Five Ways to Keep Your Home Safe During Vacation

School’s out, and many of us are taking off soon for beaches, cities and family. But don’t forget to take some extra precautions back home to keep your home safe while you’re gone.

Chief Mark Sechrist gave us five easy things you can do to help keep your home safe while you’re enjoying a much-needed break.

He sums it up like this: “Anything you can do to make the house look occupied is obviously a good thing to do.”

1. Have a neighbor park in your driveway while you’re gone.
2. Ask someone to pick up newspapers and mail. A mountain of mail on the porch is the most obvious sign that no one is home, said Sechrist.
3. Put your lights – inside and outside – on timers so your house isn’t completely dark for a week.
4. Secure the home. It sounds obvious, but many forget to close the garage door AND lock the home entrance inside the garage, or the alarm is not activated while they are gone.
5. Notify your local police department that you’ll be gone. “It’s always a good idea,” said Sechrist. This doesn’t mean that you’ll get daily checks on your home, but if a problem arises in your neighborhood then police will pay special attention to your home if they know you’re out of town.