MVPD Offers Security Checks While Your Family is On Vacation This Holiday Season

The Mill Valley Police Department strives to keep residents safe this holiday season, offering safety tips for securing your home, as well as, enhanced officer patrol in your neighborhood upon request.

MVPD offers city residents who will be leaving their homes vacant a Vacation Watch, providing drive-by service to check on the resident's home to make sure it is secure and nothing looks suspicious or out of place.

Click on the link to fill out the online request form, drop it by MVPD, One Hamilton Drive, Mill Valley, CA 94941, or fax it to 415-389-4148.  

• Make sure your home is secure - all deadbolts locked, lights left on timers, deliveries canceled or being collected by a trusted neighbor who has your travel schedule. Have a neighbor park their car in your driveway.
• Take only the credit and other cards that you will absolutely need. Carry traveler's checks instead of cash. Record information on these cards and any valuable equipment that you take with you. Take a copy of this information with you and leave a copy with a friend or family member.
• Study up in advance on your vacation destination. Know where you want to go and how you want to get there. Ask hotel personnel about the safety of areas off the regular tourist path.
• Don't leave valuables in full view in the car - your own or a rental. Leave them in the trunk or, better still, in your room safe or hotel safe.
• Set up rules for each day's outings on where and how you'll link up if you become separated.
• Don't leave rooms unlocked in your lodgings. Insist that everyone carries his or her key when outside the room.

• Make sure you have sturdy, metal or solid wood doors at all entries into your home and that sliding glass and similar doors are properly secured.
  
• Install and use well-made deadbolt locks (1.5 inch throw or greater) on all exterior doors.
• Make sure all exterior doors have wide-angle viewers that can be used by everyone in the house. Install two viewers at different heights if necessary.
• Trim shrubs and trees that might give criminals a place to hide or climb to second stories.
• Make sure entry door areas are well lighted so you can tell who's there. Motion detector lights, floodlights, or similar lighting can help brighten up the property so crooks can't hide. 

• Start or strengthen a Neighborhood Watch. Almost every local police or sheriff's department in the nation can help you.
• Find out whether your area has community policing. Work with officers who are assigned to help your neighborhood reduce problems that cause crime.
• Help those who need a hand making their homes more secure, such as seniors, people living alone, or persons with disabilities. Trim shrubs, install wide-angle viewers, help pick up litter, put in deadbolt locks.