Home Security Checklist

On this page we will provide you with a home security checklist so that you can take the necessary steps to make your home safe and secure for you and your family.

Having our home broken into and loosing our irreplaceable valuables was an experience that we will never forget. We felt that we were personally violated and our home was not the same safe place it once was.

We decided to provide information on how to establish a home security program for you and your family so that you won't have to go through the same experience we did.

Nine out of ten household burglaries are preventable. Most home burglaries are done by amateurs and are easily deterred if you employ these simple security precautions.

• Make it a habit to lock all doors at night and every time you leave your home, even if it is just for a few moments.
  
  
• Use solid-core doors on all exterior entries.
  
  
• Install wide-angle peepholes on all exterior doors, at heights that everyone in the family can use.
  
  
• Reinforce glass panels in or near your doors to keep them from being easily shattered.
  
  
• Install keyed entry locks and sturdy deadbolts on all exterior doors. All deadbolts should have a reinforced jamb and installed with three inch wood screws.
  
  
• Use a trusted neighbor to keep a spare key. Do not put spare keys under doormats, under planters, on a ledge, in a mailbox or any other obvious place that a thief would look.

• All sliding doors should have working locks.
  
  
• Use a dowel or a pin to secure a sliding glass door to prevent the door from being lifted off the track or shoved aside.

• All house windows should have a working lock or be securely pinned.
  
  
• All windows should be pinned or locked even when opened a few inches for ventilation.

• The door leading into your house from your attached garage should be a fire-resistant, solid-core door with a keyed lock and deadbolt.
  
  
• Garage side doors should have a working keyed lock and deadbolt.
  
  
• If you feel the need for extra security on your overhead garage door, install a lock so that you don't need to solely rely on the automatic garage door opener for security.
  
  
• Lock your cars that are parked outside of the garage, if they have a garage door remote inside.

• Trim all shrubs, bushes and trees so there is no place for a thief to hide.
  
  
• Use flood lights and motion sensitive lighting around the outside of the house to avoid having dark areas.
  
  
• All exterior doors should have a outside light.
  
  
• House numbers should be clearly displayed so that police and emergency vehicles can find your home quickly.

• Before you leave your home, make your home appear as though someone is still home by installing two light timers to turn lights on and off.
  
  
• Install a home alarm system and make sure it is activated before you leave your home.
  
  
• Bolting down home security safes have been recommended.
  
  
• Stop all mail and newspaper deliveries.
  
  
• Have a trusted neighbor tend to the yard and watch over your home.

• Store firearms unloaded and locked in storage boxes or safes and secure with trigger guard locks.
  
  
• All valuable items such as computers, televisions and stereos should be inscribed with identifying numbers.
  
  
• Video tape or take pictures of all of your personal property and make a complete up-to-date inventory. Have an off-site copy of these.
  
  
• If your keys are lost or stolen, change your locks immediately.