How to Deter Burglars
Most burglars are opportunists who want easy gains in exchange for as little risk and effort as possible. If you make it difficult for them to get their hands on your valuables, or they become concerned about attracting unwanted attention, there’s a good chance they’ll move on in search of an easier target.
How Burglars Operate
Watching Neighbourhoods to Identify Targets
Burglars often spend time getting to know neighbourhoods, watching people’s comings and goings so that they know when nobody’s home. While most of them will settle for easily portable valuables, some of them are brazen enough to arrive with a lorry, clearing out just about everything while homeowners and their families are away.
Following Your Socials
The most “professional” burglars really do their homework. For example, they might stalk people who live in an affluent neighbourhood on social media. Here, they might learn of new acquisitions like jewellery or artworks and find out when you and your family are away for a few days or weeks.
Choosing a Time When Nobody’s Home
We tend to think of burglars breaking into houses in the wee hours of the morning, when everyone in the house is sleeping peacefully in their beds. However, burglars prefer unoccupied houses and may choose the daylight hours when you’re at work and your children are at school.
Ringing the Doorbell
Perhaps the most frightening form of burglary occurs when burglars try to trick a person who is home alone into opening the door. If they fall for the ruse, they will be overpowered, and may be seriously assaulted or even killed. Of course, anyone who catches burglars in the act is also at risk.
A less aggressive burglar may still begin with your doorbell. If someone is home, they will make an excuse and move on. If nobody answers, they know your home is unoccupied and they can take their time looking for a way in.
Common Ways Burglars Break In
Unlocked Doors and Windows
The most common way burglars gain access to a home is through unlocked doors or windows. But some locks are easily broken. While burglars don’t like making a noise, they might risk forcing a lock if they can do it quickly enough.
Taking Advantage of Cover
Apart from not wanting to be heard, these criminals don’t want to be seen. So, although that screen of shrubbery grants you privacy, it could also offer cover for prowlers. And at night, poorly lit entrance ways and places to hide offer them reassurance.
Garages for Cover, Access and A Treasure Trove of Tools
Garage doors are often less secure than they should be, and if there’s a door between the garage and the house, burglars can stay out of sight in the garage while they work on the door to your home.
Meanwhile, the tools you store in your garage are a form of loot for the hasty, and for those who aren’t worried about being caught, they’re useful for breaking in. After all, if neighbours hear noises from the garage, they might think you’re at work there, doing a little DIY.
“Borrowing” Your Ladder
In a related point, many people don’t bother to secure windows that aren’t reachable from ground level. But, with your own ladder, “borrowed” from your garage, it’s easy to reach them, force or break them, and step through.
How to Deter Burglars: 10 Easy Strategies
1. Secure Doors and Windows
Neighbours are unlikely to investigate sudden loud noises unless they continue for some time. If burglars can gain access by smashing a window or can quickly break locks, they’ll be fairly confident about remaining undetected.
As the most popular access point for burglars, your front door is your first line of defence. Both the door and its locks should be able to withstand a sustained attack. Look for the weakest link. For example, strong locks attached to weak door frames are only as strong as the doorframe. Any glazing should be security rated, and that applies to doors and windows alike.
Bars on the windows? This can be a tough call. While they do help to keep homes secure, many homeowners don’t like the feeling of being “behind bars.” Fortunately, security glazing and strong window locks and frames can withstand attacks effectively, offering an open prospect while keeping burglars firmly outside.
Even simple extras like a letterbox protector are a big help. Peeping through doors with old-fashioned letterbox flaps is all-too-easy. It’s a classic way for burglars to see what’s going on inside your house. Don’t give them a look in!
2. High Quality Burglar Alarms
A noisy burglar alarm alerts neighbours and may even be linked to control centres that will alert the police. When alarms go off, burglars will usually make their escape as quickly as possible. However, some burglars are very good at their trade and can easily bypass simple alarm systems.
