How Home Security Works When You're Not Home

So you want to leave town for a few days and you're concerned with protecting your home while you're away. If you don’t have a home monitoring service set up such as ADT or Brinks, don’t panic, there are many other ways to secure your home without them. CCTV systems, proper lighting and signs, along with the help of neighbors can all be effective ways to protect your home, whether or not you're there.

CCTV Systems

Video cameras are installed at entryways inside and outside your home (your preference) and record everything that happens on time lapse VCR equipment. Closed caption TV systems are great for preventing crime, providing police with leads, help citizens feels safer and improve the economy of a crime stricken area. More expensive systems can be set up to stream live action via the internet when you're away from home, providing second to second action and giving you a sense of relief.

Neighborhood Watch

Be friendly with your neighbors. Get to know them. They can make the best detectives in those times of need. They know who should be there and who shouldn’t. Set up or join a large neighborhood watch or a small one. Offer your assistance to your neighbors when they're out of town, providing them with a bit of security. Keep your neighborhood free of clutter, debris and overgrown landscaping. This way anything out of the ordinary will stick out to everyone.

Lighting

Having the proper lighting can help deter an intruder. You can purchase an inexpensive light for your porch or around your perimeter. These lights have sensors and adjustment knobs on them that enable the lights to come on automatically, whether they stay on all night or come on when someone has entered the monitored area, and then turn off after a few minutes. Automatic outdoor lights are a great protective tool when you're not home, but indoor lights that serve do the same thing are even better. You can buy indoor lights and set them on timers to come on and turn off repeatedly throughout the night, do confuse an intruder and force them to think someone is actually home.

Signs

Yard signs, gate signs and window signs are a great way to let an intruder know your home is protected even if you don’t have the alarm system to back them up. Cheap and inexpensive signs of all types can be purchased at any local home store and if properly placed, they can at least make an intruder second guess themselves before entering your property, home or vehicle.