How to Lock Out Crime: Home Security — Exterior
If you are like most Canadians, you are concerned about the safety of your home and your community. One particular type of crime that worries Canadians is breaking and entering or burglary. Recent statistics show that burglary accounts for 22 per cent of all property crime.
The How to Lock Out Crime series, jointly prepared by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), will make you more aware of burglary and its dynamics and show you how to minimize the likelihood that this crime will happen to you.
The How to Lock Out Crime series promotes a proactive approach to safety and security. By knowing the conditions favorable to burglars and taking steps to eliminate those conditions, you can greatly reduce the chances that your home will be burgled. Being proactive and implementing a well-thought-out plan can:
significantly reduce the opportunity for a crime to be committed; and
minimize the consequences — both personal and property damages — if a crime does occur.
In the CMHC’s article, you were asked to do a visual assessment of your yard and home.
Home Security — Exterior suggests way you can improve security around your house.
Increasing a criminal’s risk of detection is an effective way to deter crime. If your home is well-lighted and visible from the street and by neighboring houses, it will be a less attractive target for burglars.
Have a look at your house through the eyes of a burglar. Stand at the end of your driveway or lane way. Can you see the front door and windows clearly? Could you tell if someone was trying to break into the house?
Improve Visibility and Maintain Landscaping
Keep the landscape around the house simple and well-trimmed. Prune tree branches to 1m (3 ft.) above ground. Avoid tall plants around doors and windows that might help conceal someone trying to break in. Keep areas around basement windows — a favorite target of burglars — as clear as possible.
Before you begin pulling up plants, however, assess your home’s overall visibility and plan your approach. The spreading juniper near the front door may only require a bit of careful pruning and extra lighting to eliminate the shadows behind it. You may be able to leave the oak tree that overhangs the garage intact; try cutting back a limb or two and installing a better lock on the second-storey window. A few such carefully chosen measures can be more effective than an all-out assault on your shrubbery.
Figure 1 Keep landscaping near the home simple
and well-trimmed to eliminate potential hiding
places for burglars
Exterior Lighting
Good lighting is one of the cheapest and yet most effective measures you can take to deter break-ins after dark. With the right lighting, anyone lurking nearby or tampering with a door or window will be seen by occupants of the house, an alert neighbor or pedestrian.
Make use of existing street and yard lights in your lighting plan. The number of lights and where they are placed will depend on the design of your home and grounds, the number and location of doors and windows and so on. For a simple rectangular home, double spotlights located at each corner and aimed along the walls might be enough. More complex structures will require more elaborate arrangements.
To decide where to place lights, examine your home’s exterior on a moonless night. Standing 12 – 15m (40 – 50 ft.) from the house, have an assistant wearing dark clothing move around the yard and along the sides of your home. Wherever trees or shrubs hide your assistant, prune them back. Where your simulated prowler melts into the shadows, plan to add more light. Now repeat the exercise while watching from inside the house. Look for dark “corridors”
Figure 7 Types of exterior lighting.
that might allow someone to approach your home unseen. You can illuminate these areas with a yard light strategically located on a post or high in a tree. Mount spotlights with motion-sensors at the corners of a house to illuminate a large area. Make sure they are either out of reach or protected from being unscrewed. Motion-sensor lights will allow people approaching your residence at night to better see their way to your door, and to be seen as they approach. The lights will be appreciated by welcome visitors and help deter would-be burglars.
Incandescent, LED (light-emitting diode) or fluorescent floodlights mounted under the eaves or on a peaked gable are probably a better alternative. Too much light will set your house apart and give the impression that you are trying to protect something worth stealing. Protect light bulbs with a wire screen or unbreakable plastic mesh. Aim lights downward so as not to create shadows. Prune back trees and shrubbery that block the light. Remember, too, that you want to be able to see into the yard when the light is on, both from inside the house and from the street. Locate the switch near a window, where you can look into the yard as you turn the lights on. Keep lights from shining directly into adjacent homes. A photoelectric switch wired into the lighting grid will turn lights on at dusk and off again at dawn. You can also have a digital in-wall timer installed to vary the on/off time of your exterior lights throughout the week. This security feature is especially useful for people who are frequently away from their homes and for people on vacation. The routine of the lights going on and off suggests that somebody is home.
To save energy and money on your electricity bill, consider using energy-efficient light bulbs, such as fluorescent compact bulbs approved for outdoor use. Where a power supply may not be available or practical, consider using lights and motion sensors that are powered by photo voltaic modules (solar lighting).
To be Continued ...