Consider paying a little more for high quality, professionally installed alarms and ask questions about what will happen in contingencies such as power outages. Apart from alarms on doors and windows, consider motion sensors that sound alarms if there is activity across your yard’s perimeter or movement inside your home when alarms are armed.
Many alarm companies offer signage indicating that your home is protected, and this could be enough of a deterrent to prevent an attempted burglary.
3. Visible CCTV Cameras
CCTV cameras have gone beyond recording what they see, with many of them sending alerts when unusual activity occurs. Although burglars can take steps like covering their faces, many of them will be nervous about entering a home with visible camera monitoring.
Although there are “fake” CCTV cameras for deterring burglars, we recommend installing the real thing, choosing an intelligent system that is linked to alarm systems. Some CCTV systems will even broadcast warnings to would-be burglars, prompting them to flee the scene.
4. Doorbell Cameras
Security chains and peepholes can help you to see who is ringing your doorbell, but doorbell cameras are even better. For instance, if you were to open a door a crack using your security chain, you are now reliant on its strength if the person at the door should attempt forced entry. Burglars might walk away, but if they are armed, they may threaten the person who opened the door. And, if you aren’t home, peepholes and security chains won’t help you.
Doorbell cameras alert you when someone is at the door to your home, let you see who is there, and allow you to speak to them - even if you are far from home. They also record footage. All of these add up to a strong deterrent that can put would-be burglars off.
5. Visibility From the Street and Neighbouring Properties
This one is up to you. We realise that privacy is an advantage not everyone wants to sacrifice for the sake of security. Nevertheless, pruning shrubs for a clear view from the street and installing outdoor lighting to illuminate exteriors when motion is detected will help to deter burglars.
6. Secure Garage Doors
Even if your garage isn’t linked to your house, secure garage doors help to keep you safe. Deny burglars access to tools they can steal for resale or use to break into your home. This is a frequently-overlooked loophole. Disappoint burglars by installing a garage door they can’t easily open with tools or brute force.
7. Secure Perimeters
From thorny hedges to secure fencing, limiting entry points means that burglars have fewer points for access or escape. That’s already a deterrent, but if you add secure gates and perimeter alarms into the mix, they may never have an opportunity to come near your home undetected.
8. Conceal Holiday Absences
Most burglars like targeting premises when they know nobody is home. If it’s a protracted absence like a holiday, they know they have plenty of time to break in and empty your home. If you know a reliable house sitter, that’s a great solution. But, if you prefer to keep your home private, automations like power-outlet and lighting timers and devices that open and close curtains can create the impression that someone’s home.
Ask a neighbour to keep an eye on your property and pick up your post and don’t talk about your holiday on social media, even if you have a private profile.
9. Keep Valuables Out of Sight
If they don’t see anything worth stealing, burglars will often walk away without attempting a break-in. Keep valuables out of sight, and lock small, valuable items in a safe. If the worst happens and burglars gain access to your home, they’re less likely to return when pickings are poor.
10. Have a Noisy Dog
If you’re an animal lover, this security step will have appeal. You don’t need a vicious dog - in fact, it’s best not to have one because it might turn on your friends or family. But burglars dislike noise, and a barking dog of any size fits the bill. Do keep your dog safe, though. Train it to refuse titbits from strangers and allow it to sleep indoors at night. When you’re away, get a house sitter or send it to boarding kennels.
Security Doors and Windows Make Your Home a Stronghold
No burglar wants to spend much time on breaking in. With the right doors and windows fitted, they’ll need access to powerful tools to gain access. Even so, they’ll make a great deal of noise and need plenty of time to breach your defences.
Stop burglars in their tracks with steel-reinforcements, multipoint locks, and glass that ranges from burglar resistant to bulletproof. Our certified products are trusted by high-profile individuals and security-conscious householders alike. Turn your home into a stronghold. Our premium security front doors, garage doors, and secure window systems welcome you home while being among the best ways to deter burglars. Even the police agree. Our Secured by Design Certification is all the proof you need. Is your home your castle? Secure it with us.