“Christmas Time, Mistletoe and Crime…”
The likes of you and I would never think it, but residential security can be a real issue over Christmas and the festive period can actually be a great opportunity for burglars. They know that we’ve all done our Christmas shopping and that our houses are now full to the brim with brand-spanking new gadgets, toys, jewellery and more, with all of it sitting neatly under the Christmas tree, ready for the taking. Statistics from UKCrimeStats show that crime reaches a significant peak in the months of December and January, with anti-social behaviour and burglaries seeing the largest spike. With this in mind, we’ve compiled a list of residential security tips and tricks to keep your home safe over the festive period.
How to Up Your Residential Security Over Christmas
The first thing that burglars will look out for assessing a target over the festive period is decorative lighting. Often, when decking the exterior of our home with Christmas lights, we feed the wires through the windows in order to plug them in to the mains indoors. Of course, thieves look out for this as they know that it means an unsecure window, or one that is not fully closed, and thus an easy entrance point into your property. Ensuring that you don’t do this with your lights and keeping all doors and windows fully closed will make it much harder for an intruder to enter your home.
Something else to carefully consider will be how you dispose of your Christmas gift packaging after the big day. We all have the same problem – recycling bins over flowing with packaging and cardboard boxes, but keep in mind that, from a thief’s perspective, these boxes are essentially advertising the contents of your home. If the box for a new laptop is sitting on the street outside your house, you can be sure that a potential thief is going to notice it. Keep all packaging hidden or sufficiently torn up, so that you aren’t inadvertently advertising everything in your home that’s worth stealing.
Next on our list is social media. Social media and crime are often linked throughout the year, because people far too often post pictures of their lovely holidays on Facebook, thus confirming to a potential burglar that their house is currently empty and therefore an easy target. This is amplified at Christmas, because people have a habit of broadcasting what they got for Christmas on social media. This, much like the gift packaging, simply advertises the contents of your home to a prospective thief. On top of this, people regularly post about all the fun things that they’re doing, such as going away for the holidays or attending Christmas parties. Therefore, not only do the thieves know what you have in your house to steal, but they also know exactly when you aren’t home so that they can go and steal it.
Residential Security by SmokeCloak
As well as the little things that we’ve just suggested, one big thing that you can do to protect your property from seasonal crime is install a SmokeCloak residential security system. With SmokeCloak, an impenetrable cloud of fog is deployed as soon as an intruder enters your home, which impairs their vision and forces them to flee the property. This means that, even if a burglar does make it into your home, your family are safe and they won’t be getting away with any of your new gifts and gadgets.
To get a quote for SmokeCloak on your property, call 01604 839000, or fill out our contact form.
The likes of you and I would never think it, but residential security can be a real issue over Christmas and the festive period can actually be a great opportunity for burglars. They know that we’ve all done our Christmas shopping and that our houses are now full to the brim with brand-spanking new gadgets, toys, jewellery and more, with all of it sitting neatly under the Christmas tree, ready for the taking. Statistics from UKCrimeStats show that crime reaches a significant peak in the months of December and January, with anti-social behaviour and burglaries seeing the largest spike. With this in mind, we’ve compiled a list of residential security tips and tricks to keep your home safe over the festive period.
How to Up Your Residential Security Over Christmas
The first thing that burglars will look out for assessing a target over the festive period is decorative lighting. Often, when decking the exterior of our home with Christmas lights, we feed the wires through the windows in order to plug them in to the mains indoors. Of course, thieves look out for this as they know that it means an unsecure window, or one that is not fully closed, and thus an easy entrance point into your property. Ensuring that you don’t do this with your lights and keeping all doors and windows fully closed will make it much harder for an intruder to enter your home.
Something else to carefully consider will be how you dispose of your Christmas gift packaging after the big day. We all have the same problem – recycling bins over flowing with packaging and cardboard boxes, but keep in mind that, from a thief’s perspective, these boxes are essentially advertising the contents of your home. If the box for a new laptop is sitting on the street outside your house, you can be sure that a potential thief is going to notice it. Keep all packaging hidden or sufficiently torn up, so that you aren’t inadvertently advertising everything in your home that’s worth stealing.
Next on our list is social media. Social media and crime are often linked throughout the year, because people far too often post pictures of their lovely holidays on Facebook, thus confirming to a potential burglar that their house is currently empty and therefore an easy target. This is amplified at Christmas, because people have a habit of broadcasting what they got for Christmas on social media. This, much like the gift packaging, simply advertises the contents of your home to a prospective thief. On top of this, people regularly post about all the fun things that they’re doing, such as going away for the holidays or attending Christmas parties. Therefore, not only do the thieves know what you have in your house to steal, but they also know exactly when you aren’t home so that they can go and steal it.
Residential Security by SmokeCloak
As well as the little things that we’ve just suggested, one big thing that you can do to protect your property from seasonal crime is install a SmokeCloak residential security system. With SmokeCloak, an impenetrable cloud of fog is deployed as soon as an intruder enters your home, which impairs their vision and forces them to flee the property. This means that, even if a burglar does make it into your home, your family are safe and they won’t be getting away with any of your new gifts and gadgets.
To get a quote for SmokeCloak on your property, call 01604 839000, or fill out our contact form.