Burglaries are on the rise, a home is broken into every ten minutes.
It is not safe to leave your house unsecured even for a few minutes as an opportunist burglar, can steal your valuables and be gone long before you return.
About one in five burglaries take place when the property is occupied - usually at night when people are asleep.
At bedtime, lock and bolt all doors and remove the keys from the locks. If you have a zoned alarm system, then remember to turn it on.
Your local crime prevention officer, will be happy to advise you, If you live in the United KIngdom, Click HERE for a link.
PLEASE CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING FREE TIPS AND ADVICE
Checking your home.
Walk around your home and imagine that you are a burglar, looking for easy access points and blind spots, in fact anywhere, that you can work unnoticed.
Pay particular attention to how you might force a door or break a window.
Check that out buildings are secure, too and if they contain ladders secure them with a padlock and chain to a heavy or solid object.
Check that your front door is fitted with at least a five-lever mortise lock conforming to British Standard BS3621.
Check that your back door has at minimum a five-lever two-bolt mortise lock and surface-mounted bolts or mortise rack bolts.
Ideally both front and back doors should also have a pair of hinge bolts for extra security.
Patio doors should be fitted with surface-mounted locks at top and bottom.
French windows need to be fitted with flush locks and a bolt or mortise rack bolt, with hinge bolts, on each door.
Casement windows should be fitted with surface- mounted locks or mortise rack bolts.
Sliding sash windows should be fitted with sash locks, dual screws or clench locks.
Conservatory doors and windows need extra locks or bolts.
Up-and-over doors in garages with a side exit should have extra internal bolts.
Windows in semi-basements should have security grilles or be glazed with security glass.
When you go out.
Locking up properly takes only a minute or two and will keep your property safe.
Make sure that all windows are closed and that window catches and stays are engaged. Use window locks if you have them, and remove the keys.
Make sure you lock or bolt side or rear doors, including those to attached outbuildings such as your garage or conservatory.
Remove the keys from conservatory and attached garage locks etc; as if a burglar gets inside these structures, he can then work unseen on breaking into the house itself.
If you have a back gate bolt it and make sure the bolts cannot be reached by someone leaning over the gate.
Don't leave easy- to-carry valuables such as wallets, handbags, cameras or jewellery in view through ground-floor windows, put them in your safe or another secure place.
Night time.
Burglars Prefer to work at night because it reduces the risk of their being noticed.
Close and lock all downstairs windows, and any upstairs ones that can be reached from low- level roofs or pipes on the house wall.
Make sure that curtains downstairs are tightly drawn, and leave a table light on in one of the living rooms, perhaps controlled by a timer, to give the impression that there is someone in the room.
Fit a sensor light or leave an outside light on to deter intruders from approaching the property.
Leave one or two lights on in places such as a landing or upstairs bedroom which no one can look into from the street or garden.
Close doors inside the house so that no one can see through one room to another to check whether the house is occupied, or if there is property worth stealing.
If you have been Burgled.
If when arrive home, you find signs that 'a burglary is in progress' - an open window, or a strange vehicle parked outside with some of your goods in the back, for instance.
Don't approach or go into the house. You don't want to alarm whoever is inside.
Call the police and wait for them to arrive, keep watching your home from a safe position and make a written note of the description of the vehicle including its colour, make registration number etc; and anyone who leaves.
If you do not notice that you have been burgled until you enter your home, call the police. If the burglar has taken any of your property, make a list of what's been stolen while you wait for them to arrive. Don't touch anything; they may have left fingerprints, or other useful evidence.
Going on Holiday.
Your house is most at risk when you are away on holiday. Apart from ensuring that it is securely locked up before you leave, don't forget to
Cancel newspaper and milk deliveries, and ask free sheet delivery people not to leave copies while you are away.
Ask your postman to push mail right through your letter box and remember to remove any internal letter cage to stop it from filling up.
Disconnect your telephone answering machine, or change the announcement to suggest you're only out for the day.
Ask a neighbour to mow grass and clear leaves from the front of the property.
If you have a lot of valuable property that is too large to store in a safe or bank vault, consider employing a reliable house-sitter.
Contact us for further advice on House Sitting. 
Tell your insurance company that you will be away for some time. (Some policies don't cover long absences, or may require you upgrading).
Make arrangements, if you have one, to feed the cat.
And most important of all, have a worry free holiday.
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