Burglars Planning to Swipe Valuables from Your House During Your Vacation
In the festive season, burglars often target Victorian homes, focusing on easily portable valuables such as purses, key fobs, electronics, and packages left unattended outside. To help Victorians protect their homes and possessions, here are some practical tips.
Firstly, keep your valuables out of sight. Do not leave laptops, expensive parcels, or purses visible through windows or cluttered porches. Use frosted glass, close blinds, and remove packaging clutter that might signal valuable contents inside.
Secondly, secure your vehicles. Thieves sometimes target key fobs to steal cars, so store key fobs in a secure location away from doors and windows. Consider using signal-blocking pouches (Faraday bags) to prevent relay theft.
Thirdly, improve home visibility and deter intrusion. Maintain well-trimmed gardens and hedges to reduce hiding spots for intruders and increase natural surveillance.
Fourthly, use security technology. Installing CCTV cameras from recognized brands and motion-sensor lights acts as a strong deterrent for burglars.
Fifthly, make your home appear occupied even when you're away. Use timed lights or leave a TV on to give the impression someone is home, making the property less attractive to burglars.
Sixthly, secure entry points often overlooked. Pet doors can be exploited by burglars. Ensure dog doors are secure or reinforced without sacrificing pet convenience.
By combining these physical security measures with careful management of valuables during the holiday season, Victorian homeowners can reduce the likelihood of burglary and protect their most targeted possessions.
Other precautions include securing delivery options like parcel lockers, local post offices, or trusted neighbours. Online shopping orders left unattended on doorsteps or in mailboxes are easy targets for opportunistic thieves. Fit anti-theft devices to your vehicle, such as a car alarm and anti-theft number plate screws, to deter thieves.
Sensitive documents like passports are also targeted by burglars, as they can be used to commit fraud or create a false identity. Regularly back up your data to an external hard drive or cloud storage device to protect your files in case of a burglary. Submitting an Absence from Residence form to your local police station can also help improve home security.
Portable technology is attractive to burglars because it's highly portable, quick to resell, and often contains personal and sensitive information. In the year ending June 2024, electrical appliances such as mobile phones, tablets, and laptops were stolen 9,612 times from Victorian homes.
Cars are often the single most valuable item stolen from Victorian homes, with 9,985 motor vehicles stolen in the same period. Residential burglary offences in Victoria increased by almost 9% in the year ending 30 June 2024, as compared to 2023, according to the Crime Statistics Agency (CSA).
Be wary of posting your holiday on social media, as this can advertise that your home is vacant. Tools are often high-value, portable, and easy to resell, making them attractive targets for burglars. In the year ending June 2024, 16,452 tools and power tools were stolen from Victorian homes.
Victoria Police recommends getting a house-sitter, putting a stop on your mail, arranging for a neighbor to put your bins out and bring them in, getting a neighbor to occasionally park their car in your driveway, setting a timer for a lamp or lights to come on at night, and having the best window locks and door locks to improve home security while away.
Using tracking services provided by shipping companies can help monitor the status of deliveries. Simple precautions that households can take to improve home security while away include securing the perimeter of your property and investing in security systems such as timed or sensor lights and home alarms.
- To protect your home-and-garden possessions during the festive season, it's essential to minimize visibility by keeping valuables out of sight and securing entry points often overlooked, like pet doors.
- General news shows that burglars often target portable valuables such as electronic devices and cars, so it's crucial to invest in security technology like CCTV cameras, motion-sensor lights, and anti-theft devices for your vehicle.
