Leave your front porch light on from dusk until dawn
Lock your car and hide valuables
Be a Good Neighbor
• Get to know all your adjacent neighbors.
• Agree to watch out for each other’s home.
Windows
• Keep windows secure and install a secondary blocking device on all accessible windows including upper story windows.
• Make sure someone cannot reach inside the window and remove blocking device.
Alarm Systems
• Have a valid City of Dallas Residential Home Alarm permit.
• Make sure your alarm response call list is up to date. • Anyone hiring an alarm company or an alarm installer should check to see if they are actually licensed in Texas as required by law. To check to see if an alarm company is licensed in Texas please visit the following website: http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/psb/company/company_search.aspx.
Holidays
• Have packages shipped to your office where someone can sign for them. If that’s not possible, ship packages to someone who you know is home the majority of time. This might be a senior, a stay-at-home parent, or someone who has a nanny.
• After Christmas Day, don’t pile empty gift boxes from your new computer, DVD player, stereo receiver, etc. on the street for trash pickup. Burglars appreciate knowing that you have expensive gifts inside your home for them to steal. Break boxes down or cut them up to conceal the items better. After a lucrative burglary, the chances of being burglarized again increase. Thieves may return to steal the new replacement products.
Lighting
• Use timers on indoor lights. This gives the appearance that someone is home.
• Report all non-working street lights.
• Use infra-red motion sensor lights on the exterior of your home.
Operation Identification
• Identify your valuables by engraving your driver’s license number.
• Place the Operation ID decal in the window of your home.
Sliding-Glass Patio Doors
• Use a secondary blocking device on all sliding glass doors.
• Use anti-lift devices such as through-the-door pins or upper track screws.
• Display visible decals; alarm decals, beware of dog decals, Crime Watch decal or Operation ID deal (see local patrol division for details).
Doors and Locks
• Use a solid core or metal door for all entrance points.
• Use a heavy-duty, four-screw, strike plate with 3-inch screws to penetrate into a wooden door frame.
• Use a wide-angle 160 degree peephole mounted no higher than 58 inches.