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Crime Prevention

On this month’s Crime Prevention segment Sergeant Kelvin Courtney was in studio to offer advice to the public in relation to home security for the holiday period.

The key Crime Prevention message is “You’ve planned your summer holiday, now plan your home security”. Holiday Security advice is available here.

Although Burglaries have decreased significantly, burglary levels remain high during the summer months. Burglary can occur at any time during the day/night.

Unsecured entry points are more likely to be targeted during the summer than during the winter months, lock doors and windows when leaving the house and lock doors even when at home. This goes for both the front and rear of the property. Burglary through an unsecured entry point may also have implications for insurance coverage.

Burglars are more likely to steal property during the summer months, possibly because they have more time once entering the property – ensure the alarm is working and switched on when the house is vacant and at night when the home is occupied.

Keep in mind that having a restricted view of the property from the outside (hedging, walls etc) can act as a promoter and not a deterrent to a burglar – the Burglar is less likely to be seen.

When going on holidays make the home looks occupied – ask neighbours to clear the mail from post-boxes, cut the front lawn and park a car in the driveway of possible, open and close curtains when necessary. Use timer switches for lights.

Store away ladders/ tools etc. Put a good lock on sheds and chain valuable equipment. Residents should consider putting in tamper proof locks on rear doors and windows

Burglars target CRAVED items – keep the most expensive jewellery hidden from view, never keep large amounts of cash in the home and do not leave CRAVED electronic items (laptops, smart phones) in obvious places when the residence is unoccupied or overnight.

If recovered, Gardaí can have difficulty tracing the owner of the property – make a record of valuable items and include photographs, serial numbers etc, mark the property with your Eircode.

Keep car keys away from the front door. There were at least 250 incidents where car keys were fished in 2015 across the full year.

Join a Neighbourhood watch Scheme (2,407 with 341,000 members) / Community Alert Scheme (1406 with 385,120 members) / Text alert scheme (930 with 163822 members)

Publish your social media pictures when you get home!