Secure Your Summer with our burglary prevention tips

Secure Your Summer with our burglary prevention tips

Hello Resident,

Summer draws us all out of our homes. We get such a short window of good weather (let’s hope this week isn’t the last we see of the sun) that it feels like our duty to squeeze every last drop of Vitamin D-related joy out of it.

Will you be jumping on a plane this summer to chase the best of the sunshine, or staying in the UK and pitching a tent or loading up a campervan? Maybe you’re not going on holiday until later in the year, but have weekends filled with BBQs, weddings, festivals, and concerts instead.

Whatever you have in your diary this summer, it’s likely that you will be out of your house for longer than at any other time of year. Unfortunately, this is good news for opportunist burglars looking to make a quick win.

Burglaries don’t just happen at Christmas, so we wanted to remind you of some key burglary prevention tips to guide you through the coming months:

Lock windows and doors when leaving home, even for a short while. If you don’t and you get burgled, your home insurance could be invalidated because you left your home insecure.

If you have windows open at any time of the day or night due to high temperatures, make sure your keys and valuables aren’t within sight or reach of those windows.

How much do you share online? Think about how public your profile is before posting your holiday highlight reels when you’re away from home. How well do you know the people who follow you, and how much do you really want them to know? Up your security settings and enjoy a summer holiday social media detox.

Doing a spot of DIY? Lock away ladders and tools after use so they can’t be stolen or used to break into your home.

Good neighbours are worth their weight in gold. If you like and trust your neighbour, ask them to keep an eye on your home and pop round on a regular basis to water plants and take in deliveries and post.

Even the smallest pieces of evidence can help build a bigger intelligence picture. If you have CCTV footage or images of suspicious behaviour that you think we should know about, submit it to be reviewed through our suspicious activity portal.

You can report a burglary to us online here. In an emergency, always call 999.

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Message Sent By
Sam Mack
(Surrey Police, Communications Officer, Surrey Police Corporate Communications)