, lock yourself in a room.
• If you go away stop mail and newspaper delivery or have a neighbor collect them. Use timers so that lights and a radio create the illusion that someone is home. Leave shades, blinds and curtains in normal positions. Ask your local police if they will do house checks. Arrange for trimming of the lawn and clearing of the walk ways.
• If you live in an isolated area or a neighborhood vulnerable to break-ins, consider an alarm system.
• Keep a home inventory, listing things like TVs, VCRs, stereos, cameras, and computers complete with their serial numbers. If possible take pictures or a video of the inside of your house showing all valuables and keeping it at a relatives house. If your home is burglarized you can use these to help identify stolen items. These also make it easier to file insurance claims if stolen or destroyed in a fire.