Home Security Checklist

• When you go out, turn the telephone volume down so that it cannot be heard ringing unattended.
• Don't leave notes for family or friends outside your home as potential burglars can, and will, read them.
• Don't leave tools lying around your yard as this can invite impulse burglars to use them to break into your home.
• Install sensor lights at all points of entry/exit.
• Remove any shrubs and trees next to your house that may conceal a burglar trying to break in.
• Install an ADT monitored security system and turn it on when leaving the house or use it as your first layer of protection (perimeter protection) when you are at home.
• Install deadlocks on your external doors and ensure any hinges are on the inside.
• Don't leave keys in hiding places outside your home. Burglars know most of the hiding places.
• If you are planning to go away, arrange to have your mail cleared (either by your neighbours or speak to your local post office about holding your mail) and cancel any other regular deliveries (such as milk and the paper). Even if you have stopped your mail, you may still receive junk mail and local newspapers.
• Advise relatives or neighbours when you will be home and give them emergency contact details.
• Advise ADT of your plans so we can adjust the instructions we follow whilst you are away.
• If you buy a new appliance for your home, such as a television set or home computer, be sure to crush and conceal the boxes in your rubbish.
• Photograph and keep a written register of all valuables with serial numbers. Recording the model and serial numbers of valuable items will help police locate your property more easily. They can also be engraved with a number unique to you such as your drivers licence number.
• Store valuable documents such as insurance policies and asset registers with your solicitor or bank.
• Store emergency contact numbers into your phone memory and label them clearly so as to allow fast dialling in an emergency.
• Every six months or so, inspect your home as if you have been locked out without your keys. How would you get in? Examine any weak spots and be mindful that if you can get inside, so could someone else!

You can learn more about monitored security systems by checking out the ADT Life Safety Solutions available to you.