Burglar proof your property By Andrea Estrada South Coast Beacon Protecting your home from intruders who would steal your stereo, television or grandmother’s jewelry doesn’t require an elaborate security system or even a vicious guard dog. Although more than 2 million burglaries occur in the United States each year, you can make your home safe simply by creating enough risk for the intruder that he decides to go elsewhere. According to the Burglary Prevention Council, burglars fit in one of three categories: the professional, the semi-professional and the amateur. The average homeowner won’t likely face a professional burglar because those thieves look for valuable items such as art or coin collections. The semi-professional and amateur are another story. For the most part, residential burglars are teenage boys who live near the homes they burglarize. They look for places they can enter and exit easily without the risk of being caught. A semi-professional burglar may spend a week scouting out neighborhoods and identifying the best targets on a street or block. The amateur, however, may spend only a few hours figuring out which house he wants to burglarize. Burglary is a crime of opportunity and the key to discouraging would-be thieves from breaking in is to make your place look, well, inopportune. Make it appear occupied, whether you are there or not. Simple things such as low cut shrubbery around the front door, timers set to turn lights on and off at appropriate hours and strategically placed window locks make your house less inviting. If you can add even just a few minutes to the burglar’s work time, more likely than not he’ll look for an easier target. When a burglar chooses a target, he wants a place he can enter quickly and easily, a place where he can pry open a door or window or carry things outside without being seen, and he wants to avoid noise that would alert someone to his presence. According to a special report by Personal Safety Information, homeowners should trim shrubbery away from windows so would-be burglars have no place to work undetected. Similarly, although high fences can offer privacy from nosy neighbors, they can provide a burglar with exactly the cover he needs to clean you out without anyone noticing he’s doing it. Keep your lawn mowed and your garden generally well-tended so burglars will think someone may be around. Likewise, if you go on vacation make sure you put a hold on newspaper and mail delivery or have a neighbor pick them up every day. Don’t give the impression that your house is empty. Remember, all you have to do is make the burglar think someone might be home and he’ll seek out a different mark. He doesn’t want to risk getting caught and there are plenty of other houses he can visit. Install good outside lighting fixtures with motion sensors that can detect both two- and four-footed creatures. A burglar will hightail it away from your place if a light goes on when he’s in the middle of his work. He doesn’t know if it’s you, your neighbor or a raccoon skulking around for something to eat. Be sure to keep ladders and trash cans inside your garage or in a locked shed so they can’t be used to access second-story windows. You might even consider hanging a “Beware of Dog” sign on your fence. It might be enough make a burglar think twice and send him looking for a guaranteed dog-free environment. Get a look at your house from the burglar’s perspective by standing in your front yard and peering into visible windows. Can you see any valuables? Do you have expensive artwork or antiques people can see as they walk by your house? If you do, consider relocating them to areas of your home where they aren’t visible from the outside. Keep windows locked by drilling holes on the top and bottom of the frames and inserting large-head sheet metal screws. These aren’t visible from the outside and when a burglar tries to lift the window out of its track or slide it open with excessive force he won’t have any success. That will send him on his way. Likewise, place a dowel along the window or sliding door track to prevent it from opening. Make sure it lies flat on the track, however, and isn’t visible. A dowel keeping a window closed is a dead giveaway to a burglar that no one is home because generally when people are around they don’t bother locking their windows so securely.