Expert Insights on Community Safety

There are many ways you can be a vigilant citizen and keep your family,
your neighbors, and yourself safe. We have compiled different pieces of
insight from experts in the field to shed light on the subject:
 Crime & Neighbourhood Safety
The truth is, crime can make way to any neighbourhood, no matter how
“safe” it is. In times of economic distress, people are even more concerned
about rising crime in their communities. On the bright side, there are plenty
of preventative measures one can take to protect his/her home, as well as
the neighbourhood. The steps could be as simple as keeping the doors
locked, or be more complex like starting a neighbourhood watch program
with your community. Even though no place is immune to crime, team work
with neighbours and family members can really make a difference to
minimize it. This guide will define burglary, explain in detail the importance
of neighbourhood safety, provide tips on how you can keep your kids safe,
and how you can be a proactive member in your community to promote
safety.

What is Burglary?
Property crime can take many different forms, but one of the most common
ones is burglary. By definition, burglary is the “unlawful entry to a structure
and it does not always involve theft but may sometimes.” Break-ins are
never fun, and may make your family and neighbours feel uneasy should
one ever take place in your neighbourhood. With that said, homeowners
must take proper measures to reduce the likelihood of their homes being
burglarized.

Tips for Keeping your Home &

Surroundings Safe
Keep in mind that neighbourhood safety requires team effort. The following
tips are great for keeping your own home and family safe, but also for
fostering a safe community. If everyone in your neighbourhood practices
these simple tips and works together to be vigilant by looking out for each
other, it can really help to ward off thieves and criminals -- making it a more
enjoyable place to live.

Know the people within

your neighbourhood.
Being able to recognize who lives in your neighbourhood goes a long way
in recognizing when there is a suspicious person in the area. Be aware of
your neighbour's habits, such as when they are generally at work, if they
have small children or teenagers, if they are elderly and may need extra
assistance from time to time. This awareness will make the neighbourhood
a much tighter community, and everyone will be able to better prevent
crime.

Keep your vacation

dates off of social
media.
With social media being such a large part of our lives today, it's only natural
to want to share the excitement of an upcoming vacation. However, by
doing so, you are essentially setting yourself up as a target for burglars.
Criminals in the past have relied on public social media profiles like
 Facebook and Instagram to stalk and
intrude homes while residents are away.

Make
use of
timers.
Timers are great especially on nights you
won't be home. Just because you aren't home doesn't mean that you
should keep all the lights off at all times. Set a timer and have the lights go
on and off at specific times so that it looks like your home is being
occupied. Many burglars study when people exit and enter their homes to
plot their next move. By setting up these timers and lights to go on and off,
it'll throw them off.

Lock all doors and

windows.
As simple as this sounds, it's important to
make note of. Many homes have
multiple doors and windows and it can be
easy to overlook one or more of them. For
optimal safety, make sure to lock all doors
when you are not home or home alone. Make sure that windows are
securely fastened so that burglars can't enter the home through any of
them. If you have any sliding doors, place a rod in the track to prevent
thieves from forcing the door open and entering.
 Install motion-
sensored lights
outside of your
home.
Burglars are usually discouraged by these lights. When the lights go off, it
gives them a chance to run away from the bright lights before you catch
them trying to enter your house. This is also a great way for you to know
when someone is approaching your home.

Keep your neighbours

informed.
It's always smart to get to know your neighbours and get to a level where
you can at least trust one of them. This is a good idea especially if you plan
on being away for a few days or more. By giving a copy of your keys to a
trusted neighbour, you can have them make sure everything is okay at
home.

 Inform a trusted neighbour that you will be away for a few days if
there's a vacation coming up.

 Give them a copy of your keys. This way, they can make sure
that everything is okay at home.

 Having mail accumulate can be a red flag and invite intruders.

Ideally, you don't want your mail, packages, and newspapers
stacking up in front of your door or in your mailbox. With that
 said, kindly request that your neighbour collect mail and hold it
somewhere safe for you until you get back.

 If you have a car, you may also want to ask your neighbour to
move your car around to make it appear as if you are home.

