How to keep your home safe when on holiday
The police department, your neighbors and technology will be your allies when you are away from your home.
By: Edda Pujadas
DORAL, FL – During the December and end of year holidays, it is frequent and common that families take some vacation days, and thus they leave their homes alone; for this reason, it is very important to share some preventative measures to help them avoid being victims of robbery to their homes.
Rey Valdes, Public Information Officer from the Doral Police Department, commented that the Doral Police Officers, your neighbors, and the correct use of the available technology resources that we have today can be your biggest allies during your absence, in order to keep your home and belongings safe.
“The first thing that the residents that are planning a vacation during these festivities can do is to call the Doral Police Department and request a “watch order.” The only thing that you need to provide is your address and the dates during which you will be out of your home, and even when we cannot guarantee constant surveillance, the officers assigned to your area will be more vigilant around your home during their customary rounds.” explains Officer Valdes.
Another important recommendation from Officer Valdes is to limit your use of Social Media. “I understand that people like to share with its family and friends all their experiences during their trips, but when you post photos or videos of your vacations in social media, please do not do it when you are actually in your vacations, because in this case what you are really doing is announcing to everyone that you are not at home.”
Valdes states that it is much better to post these photos and/or videos on social media when you have actually returned from your vacations. He also recommends having two types of social media, a personal and private and one for work or that is more public and has no connection with your personal and family life.
Your neighbors are also an important factor to help you keep your home safe. “You can ask one of your most trustable neighbors to watch over your house while you are away. For example, it is important that this person takes your garbage containers out and then put them back inside, to collect any correspondence or publicity that might have been left in your doorsteps and even take out the mail in order to avoid your mailbox to fill up.”
“Remember that thieves watch over the area before they attack and they will be taking notes of these type of details in order to determine if a home is empty, for this reason, it is important to make a good use of the new technology resources that can help you create the feeling that the house is occupied, this can be achieved by programming the turning on and off the lights at certain hours. It is also very important to invest in security cameras,” adds Valdes.
TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS
Today, technology is one of our biggest allies when we speak about safety. We have a broad range of resources that allow us to watch over our home through our cellular phones, from any part of the world in which we are, we can even respond to the person that is knocking at our door as if we were at home, for example.
To begin with, today, we have companies that provide alarm services in case the doors or windows of our home are opened. Most of these services are communicated through cellular phones, which allow you to be informed of anything that can happen during your absence.
One of the best options that exist now are sensors of movement and opening sensors for doors and/or windows. Installing these devices helps detect any movement close or inside the home, and when they do the device sends a message to your cellular phone in order for you to verify what is happening at that time and in case that it is necessary for you to contact the police.
These sensors also work if there is a door and/or a window that gets opened, so from the comfort of your cellular phone and without caring where you are located at that moment, as long as you have an internet connection available, you will be able to verify what is going on in your house. There is a huge variety of these types of sensors in the market nowadays, but you can get a whole system starting at $50 dollars.
Of course, the most well-known option today is the security cameras, whose use has become very important and today they are not only cameras, they also come equipped with movement sensors and options to store video in the cloud to and from where you can access them via internet, as each one of these cameras have its own IP address. These can also be acquiring starting at $50.
Another very complete option is the smart doorbells; these include the utilities of the movement sensor, the cameras, the cloud storage, and of course, the doorbell. With this type of system, if someone knocks on your doorbell, you will be able to respond immediately, as if you were at home.
There are also sensors that allow us to detect water leaks or electric problems, and these can also notify you in your cellular phone for any situation that might be putting in danger the correct operation of your home.
Some more sophisticated options include motorizing your blinds and creating illumination scenes at certain times; this creates the feeling of human presence in the house. Motorizing your blinds allows you to keep them open and to close them from your cellular phone or even get them pre-programmed to do these actions at pre-determined schedules.
With all these available options, the best for you is to prevent and take these precautions before you go on vacation in order to have a happy return back home.
Remember that you can get in touch with the Doral Police Department by calling 305.593.6699 or sending a brief email at info@doralpd.com