What do you do when out of town / home safety?

[PMJ]

What do you do when you are out of town if you DO NOT have an alarm system on your house? I would not necessarily say I "know" my neighbors that well --- def say hi when I see them, but we don't really know one another's names.

I'm getting a bit paranoid, b/c the house will be vacant for about 1 week. The neighborhood has also had some car theft etc going on.

What would you do?

THANKS!

[boolady]

We are in a townhouse, so attached to others on both sides, so I think there is something of a deterrent factor there b/c there are always people around BUT we tell our neighbors on both sides, put a light on a timer downstairs and a different one on a timer upstairs (timed to mimic the times we would be up and awake down, then up); make sure all windows are locked, have the petsitter take our garbage around and mail in, so it's not piling up; etc. Our front walk light is on a motion detector, so we just leave it on. We try to leave one of our two cars there, so it looks like someone is home, and keep it alarmed. We leave an extra key with one of our neighbors in case the alarm goes off. That's about it...we just try to minimize the appearance of being empty.

[larig]

I do what PP does, but I also put a radio on NPR, near the door.

[rlu]

In addition to PP ideas, don't forget to put a hold on your mail (and newspaper if you still get paper edition).

[twowhat?]

I read somewhere that having a petsitter come to the house is a tip-off that the occupants are gone. And I've seen petsitters come, in company cars, and go right in the front door - that screams "we are not home" to me. If you go that route, I'd ask the petsitter to park in back or not even in front of your house. An unmarked car would be better.

Put lights on multiple timers, as PP suggested. I think you can even get timers that will slightly vary the times so that a thief casing your house over a period of days won't see the exact same pattern each day. Get a sign that you have a security system and display it prominently. Get those window stickers that say you have a security system too - place on all windows.

Ask your neighbors to park in front of your home.

Definitely agree with telling your neighbors even if you don't know them that well. Just ask them to call police if they see anyone going in/out of your house (other than petsitter, if you are using one).

[boolady]

Originally Posted by twowhat?

I read somewhere that having a petsitter come to the house is a tip-off that the occupants are gone.

We are lucky...ours lives around the corner, and walks over in the evening and lets herself in, so no vehicle bearing large ad parks out front, then leaves. She stops and chats with the neighbors out front if it's summer and the kids are out playing, so all looks pretty natural to a passer-by, which we really don't get anyway, b/c we're on a cul-de-sac in the back of the development. And it's a great reminder to tell neighbors about the petsitter.

[cuca_]

Our police department encourages people to register with them when they are going to be out of town so that they can do additional patrolling in the area. Check with your local police department, maybe they offer a similar service.

[lowrioh]

Our town police ask that you notify them when you will be out of town so they can do an extra patrol of your street....not sure that they actually do the patrol or if they are just trying to make us feel better.
We always tell our neighbors, put a light on a timer and have our mail stopped.

[PMJ]

[QUOTE=boolady;3131710] put a light on a timer downstairs and a different one on a timer upstairs (timed to mimic the times we would be up and awake down, then up); QUOTE]

Great idea. Where do you buy these?

[mariza]

In addition to everything else, do not post the dates of travel or any travel photos/ updates on your Facebook until you get back. Even if you think your settings are private, someone could hack into your account, or one of your friends could lose a smartphone giving the person finding it access to your FB page and perhaps your contact/address info.