When considering home security, garage is often overlooked. Fortunately, there are some simple and effective ways for you to keep your family and property safe. Here are 3 tips for keeping your garage protected:

Keep the Garage Door Closed
Leaving the garage door open is practically an invitation to burglars, not to mention that you’re really presenting a storefront window display of your possessions to anyone driving by. But if you’re like a lot of other people and tend to forget to close the door, or have kids who forget, there’s an easy solution. Install a device that signals your garage door opener to close the door after a predetermined amount of time. You can set the amount of time that elapses before the door closes, or override the control if you want the door to remain open. It takes about an hour to install the sensors on the garage door track and the keypad that connects to the opener control. One more point: When you’re leaving for work, don’t just hit the remote button to close the door and then drive away. Wait until it closes to make sure it doesn’t reopen. Source: Familyhandyman

Don’t Keep your Remote Opener in Your Car
Instead of leaving your remote door opener on the visor of your car where it can easily be stolen, consider switching to the type that attaches to your key ring. This way you’ll know your opener is with you at all times. Source: AckerManSecurity

Install a Motion Detector Lights
Exterior lighting is crucial for home security. Eliminating pockets of darkness that burglars may hide in heavily discourages them from attempting to enter your home or garage. The garage driveway is also just an important area to have well-lit so that your can safely drive into the garage at night. Motion detector lights serve all of these purposes very well, since they’ll turn on when your car pulls up, lighting the way, and they’ll also startle burglars who dare to approach your property. Source:ProtectAmerica

Worrying about the safety of your family and valuable possessions? It’s always a great choice to keep our family and home safe. This article will cover some benefits of home security system can offer you and your family, including: protecting valuables, providing peace of mind and increasing home resale value.

Below are 3 benefits of home security systems:

Protecting Valuables

This is, of course, the benefit most people immediately think of. We likely all know someone who has lost electronics, jewelry, or other high-value items due to a home invasion. The tragedy is compounded when the item is an irreplaceable family heirloom. A home security system has an alarm that scares off many would-be burglars and can notify the local authorities if someone does attempt a break-in. Source: SafeWise.com

Providing a Peace of Mind

The presence of a home security system provides many families with a peace of mind knowing that their home is protected from a variety of devastating scenarios. When home owners are elderly, incapacitated in some way or frequently left home alone, this peace of mind is invaluable. For the elderly who may be unable to get out of a home with the speed required in many dangerous situations, home security systems dispatch authorities that are capable of assisting. For those who are incapacitated and unable to leave the home, home security systems not only monitor all areas of the home, but again, they dispatch authorities when needed. Some home security systems also provide medical alert pendants for users to wear that are designed to call for help for specific medical situations. Finally, home alarm systems are beneficial for families that often leave family members home alone. Whether it is children of working parents being left alone, or whether it is spouses of the military who are frequently left alone for extended periods, home security systems provide peace of mind. Source: ASecureLife.com

Increasing Home’s Resale Value

Along with presenting a clean home; there are many improvements that can be made to a property that will increase its resale value. Adding on a garage, finishing a basement, and remodeling a kitchen, while all good ideas, can be rather costly endeavors. Landscaping a yard for security, installing a home security alarm, and putting in outdoor lighting are much less expensive projects. Despite the lower initial cost, prospective buyers still look upon these kinds of home improvements as important additions to the property they are viewing. Source: HomeAdvisor.com

Locksmiths can provide a wide variety of knowledge and services related to locks and security systems. Here are 3 things you should know before hiring a locksmith.

Reliable

A good locksmith should also be a reliable one. It means he should be someone who would be there whenever you need a locksmith at home or at the office. Professional locksmiths make sure that their clients would get the time and attention they need, no matter how simple the problem of each client is. Source: SouthAmptonLocksmith.blog.com

Knowledgeable

A good locksmith, aside from being a licensed one, is someone who knows what he is doing. The number of years in the business could be one of the benchmarks to check this aspect. You may ask the locksmith you have in mind on the different sides of locksmithing he is familiar of. This would also help you assess the abilities of the locksmith. Getting feedback from the past clients of a locksmith shop, for instance, could also be a concrete basis if they deserve your time and money or not. Source: Linkedin.com

Flexible

It is a fact of life that people always get locked out of their homes at the most inconvenient times possible. It is therefore quite hard for a locksmith to keep regular hours when the nature of their work is so irregular. The answer for a new locksmith is to be willing to be flexible in your working schedule, and accept that that you may initially have to work nights to maximize your income and experience. Source: GOarticles.com

Now that you know the important things before hiring a locksmith, it’s time to choose which service is right for your needs. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please give us a call or contact us here.

Whether your neighborhood is experiencing criminal activity or you want it to remain safe, here are simple ways to team up with your neighbors to accomplish your goals.

Below are 3 ways to keep your neighborhood safe:

Update Neighbors on Crime

While you should always contact the police if you see a problem, you can also keep your neighborhood up to date on crime using the hyper local Nextdoor app.
The app lets you post and comment on anything that’s going on in your neighborhood, including criminal activity.
It’s free and super easy to sign up for.
It’s also secure, preventing those outside the community from seeing info about those in the community. The app forces each new account to verify that they actually live in that neighborhood. Source: AckermanSecurity

Publications and Products For Home and Neighborhood Safety

• Travel Safety Tips Flier
  This online Flier Travel Safety Tips from National Crime Prevention Council and McGruff The Crime Dog
• Positive Change Through Policy
  This online guide features examples of policies that create safer communities
• Locking Your Home
  Times have changed, and locks have changed, but burglars still look for homes that are easy targets.
• Neighborhood Watch Needs You
  This publication discusses reasons to get involved, the kinds of activities Watch groups do, and how they can help a neighborhood strengthen hometown and homeland security activities.Source: NCPC.org

Install a Security System

In the end, one of the surest options to improve safety in your neighborhood is to get a home security system and use it properly. A 2009 study by ­­­­­Rutgers found that, as the number of home security systems increased in an area, the number of residential robberies decreased in that area. Use the Safe wise security system finder tool to help you evaluate what security system will work best for your home. Source: Safewise