5 Steps to Help Secure Your Home

What to do to deter home burglars

Burglary is the unlawful entry of a property – either a personal residence or business – to commit theft or a felony. It can occur through an intruder forcibly breaking open a door, but it also covers unlawful entries where no force is used. For example, it still applies if a visitor or service provider steals your belongings while in your home.

According to the FBI, most burglary offenses involve residential break-ins, where private homes are targeted. On average, victims lost nearly $3,000 worth of property per burglary.

When looking for a home to target, burglars focus on a number of factors. Here’s what you can do to protect your home.

1. Show signs of surveillance

In most cases, burglars look for easy targets. They want a home they can enter quickly, ideally without the homeowners present, so they can grab what they want and leave within minutes.

The University of North Carolina’s Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology completed a study in which researchers surveyed over 400 incarcerated burglars to learn about how they targeted properties.

The majority of respondents said that signs of security or alerts indicate that their burglary could be interrupted by either a homeowner or law enforcement, making burglars nervous about entering the property.

The presence of security cameras can be a significant deterrent. In the University of North Carolina’s study, burglars said outdoor cameras would make them rethink the intended target.

In fact, if a home paired cameras with a security system, 60% of burglars said they would choose another target. And, if they initiated a burglary and discovered cameras or security after entering the property, about half said they’d abandon the attempt.

What to do: Make sure there are signs that your home is secure. Those can include placing stickers in windows or signs on the lawn from the alarm system company.

2. Make sure windows and doors are locked, with strong hardware

Surprisingly, only one in eight burglars said they picked locks or used a key to gain entry to a home. Instead, most entered through an open window or door, or were able to force entry.

What to do: Having good door locks, such as a door with a deadbolt, window locks or security bars, can provide critical protection.

3. Don’t leave valuables in plain sight

When stealing from a property, burglars said they looked for the following (in order of priority):

• Cash
• Jewelry
• Illegal drugs
• Electronics
• Prescription medications

What to do: Avoid having those items in plain sight – for example, in a jewelry box on a dresser or bottles of especially valuable prescription medications on your kitchen counter visible from a window. Appropriate storage can accomplish that, as can drawing blinds or hanging thick curtains over the windows.

4. Have your home be well-lit and free of foliage

Homes with hiding places near the entry points – such as thick trees or bushes – are more desirable than homes with more sparse landscaping, since they make it easier for a burglar to hide.

Darkness around the home also aids criminals. Properties that are dimly lit are easy targets, since they allow burglars to hide and sneak into the home.

What to do: To prevent becoming a target, ensure your property is well-lit outside, with garage and porch lights. Consider installing motion-detection lights as an added security measure.

Don’t give burglars easy cover close to the house. “Your shrubbery shouldn’t be taller than three or four feet, and the branches of your trees should be trimmed to at least seven or eight feet above the ground,” said K. Campbell, principal at Blue Glacier Security & Intelligence. “Doing so decreases the chances someone can be obscured by branches or that they can hide behind shrubbery.”

5. Have your home appear to be occupied

Burglars said whether a home appeared to be occupied was one of the biggest determining factors when selecting a target. When it looked like someone was home thanks to so-called “occupancy cues,” they were more likely to move on to another property.

What to do: “Occupancy cues include a car in the driveway, interior lights turned on, and a TV or music playing,” said Campbell. Conversely, signs that you are not home include mail or packages piling up, so Campbell advises having family members or a neighbor take care of gathering those periodically while you’re away on a long trip.

When seeking a target, burglars often look for blatant signs of wealth, since such homes are more likely to contain valuables like jewelry and electronics. If you have a luxury car, keeping it inside a garage can be helpful.

If that’s not possible, limiting other signs of your wealth can reduce the risk of becoming a victim. For example, if you have bumper stickers for your child’s private school or the island where you have a vacation home, removing those stickers can help make you a less appealing target.

Protecting your home

Although the likelihood of being a victim of burglary has slightly declined in recent years – just 1.01% of households were victims of burglary or trespassing in 2023, down from 1.12% in 2022 – burglaries can have a devastating impact.

Taking small steps to reduce your home’s level of vulnerability by installing strong lights, adding security cameras and a security system, and trimming back trees and bushes around the home can reduce the risk of becoming a target.

Check out this list of the best security systems with cameras to upgrade your home’s security.