Lock up, be alert and stay safe

HOME SECURITY

It's hard to believe, says Sharla Arnold, but some people still go out without locking their doors, even in the city.

The acting chair of the national Neighbourhood Support organisation is always amazed when she hears of this failure to carry out what is a fairly basic burglar deterrent measure -- but adds that even being home doesn't deter some opportunist thieves.

"My boyfriend had a car stereo stolen from his garage by an opportunistic thief when he left the garage door open while at home one day."

The biggest tip to keep your home safe is to get to know your neighbours, she says, or, better still, become part of a Neighbourhood Support group. "When you know your immediate neighbours, you instantly have an increased number of guardians."

Instead of staying in your own bubble, you have a much stronger connection when you introduce yourself and get to know even a little about the people next door, and you then have others wanting to look out for you and your home.

"Getting to know who lives around you makes it easier to tell who is naturally meant to be around a property and who is out of place.

"Through my years volunteering with police, community patrols, Meals on Wheels and now Neighbourhood Support, I've been surprised how many people observe people or things out of place but are too afraid to speak up."

Sharla has many other tips but says people often forget them. They include hiding valuables from view, not leaving ladders out, putting extra bolts on windows and shutting doors when gardening or working outside. But also think about shrubs, trees and fences and how much these may block views or hide people, she says.

"There's a fine balance between having some privacy and then inviting burglars to your property by having places they can be hidden from the view of neighbours or people passing by."

Put a "no junk mail" sticker on your letterbox if you're going away or have a neighbour clear the box for you -- don't advertise your absence, she says.

And, set the alarm if you go out, even if you don't have it monitored.

"An alarm sounding will usually draw someone's attention and be a good deterrent."

Sharla says when people come knocking on her door she turns them away -- "whether they're surveying or seeking funding, I'm suspicious enough to treat that as an opportunity for people to get to know more about who lives in my house, and who doesn't, and they may not be as innocent as they seem."

Likewise, don't expect that someone in a workman's uniform or hi-vis vest is to be trusted, she warns.

Cunning burglars use such clothing as a way to be on properties without raising suspicion. If you are suspicious call the police, she says, even if you are not sure: "They'd much rather you called than ignore something important because you didn't want to bother them."

Make sure windows and doors, especially those hidden from street view or the neighbours, are secured and lock vehicles outside homes, too.

She also says don't dispose of electronics packaging in street recycling as this advertises what you have in your house, and don't keep the box in the garage and then leave the garage door open.

Given the increasing use of social media, she suggests taking care about using location services on your photos when posting pictures of your home and contents: "I've quickly proven that I could find someone's house in less than a minute, in a completely different city, when I used photos they had shared with me and google maps.

"When people check in and don't secure their Facebook posts, you can easily tell that someone isn't home, and if they've shared photos of inside their home then you can easily see what they have."

Amelia Macandrew, customer relations manager at AA Insurance, says anecdotally the most common way for burglars to get in is through a door or window which doesn't have much additional security or is in an average or below average condition, making it easier to force.

"The next most common way for burglars to enter is using extreme force, such as kicking a door out of its framing, pulling a window out of its framing or destroying the framing altogether."

Thieves, however, are generally opportunistic, she says. One customer left her laptop on the dining table during the day near the ranch slider and when she returned home the ranch slider was open and the laptop was gone.

Another customer who was out in the garden left the front door unlocked only to find a thief had opened the door and taken electronics and a bag left near the front door.

"The most common claims are high value, easy to carry items, such as mobiles, laptops, iPads, jewellery and handbags and wallets."

She says this year's AA Insurance Home Security survey results revealed a quarter of people have had their homes broken into and that break-ins were increasingly taking place when residents were away for 24 hours or more.

The survey found only one in three people investigate a triggered alarm and though 38 per cent of respondents had an alarm system, fewer than half always turned it on when they went out.

Of these, just over half of homeowners always set the alarm but only 32 per cent of renters, and Aucklanders were better than the rest of New Zealand when it came to setting alarms.

People in rural areas should be applying all these tips, too, because crime is just as big a problem in the country and, disconnected neighbours, secluded properties and complacent farmers not locking up is a rural issue.

Tips from other members of Neighbourhood Support include: Don't leave an aluminium window on the ventilation latch because they can be prized open with a screwdriver.

Make sure you have the serial numbers of your belongings recorded and a hard copy of the list is with your insurance agency, and take photographs of expensive items.

If you have a gate, close it even when you are home -- burglars will often bypass a property when they have to open a gate, said one member.

KEEP YOUR HOME SAFE

?Know your neighbours.
?Keep garage locked.
?Hide valuables such as laptops from view.
?Consider extra bolts on windows.
?Hide your ladder.
?Lock your house up when gardening.
?Hide wheelie bins and anything that could be used to access your home or take items away.
?Don't let strangers into the house.
?Don't advertise on social media that you are out of the house.
?Note serial numbers of belongings.
?If you have suffered a theft, expect thieves to return to take items replaced by insurance.