Police Say These 6 Home Security Tips are Critical

At PROTECTION PLUS, we often share impor­tant home secu­ri­ty tips in our blog and across our web­site. These tips are designed to help home­own­ers pro­tect them­selves, their fam­i­lies and their homes from threats like bur­glary, intru­sion and fire.

But don’t just take our word for it.

In this post, we share what the author­i­ties say. Below, you’ll find some of the most impor­tant tips pro­vid­ed by police ser­vices across the Greater Toron­to Area. We encour­age all fam­i­lies to review these rec­om­men­da­tions regard­less of whether they cur­rent­ly use a home secu­ri­ty sys­tem or not.  

1) Strengthen your door security.

- Toron­to Police Ser­vice

In its guide to home secu­ri­ty, Toron­to Police pro­vide sev­er­al rec­om­men­da­tions for improv­ing door secu­ri­ty to make it more dif­fi­cult for crim­i­nals to break in. “Locks with key cylin­ders in the door­knob are not

reli­able and can be eas­i­ly forced,” police say. They rec­om­mend installing “a good qual­i­ty dead­bolt lock on the door and a secu­ri­ty strike plate on the door frame.” Addi­tion­al­ly, police say doors should be mount­ed so that the hinges and bolts are fac­ing the inside of the house. Replace old-fash­ioned chain locks with a wide-angle view­er. If you mis­place keys, you should change your locks.

2) Trim shrubs and hedges.

- Peel Region­al Police

Peel Region­al Police empha­size this impor­tant point, which is rec­om­mend­ed by every oth­er police depart­ment on this list: “Ensure that shrubs and hedges around your prop­er­ty are main­tained to have clear lines of sight to all acces­si­ble win­dows and doors.” This pre­vents crim­i­nals from hid­ing behind bush­es and break­ing inside with­out being spot­ted by neigh­bors.

3) Use timers on lights.

- Durham Region­al Police Ser­vice

To deter home inva­sion, Durham Region­al Police strong­ly rec­om­mend using “timers on lights inside the res­i­dence.” This is espe­cial­ly impor­tant if you’re going away, as it cre­ates the appear­ance that some­one is at home.

4) Don’t let mail gather.

- York Region­al Police 

York Region­al Police say that uncol­lect­ed mail, news­pa­pers and pack­ages are a mag­net for thieves. “Make sure your mail is col­lect­ed and not gath­er­ing on your porch,” says Detec­tive Sergeant Carl Mat­ti­nen of the Inte­grat­ed Prop­er­ty Crime Task Force. If you’re going away, have a neigh­bor or rel­a­tive col­lect these items for you, so that your home does­n’t look vacant. Sim­i­lar­ly, arrange to have your lawn cut or snow shov­eled.

5) Use security systems with alarm verification.

- Hamil­ton Police Ser­vice

Many Ontario police ser­vices require home­own­ers or their alarm com­pa­nies to ver­i­fy an alarm sig­nal before police can be dis­patched. Hamil­ton Police Ser­vice states: “In order to dis­patch police, alarm com­pa­nies or an alarm user must ver­i­fy that a crim­i­nal offence has/is occur­ring or there is an immi­nent threat to per­son­al safe­ty.” Alarms must be ver­i­fied by video/audio, such as with our ALARM‑i video alarm ver­i­fi­ca­tion sys­tem, or by “mul­ti­ple alarm acti­va­tion points,” such as sep­a­rate door/window sen­sors.

6) Keep outdoor valuables secure and out of sight.

- Hal­ton Region­al Police Ser­vice

“High-val­ue items such as lawn­mow­ers, snow­blow­ers and gas bar­be­cues should be stored out of sight when not in use,” says the Hal­ton Region­al Police Ser­vice. These items should be stored inside garages, sheds or oth­er struc­tures, so that they do not attract thieves. Addi­tion­al­ly, be sure that those struc­tures remain closed and locked in addi­tion to your home­’s doors and win­dows. 

Get more tips with a home security audit

Let our secu­ri­ty experts pro­vide you with valu­able secu­ri­ty tips that are spe­cif­ic to your home and needs. Request a free, no-oblig­a­tion audit of your home secu­ri­ty from PROTECTION PLUS.