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Tips For Reducing Property Crime
Working Together As A Community The following are TIPS FOR PREVENTING PROPERTY CRIME at your home that Ventana Lakes Block Watch has collected from various sources. These tips will help prevent a property crime from happening to you. - Many burglars will spend no longer then 60 seconds trying to break into a home. Good locks – and good neighbors who watch out for each other can be big deterrents to burglars. If you see or hear anything suspicious at a Neighbor's home call the police to investigate. - Almost half of all residential burglaries are a result of thieves entering through unlocked doors or crawling through unlocked windows. Always keep your doors and windows closed and locked. - Keep your garage doors closed and locked. If you must open your front garage door for ventilation during the hot summer months, open it no more than 3 inches so that someone cannot slip-in under it. - Keep your vehicles in your garage at all times, and keep your vehicles locked with windows closed even if they are parked in your garage. If you must park outside, park only in your driveway, close all your windows, and lock all the doors to your vehicle. Do not leave valuables in your vehicles. - Keep the door entry door between your home and your garage locked at all times. - Keep your automobile keys with the key fob at your bedside at night, and if you hear any strange noise which might indicate an intruder push the panic button on the key fod to cause your automobile horn to start sounding. - Keep all backyard gates closed and locked. - When you arrive back at home after being out, pull your car into your garage and lock your vehicle doors, and lower your garage door from within the vehicle after parking in the garage. After the garage door is down and locked, open your vehicle door and exit the vehicle. - Make sure that every external door has a sturdy, well-installed dead bolt lock. Sliding glass doors can offer easy access if they are not properly secured. You can secure them by installing an additional lock or pin to prevent the door from being lifted off the track. Drill a hole through the sliding door frame and into the fixed frame. Then insert a pin (a nail) in the hole. Also, you can place a board or PVC pipe cut to length in the sliding door track to help prevent the door from opening. - Keep windows closed and locked. “Pin” your windows by drilling a small hole between the inner and outer frame and then insert a nail that can be removed when you want to open the window. And use a piece of wood or PVC pipe cut to fit into the window track to help keep the sliding window from opening. - Instead of hiding keys around the outside of your home, give an extra key to a family member or a neighbor you trust. - When you move into a new home rekey the locks. It is best to use a dead bolts with a key entry from both sides of the door so you need a key to get in, and a key to get out. - A lock on a flimsy door is about as effective as locking your car door but leaving a window down. All outside doors should be metal or solid wood. If your doors don't fit tightly in their frames, install weather stripping around them. Install a peephole or wide-angle viewer in all entry doors so you can see who is outside without opening the door. Door chains break easily and don't keep out intruders. Install a good metal security door and never unlock it unless you know the person at your front door. - Thieves hate bright lights. Install outside lights and keep then on at night. Install motion sensing outdoor lights that turn-on when someone approaches, or lights with photocells that turn-on when it is dark and turn-off at daylight. Keep the outside of your house lit at night. - Keep your yard clean. Prune back shrubbery so it doesn't hide doors or windows. - If you are away from your home for any reason, create the illusion that you're at home by getting some timers that will turn inside lights on and off in different areas of your home throughout the evening. Lights burning 24 hours a day can signal an empty house. Turning on a radio or TV also helps to create the illusion that someone is home. - Sign up for vacation watch with the Peoria Police department. The form is available by calling (623) 773-8311. - Don't let your newspapers or a neighbor's newspapers pile-up. Call the post office and stop all mail or have a neighbor pick it up from your mailbox, and have a neighbor pickup anything that is tossed onto your driveway. If you see newspapers piling-up on a neighbor's driveway pick them up. - Make a list of your valuables, VCRs, stereos, computers, jewelry, etc. Take photos of the items or make a videotape. List their serial numbers and description. Engrave your valuables with your driver's license number. Engraving pins can be purchased very cheaply ($5-$10) from a hardware store for engraving your valuables through Operation Identification (Operation ID). - Call Peoria Police Community Relations at (623) 773-7099 for a free home security survey. - Never leave a message on your answering machine that indicates you may be away from home, say “I'm not available now so please leave a message” or better yet "Please leave a message." - Alarms can be a good investment, especially if you have many valuables in your home, or leave your home on trips frequently. Check with several companies before you buy so you can decide what level of security fits your needs. Do business with an established company and check references before signing a contract. Learn how to use your system properly. City of Peoria Ordinances require homeowners and businesses to register their alarm by contacting the Alarm Coordinator of the Police Department at (623) 773-7078. - If something looks questionable, a slit screen, a broken window, or an open door, don't go in. Call 9-1-1 from a neighbor's house or a cell phone. At night, if you think you hear someone breaking in, leave safely if you can, then call the police. If you can't leave, lock yourself in a room with a phone and call the police. If an intruder is in your room, pretend that you are asleep. - Join your Ventana Lakes Neighborhood Block Watch and help keep your community crime free by watching and listening for anything suspicious, and call the police immediately if you suspect that something is wrong or a crime is being committed. More Crime Prevention Tips… - When carrying a purse, keep the purse closed tightly, and keep the strap wrapped around your shoulder or arm so that someone cannot easily grab it and run off. Do not leave you purse exposed to theft, and do not let it just sit in a shopping cart while you walk off to get something or put groceries into your vehicle. - Close your garage door if not in your garage. This cannot be overstressed enough. Crime in Ventana Lakes is by-and-large crime of opportunity so don't leave your garage door open so a burglar can get what he or she wants for free. - If you open your garage door for ventilation, open it no more then 3 inches. If opened higher a burglar could slide under the door and take his or her time looking through your property undetected. Then slid out taking what they want. - Lock your outside electrical breaker box. This prevents a potential intruder from turning-off electrical power to your home prior to breaking-in. - Park you automobiles in your closed and locked garage. If you must park outside park in your driveway and make sure your automobile is locked and all windows are fully closed. - Pick your mail up everyday from your mailbox to prevent your mail from being stolen. Stop your mail delivery or have a neighbor pickup your mail if you are traveling away from home. - Have a neighbor pickup any newspapers or advertising that may be left in your driveway or hung on your front door or garage door when you are away for more then a day or two. - If you suspect that something suspicious is occurring, don't investigate. Call the police immediately and let them do the investigation. You could be seriously hurt if you interrupt a crime in progress. - Report ALL Crime to the Peoria Police Department regardless of how small the crime appears. And notify your Block Watch Captain if you experience any crime so that community residents can be kept aware of all crime being experienced in the community – your personal information will be kept private. File a Block Watch Crime Incident Report via the Ventana Lakes Block Watch web page (www.vlpoa.org and click on the Block Watch link). A GREAT TIP FROM LAW ENFORCEMENT PUT YOUR CAR KEYS BESIDE YOUR BED AT NIGHT
Put your car keys beside your bed
at night. If you hear a noise outside your 
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