As the festive season approaches many people are making traveling arrangements either to other countries and others visit families in their home villages. This means leaving your home and making it prone to crime. Violent crimes that Batswana fear most like murder, attempted murder, house breaking and robbery have increased dramatically over the past years. And the bad news is that cases of armed robberies, burglaries, murder, attempted murder and serious assault tend to increase markedly over the festive season. The following tips will make you and your property safer.
1. Advise your security company if you are going away and ensure that you supply all the necessary information regarding nearby key holders, in case of an emergency.2. Join your neighborhood watch programme.
3. Inform your neighbors of your holiday plans so that they can keep an eye on your property.
4. If hiring a house sitter, ensure that you teach them how to use your alarm correctly.
Double check that you have locked and secured all windows and doors before leaving home.
5. Ensure that all your outside locks are a minimum of four lever locks or double cylinder security locks.
6. Never leave a key in the inside of an outer door which has glass panels or glass near the door lock.
7. Having security gates fitted on outer doors is a highly effective security measure that gives you an extra line of defence.
8. Sliding doors can be secured simply by placing a piece of timber cut to size in the sliding rail. Make sure that sliding doors cannot be lifted vertically.
9. Full fencing and sturdy gates are a good deterrent.
10.Have good exterior lighting, preferably on a timer.
11. Do not leave tools like ladders or spades outside, as they can be used to break into your house.
12. Clear signage indicating that you have security also helps to discourage burglars.