Get a guard dog

Not only do dogs make great pets, they can
also be great members of the community.
Thieves tend to stay away from homes with
loud barking dogs. If you don't have a dog, it
couldn't hurt to place a “beware of dog” sign
somewhere visible on the outside of your
home anyway. Don't let a dog replace your
home security system, but a good guard dog
can intimidate intruders and make them think twice before committing any
crime. Thinking about getting a guard dog but not sure which one? Check
out the top ten best guard dogs here!

Start a Neighbourhood Watch.

A neighbourhood watch program can go a long way in keeping your home
and family safe. It does not take a large time investment, and does not
require any personal risks as the local police will be fully responsible for
arresting criminals and questioning suspicious activity. A neighbourhood
watch will just increase awareness within your neighbourhood of any
suspicious activity, so that the police can be notified much quicker, which
great increases the chance of preventing crime. Here are a few steps to
starting a Neighbourhood Watch.

1. Briefly go door to door explaining how the neighbourhood watch

works, and to see if there is enough interest in the program.
Recruit those who are interested. Take note of any neighbours
who show interest in the program and are eager to help out.
You'll want to assign them to key roles of the neighbourhood
watch so that all the efforts do not fall on your shoulders. It also
helps with teamwork and cooperation throughout the
neighbourhood. If you live in a large neighbourhood, then you
can assign geographical locations for certain individuals to be
the main point of contact for that specific area. You'll also want
to find a designated coordinator who will be the go-to person for
representing the neighbourhood to the local police.

2. Get your local police department involved. Once you've

established a neighbourhood watch, you'll want to then proceed
to really working with the local police. Work on getting a meeting
between the police and your neighbourhood watch. This is a
great way to get to know your local officers, and learn of crime
trends in the areas and the legal requirements for creating a
neighbourhood watch. You'll want to schedule the meeting two
weeks in advance so that there is time for others in the
neighbourhood to hear about the meeting and to get involved
with it.

3. Have an action plan in place. After you've established a

neighbourhood watch, you'll want to then schedule meetings on
a regular basis to go over goals, progress, and go over any
concerns or questions about the neighbourhood watch. You
 should also reach out to nearby civic groups to expand your
network, and further be involved in the area.

Keep your yard well maintained.

A yard that is kept up goes a long way in deterring criminals, especially
when the whole neighbourhood is well maintained. This lets would-be
criminals know that people are active in your neighbourhood, and also
reduces hiding spots for them. Try to keep clear line of sights to your
entryways, so that if a criminal is trying to break in, then they'll be easily
visible from across the street or by a neighbour driving by. Large bushes
and trees that block the view of your house, makes it a more likely target
for thieves as they can remain hidden while breaking in.

If there is an abandoned house, or a house up for sale in your

neighbourhood, then see if anyone else in the neighbourhood is interested
in helping to keep its yard maintained. Empty houses offer an easy escape
path for criminals. Abandoned houses also make it easy for someone to
hide out and study the habits of the people in your neighbourhood, so they
can figure out when is the best time to break in when you're repeatedly
away at certain times. If you keep the yard of the abandoned house
maintained, then criminals will feel not as safe to commit crime in your
neighbourhood, as there are no easy
ways to watch the habits of your
neighbours and will feel there are eyes at
every house in the neighbourhood.
Be aware of your
children's location.
You'll want to have your children ask permission or at least tell you where
they are going before they leave the
house. Establish a time they need to be
home by each time they go out. Have
them leave a phone number of where
they will be, or be sure they have a cell
phone with them if there is one available.

Set boundaries for where your children

can go.
If you live in the city, then you'll want to identify how far away your children
can go without you. Just around the block or two? Is it okay for them to
cross busy intersections? Is there a dangerous area nearby to avoid? If you
live in the country then it'd be good to let them know if there is a dangerous
river nearby to not play by, or farms with large livestock to stay away from
incase the animal decides to charge after them. Also, make sure they are
wary of any questionable houses to stay away from, especially abandoned
ones.

Neighbourhood Safety: A Team Effort

While it's impossible to ward off crime 100%, it takes one to set a good
example for the rest. By educating yourself on the measures you can take
to encourage safety in your neighbourhood, your neighbours will follow suit
and work with you to make the community an enjoyable place to live. Many
of these measures are simple, but may just require reminder of every now
and then.