Seasonal Safety

With warm weather comes additional opportunities for criminals to strike but there are things you can do to prevent crime too!

Here are few warm weather safety tips:

Vehicles:

Always keep your car locked and never store valuables inside your vehicle.
Sports complexes, trail heads, and restaurant or hotel parking lots are prime places for auto prowlers to look for cars with valuables inside.
It only takes a second for a thief to break a window and steal an item from inside. “Hiding” items under the seat is the first place thieves look, please don’t store valuables in your vehicle.

Always lock and secure all doors and windows.
During hot weather it’s tempting to leave the windows open to let in air, but it’s often an open invitation for a thief to break in.
It only takes a second to remove or cut a screen and then access your home through the open window.
At night, use dowels in windows if you must sleep with a window open a bit; this is especially important in children’s rooms. Some criminals are not afraid to enter an occupied home and not all of them are there to steal.

Yard work season is a great time for thieves to really clean up.

Keep garage doors down and locked. Open garage doors are an invitation for a thief to steal tools, bikes or other valuables, or to access the house through the garage.
Keep gates locked. A thief may enter the back yard unnoticed and access the home from the back door through an open or unlocked gate.
Keep sheds and outbuildings locked and secure as well.

Let a trusted neighbor know so they can keep an eye out for anything suspicious.
Have mail and newspapers held so they don’t pile up.
Wait until you are back to post your great vacation photos on social media. Criminals check social media and can take that opportunity to burglarize your home while they know you are on vacation.