An intruder breaking into their home or business is most people's worst nightmare. Not only is the loss of personal possessions or valuable property devastating, but it can also be awful knowing that a stranger (and a felonious one) has been inside your property.
The key to preventing burglaries is putting as many deterrents as possible. The goal is to make your home or business completely unappealing to criminals by making it seem too risky to be worth bothering with. Here are 10 of the most effective, tried-and-tested deterrents to implement to protect your property:
- Installing security lighting. Motion-activated floodlights can be terrifying for burglars, who are suddenly exposed to their nefarious activities when your blinding floodlight comes on when previously they could skulk about undiscovered in the dark. Cover as wide an area as possible with your security lights while keeping the possible disturbance to your neighbours in mind.
- Fitting a burglar alarm. It may be a big investment, but research has shown that around 60% of burglars would stay away from a property if a burglar alarm system were visible.
- Investing in a good quality outdoor security camera. Motion-activated security cameras are right up there with burglar alarms regarding burglar deterrents. No one wants their face on camera when committing a crime, so even the faintest whiff of a camera and most burglars will leave the property well alone.
- Getting a dog, or simply a beware of the dog sign. This one is a loud dog that will always be off-putting to burglars. If you don't fancy pet ownership, a Beware of the Dog sign could make burglars think twice.
- Setting lamp timers. Some people make the mistake of leaving lights on when they go out or head off on holiday, but this can act as an invitation to burglars. It would help if you had timers for lamps positioned in different places around the house to leave burglars unsure whether someone is home or not.
- Always shut your curtains. Uncovered windows allow burglars to assess whether someone is home and take a good look at your valuables.
- Working together with your neighbours. Joining a Neighbourhood Watch scheme is a good way for you and your neighbours to look out for each other's properties, but an informal agreement to keep an eye out for suspicious characters when someone is on holiday will do just as well.
- Installing sturdy doors. Installing big, strong doors will always deter burglars, but ensure the locks are evenly spaced out on the door for maximum structural strength in case of an attack.
- Painting exterior walls with anti-climb paint. This causes intruders to climb your wall, either unable to or left covered in paint or grease most will not dare to approach your property after that.
- Making escape routes difficult. Just like with the anti-climb paint, you can put burglars off by growing sharp, brambly bushes around the perimeter of your property escaping the crime look anything but easy.