According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, one home is burglarized every 15 seconds in the United States. More than 1.7 million burglaries took place last year alone and caused property losses of billions of dollars. 73 percent of the burglaries were residential crimes, which means millions of properties were targeted and broken into by burglars and thieves.
To prevent this from happening to you as well, here are 13 foolproof ways to safeguard your home from uninvited intruders and burglars.
Lock doors and windows
It may sound obvious, but the first thing you should do to avoid being the victim of a burglary is to bar the windows and doors. If not bar them, at least make sure you lock everything up. That’s because residential burglaries are crimes of opportunity which means burglars try a door or a window until they find one open and walk right in to do their thing. In fact, 55 percent of them come in through the front or back door. It’s that easy!
Therefore, never forget to lock doors and windows when you leave the house, even if is just to go down the street for a few minutes. This is also valid for windows and doors on upper floors. You never know how thieves realize the first-story is accessible and valuable objects in the house become up for grabs, especially when 22% of thieves come in through a first-floor window.
