Safety and Security Tips
The most common security threat to your home is burglary.
A burglary happens in the U.S. every 15 seconds according to the FBI. Most home and apartment burglaries occur during the
daytime when residents are at work or school.
Protecting your Property
Use high quality
Grade-1 or Grade-2 locks on exterior doors to resist twisting, prying, and lock-picking attempts. A high-quality deadbolt
lock with a beveled casing will hamper the use of channel-lock pliers that can shear off lock cylinder pins. A quality door
knob-in-lock set will have a 'dead latch' mechanism to prevent slipping the lock with a shim or credit card.
We recommend the following for your home or business:
- Solid core or metal door for all entrance points
- Deadbolt
lock with a one-inch throw bolt
- Knob-in-lock set with a dead-latch
mechanism
- Four-screw, strike plate with 3-inch screws to
penetrate into a wooden door frame
Make Theft More
Difficult
- Use the window stickers your alarm
installer provides you. Deterrence --stopping a criminal intrusion into your home or business before it happens--is the best
way to keep you and your loved ones safe.
- Always lock your
doors and windows.
- Put deadbolt locks on external doors.
- Change locks when you move.
- If you must give out an alarm code to a guest or service worker, call your alarm company to set up a special guest
code. Ask them if your security system can be set up to only allow one entrance to be used with the guest code. Change the
guest code every 6 months.
Fire Safety
- Check your fire alarm batteries every 6 months and test
each device.
- If possible, get a monitored fire alarm system
hooked up to your alarm system and use a battery back up power set up.
- Install a carbon monoxide detection system. Carbon monoxide poisoning is an avoidable household tragedy but you need
a detector for maximum protection as carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless.
- Make sure you have fire extinguishers throughout your house.
- Create and practice a fire evacuation plan for your family. Contact your local fire department for details on how
to set up the best plan for your home and geographic location.
