Ensuring your home is well protected provides peace of mind and lets you and your family enjoy time together at home and away. Here are some tips to help make your home more secure and keep your family safe.

• Use large, easy-to-read street numbers on your home and make sure they are visible at night
• Ensure each exterior door has a good deadbolt lock. Make sure the deadbolt lock protrudes at least 1.5 inches (35 mm) – check by fully extending the deadbolt when the door is open. Also make sure the strike plate (the part mounted in the door frame) is jimmy-proof and secured with screws at least 2 to 3 inches (50 to 75 mm) long
• Use your deadbolt locks on all doors at all times, even when you are at home, in the yard or just stepping out for a moment. Always keep balcony or patio doors locked; secure sliding doors with special hardware or use a sturdy piece of wood in the door track to prevent it from opening, and make sure it cannot be lifted out of the track. Lock all doors and windows when leaving home for even a short time and never put a note on the door saying when you will be back
• If you have a home security alarm, use it. An alarm sign in the yard and on doors and windows are deterrents for would-be intruders
• Install a peephole in your main entrance door and consider installing a second one at a lower height for children
• Ask to see ID before allowing service people (meter readers, inspectors, repair people) into your home. Call the company they represent, and look up the number yourself. If someone comes to your door to use the phone, place the call yourself
• Conceal and secure items left on decks or outside. Keep bicycles locked up and store lawn mowers, barbecues, bicycles and snowblowers out of sight
• Lock exterior basement doors and doors to garden sheds and enclosed patios and porches. Store ladders out of reach and under lock and key
• Ensure all windows fully close and that locking hardware is in good condition
• Secure all windows and doors before retiring for the night and pay close attention to basement windows and sliding patio doors
• If you have to go away, don’t indicate you are away on your voicemail, don't leave a message on your door, and don't share your travel/ plans on Facebook, Twitter or other sites. Tell a neighbour you will be away, and arrange for someone to pick up your mail and flyers, shovel your walks and mow your lawn. Cancel newspaper subscriptions and use timers on lights and radios to make it look and sound like someone is home. Placing a newspaper ad that says to call in the evening suggests the house is unoccupied during the day
• Be sure the babysitter knows how to reach you in an emergency and what to do in the case of a fire. Instruct the sitter to never let anyone in the home. If a caller persists, the sitter should call police. All phone calls should be answered; an unanswered call may suggest to a potential burglar that the house is unoccupied

--source: CMHC / Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

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