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It’s that time of the year again. Holiday plans are under way to travel to relatives and celebrate the joy of family. Today’s security systems are affordable to most all that want one. Companies are realizing tremendous growth as clients and potential clients are learning that the systems are designed to protect the people that use them and then protect property as a second benefit. If you are without a security system, now is the time to look into how affordable one is.It seems that as the holidays near closer, crime increases daily. Perhaps it is a feeling of desperation that allows a potential criminal to step over the line and burglarize a home or business. They blame the whole world for their poor quality of life and will justify their crimes, because you have the things that the unfair world will not allow them to have.It is these actions that create face to face confrontations that escalate into worst situations. FBI statistics state that 50% of all murders in the US happen during a burglary or robbery in progress.In addition to a security system there are many things you can do to increase your level of personal security. In return for you taking the time to be aware of the possibilities, you will be decreasing your odds of becoming a victim and statistic. Here is a collection of security tips for your consideration.* When traveling put your office address and cell phone numbers on your luggage tags. A baggage handler will know that you are not home.• Remove all address information from your parked car at the airport. Anyone who breaks into your vehicle would know you are not home and have your address and garage door opener.• Don’t hide keys outside your home, as they will be found. Leave a spare with a trusted neighbor instead.• If your last name is posted on your mailbox, a burglar can get your listed phone number from information. By ringing your phone with no answer, they would be able to assume that you are not home.• Turn down the volume on your answering machine so that burglars can’t hear that no one’s home if the phone should ring.• Place timers on a few of your inside lights to give the appearance that someone is home. It is always smart to vary the time every few days so that a pattern is not realized, if you are being cased. X10 makes a variable timer that will change the timing for you automatically.• If your last name is posted on your mailbox, a burglar can get your listed phone number from information. By ringing your phone with no answer, they would be able to assume that you are not home.• Leaving ladders and tools outside your home can trigger a burglar’s impulse, even if that was not on the schedule today.• You know how when you check out of a hotel that uses the credit-card-type room key, the clerk often will ask if you have your key(s) to turn inor there is a box or slot on the Reception counter in which to put them? It's good for the hotel because they save money by re-using those cards. But, it's not good for you, as revealed below by the California Bureau of Investigation:• Southern California law enforcement professionals assigned to detect new threats to personal security issues recently discovered what type of information is embedded in the credit card type hotel room keys used throughout the industry.• Although room keys differ from hotel to hotel, a key obtained from a well known hotel chain that was being used for a regional Identity Theft Presentation was found to contain the following the information:a. Customers (your) name b. Customers partial home address c. Hotel room number d. Check in date and check out date e. Customer's (your) credit card number and expiration date!When you turn them in to the front desk your personal information is there for any employee to access by simply scanning the card in the hotel scanner.An employee can take a hand full of cards home and using a scanning device, access the information onto a laptop computer and go shopping at your expense. Simply put, hotels do not erase the information on these cards until an employee re-issues the card to the next hotel guest. At that time, the new guest's information is electronically "overwritten" on the card and the previous guest's information is erased in the overwriting process. But until the card is rewritten for the next guest, it usually is kept in a drawer at the front desk with YOUR INFORMATION ON IT.The bottom line is: Keep the cards, take them home with you, or destroy them. NEVER leave them behind in the room or room wastebasket and NEVER turn them in to the front desk when you check out of a room. They will not charge you for the card (illegal) and you'll be sure you are not leaving a lot of valuable personal information on it that could be easily lifted off with any simple scanning device card reader.For the same reason, if you arrive at the airport and discover you still have the card key in your pocket, do not toss it in an airport trash basket. Take it home and destroy it by cutting it up, especially through the electronic information strip!"Information courtesy of: Pasadena Police Department• A quality deadbolt lock on all perimeter doors is always your first line of defense. A door is most often the point of entry for an intruder. If you don’t have a quality lock the perpetrator knows that a good blow will break the non-fortified wood that is holding the door lock cylinder in place. A quick entry and closing of the door hides the damage, as it will be on the inside.• If you see signs of entry, DO NOT ENTER the house. Go to the neighbors, to call for help and be on the lookout for strange cars or people near your home.• If you just moved in to your home or business, you should change the key cylinders on all locks, as you don’t know who has a copy of the key.• Cut the cord handle off your electric garage door openers. It’s easy to push the top of your garage door in enough to put a wire hanger in and hook the release handle. By pulling on the handle, a burglar will override the screw or chain drive and be able to manually lift the overhead door. Once protected by the privacy of your garage, entry to the home is inevitable. Be sure to leave just enough cord so that you can use it from inside if needed, but not enough to reach the top of the overhead door!• Burglars hate light. You should replace outside perimeter lighting with motion activated lamps. These are very inexpensive these days and readily available at most hardware and electronic stores. The protection they will provide coupled with the convenience of having a well lit area to come home to, make them a must have.• When you are leaving your home for daily routine, be sure to vary times and direction of travel. Your repetitive actions are a gift to potential burglars who are always on the prowl for their next victim.• Remove or place a light on shrubs that can easily conceal a waiting burglar from site.• When you buy new appliances like televisions or stereo’s and computers be sure to hide or destroy the boxes. New valuables are an invitation to a burglars, already distorted senses.• Don’t ever tell a stranger that you are home alone.• Install a peep hole viewer, if you do not have a convenient window to check who is at your door before opening it to a stranger.• If someone asks to use your phone for an emergency take the information through closed doors and inform them that you will make the call for them.• Always keep your cell phone in your bedroom with you. If the phone lines are cut you will need it to call for help.• Don’t leave a purse, wallet or laptop on the counters that can be seen from a window. This will almost always trigger a forced entry.• Security signs without corresponding security company stickers on the windows, may lead a passing burglar to believe that you don’t really have an alarm system installed.• Don't leave notes on the door telling someone that you are not home and what time you will be back.Note: Holiday Security Tips provided by and with permission of Expertsknow.com
Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com
Michael Piccolo pswadt@seattlealarms.com Michael is an Authorized Dealer of the world’s largest security company. He is committed to quality equipment, service and customer care and is a winner of “The Experts Choice Award”. (www.expertsknow.com)
HomeStar Security is a family-owned and operated business, which specializes in residential home security, commercial security, CCTV, camera systems, and DVR. If you would like to receive more information, please take the time to visit =>SafeHomeNow.com
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