Summer vacation tips to secure your home and property

With schools out for the summer and with the start of the traditional summer vacation season, the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office is offering these vacation safety tips for those who will be traveling in order to protect their homes and property while away. “While no one, not even a law enforcement agency, can ever guarantee with 100% certainty that they will not be a victim of a crime, the Sheriff’s Office can still provide some tips and guidelines to help our citizens protect their homes and property while they are away,” says Oconee County Sheriff Mike Crenshaw.  “Property owners are the first line of defense in preventing crime and the Sheriff’s Office stands ready to work and partner with our citizens to deter crime as much as possible.The Sheriff’s Office is offering these tips to help citizens protect their property and homes while away on vacation:

·        Make sure your burglar alarm system is activated before leaving.  It is also a good idea to place signs in your yard and window decals on your windows to alert thieves that your house has an actively working alarm system.  Many alarm companies have aps and information on their websites that allow those who are away to monitor their alarm systems.

·        Make sure your exterior motion lights are working, especially at the corners of a residence.  It might be a good idea to install motion lights if you have not already done so.  Also, you may want to place timers inside your home to activate lights, television sets and radios at various times during the day.  You may want to leave a TV or radio on at all times.  Also, consider installing game cameras on your property or one of the many camera systems that are activated when someone rings your doorbell that sends a message to your phone so you can view who has rang the doorbell, whereupon you can speak with them.  Motion detectors and any alarm systems should be activated even if they are not registered with law enforcement.

·        Create an up-to-date home inventory and photographs of items of value including jewelry, valuables and electronics.   Make sure to include name, make, model and serial numbers of those items if they have them.  Also, keep that inventory list in a safe location, outside of the house.

·        Make sure to properly store and secure items that are left outside before you leave on vacation.  Those items would include, if possible, lawn equipment and power tools, grills, patio furniture and metal left outside.  The best place to store those items would be inside a locked shed or building or utility room.

·        Make sure all your doors and windows are locked and having dead bolt locks on all exterior doors is a good idea.

·        Consider placing beware of dog signs on your property, even if you don’t own a dog.

·        Have someone pick up your mail or newspapers.   You may want to a call your postal carrier and have the mail stopped for the time you are away and call your newspaper provider or carrier to stop newspaper delivery while you are away too.

·        Don’t post on social media sites that you are gone and don’t post pictures of your trip on social media sites until after you return home.

·        Don’t record that you are out of town or on vacation on your answering machine.

·         Have a friend, family member, or neighbor check up on your home while you are away, or ask someone to house sit for you while you are away.  If you see something that looks suspicious around your neighbor’s home or property, contact law enforcement immediately.  Always remember: If you see something, say something!

·        You may also want to consider calling the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office or your local

law enforcement agency, if you live inside the city limits of a municipality, to inquire about the possibility and availability of extra patrols in your neighborhood while you are away.  One bit of information you can pass along to law enforcement would be what vehicles should be on your property.  Bear in mind that extra patrols are based on officer availability and the amount of calls for service that officers are currently working.

 

“The Sheriff’s Office has also received reports this year of vehicle break-ins in which vehicles were left unlocked and items, such as wallets, cash, checkbooks and electronic items were left in the vehicles,” continues Sheriff Crenshaw.  “We ask all citizens to please lock their vehicles, even when the vehicles are their property, and remove all valuable items from their vehicle.  Always lock expensive and valuable items in the truck of your car if you are traveling and in a room at your residence that has a door lock on it.  Never leave valuable items in places where they are visible, regardless if it is your vehicle or your residence.”