Prevention best method to ensure home security

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Today's homes contain more comforts and conveniences than in the past. In the old days homeowners did not have to worry about security because they knew everyone in their neighborhood and there was not as much crime as there is today. |ret||ret||tab|

People could leave their homes unlocked and windows open, whether at home or working, and not have to worry about intruders. But these days, security measures are routine.|ret||ret||tab|

The most commonly advised, cost-free step is to keep the place occupied or at least looking that way. If you are not familiar with the invitations to intrusion, they include: Notes on the door advising of the occupant's absence (information about return time or key location is pure folly); unshovelled snow in winter or an unmowed lawn in summer; accumulations of mail or newspapers; total interior darkness before normal bedtime; or a garage or carport with no vehicles around.|ret||ret||tab|

Positive countermeasures include posted notices that the home is protected by a security system and that its contents have been engraved and registered to make fencing them difficult; automatic switches that activate radio/TV sets or lights. Having a house-sitter or having a neighbor's car in your driveway also helps. |ret||ret||tab|

To further discourage intruders, keep doors and windows locked, especially at basement and first-floor levels, or where accessible from a fire-escape, tree, porch or other structure. Inside doors that lead to the basement or garage should be included in the keep-locked category. |ret||ret||tab|

Ladders should not be stored outside, on an open porch or hung under the eaves of a garage. Nor should vans or other high vehicles be parked where they might serve as improvised ladders.|ret||ret||tab|

While windows in the door or in the adjacent frame may be decorative or serve to brighten a dark foyer, they represent for the more determined intruder easy access to the inside knobs. Double-cylinder locks, which required unlocking with a key from inside or outside, are one countermeasure. Another is to screw sturdy, close-meshed metal grillwork across the inside of the glazed openings in or near the door.|ret||ret||tab|

|bold_on|(Aimee Dixon is the marketing/operations director for the regional office of HouseMaster, "The Home Inspection Professionals.")|ret||ret||tab|

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