An alarm sys­tem pro­vides a fun­da­men­tal lay­er of secu­ri­ty for your home. But it’s not the only step you can take to pre­vent your home from being tar­get­ed by bur­glars. Here are 6 secu­ri­ty tips to keep your fam­i­ly safe. 

Small actions, such as keep­ing an exte­ri­or light on, can go a long way to deter bad guys so that your home nev­er becomes a tar­get in the first place.

This post exam­ines sev­er­al sim­ple yet essen­tial ways to keep your home secure and tips on choos­ing the right alarm sys­tem.

Here are 6 security tips

1) Use a video alarm verification system

This is the foun­da­tion for all the oth­er home secu­ri­ty tips list­ed below. Bur­glars could enter your home at any hour with­out an alarm sys­tem, and you may nev­er know it until it’s too late. But what kind of sys­tem should you use?

The ALARM‑i video alarm ver­i­fi­ca­tion sys­tem uses cam­eras to ver­i­fy what’s hap­pen­ing at your home when an alarm is trig­gered. This ver­i­fi­ca­tion is crit­i­cal because it pro­vides instant evi­dence to our mon­i­tor­ing sta­tion dis­patch­ers. When con­firmed visu­al­ly, the police can be dis­patched with a pri­or­i­ty response – up to 85% faster than a non-ver­i­fied response.

2) Close and lock all doors and windows

You’d be sur­prised how often bur­glar­ies and home intru­sions occur because doors and win­dows are left open. Close your home­’s entry points and win­dows, espe­cial­ly at night or while away. Addi­tion­al­ly, all exte­ri­or doors should have dead­bolts to with­stand forced entry.

3) Keep your home well lit

Bur­glars are look­ing for dark, vacant homes with the hope that nobody is inside. So by sim­ply mak­ing your home look occu­pied, you can help to deter the bad guys. Con­sid­er keep­ing on at least 1–2 exte­ri­or lights, such as the front and rear doors, or use motion sen­sors to trig­ger the lights when move­ment is detect­ed. Inte­ri­or light­ing can also be used at night to make peo­ple look inside and awake. If you’re going away, con­sid­er using timers or home-automa­tion sys­tems to turn on the lights while you’re gone.

4) Add security film to windows

Win­dow secu­ri­ty film can make the glass much hard­er to break. So if you’re away and an intrud­er tries to force their way through a win­dow or glass patio door, you’ll have added pro­tec­tion to pre­vent them from get­ting in.

5) Increase the visibility of your home

Don’t hide your house in a dense for­est of trees and shrubs. This is a win for bur­glars because it allows them to enter your prop­er­ty unde­tect­ed by you and your neigh­bours. Trim land­scap­ing and remove obstruc­tions to increase your home­’s vis­i­bil­i­ty and help you see your prop­er­ty from the inside.

6) Don’t leave a clear view of your valuables

While your yard should be vis­i­ble, your inte­ri­or should not. Close blinds and shades at night and when you’re away so that bur­glars can’t see your valu­able items. Sim­i­lar­ly, be care­ful what you reveal when you put out your trash each week. If you’ve pur­chased a new TV, break down the box so your house does­n’t become an instant tar­get.

Find out more about ALARM‑i.

Learn more about pro­tect­ing your home with an ALARM‑i res­i­den­tial video alarm ver­i­fi­ca­tion sys­tem and oth­er home secu­ri­ty solu­tions. For more infor­ma­tion, call 1–844-416‑7587 or con­tact us online.