Top 10 Ways to Keep Your Home Safe This Halloween

October is National Crime Prevention Month, the official month for recognizing and celebrating the practice of crime prevention while promoting creating safer, more caring communities. And at the end of the month is the one night of the year when you need to be more alert than ever about your home security. On Halloween, when your home is most vulnerable to vandalism, a home automation system can help protect yourself and your property.

Here are ten tips to keep you safe on Halloween and all through the year:
 

1. Don’t leave your door unlocked; an intruder posing as a trick-or-treater could easily let himself or herself in. A home automation system allows you to lock and unlock your door from anywhere.
2. Keep your home well lit, especially if you can’t be home. With a light control system like the Schlage LiNK, you can put your lights on a schedule to make it look like someone’s home and control them from any PC or smartphone with Internet access.
3. Keep your property lighted, and remove toys and debris from your hard. You don’t want a trick or treater taking a fall on your property (can you say lawsuit?).
4. Decide on a cut-off time to answer the door for trick-or-treaters. Legitimate trick or treaters should be off the streets by 8 or 9, depending on your community’s traditions and curfew. Turn off your porch light for a few hours, but turn it back on before you go to bed.
5. With a home automation system, you can control home security camera remotely to record activity on your porch and property. Wireless camera recording can be triggered by door/window motion sensors.
6. If you have pets, keep them inside. Some people think it’s fun to harass or hurt dogs and cats. It’s also good to keep pets away from the front door so that they can’t leap on trick or treaters.
7. If you have older kids going out, set a time for their return home and make sure they have a cell phone with them. Ask them to check in with you regularly. With remote control locks, they won’t have to carry a key and can let themselves in with a code. You can keep your door locked and be alerted when they use their code.
8. With wireless sensor integration, you can check the status of your windows and detect motion in an around the home from anywhere.
9. Don’t leave candles burning inside pumpkins or anywhere a costume could come in contact with the flame. Consider battery-powered lights.
10. If you see any suspicious activity, call your local police department immediately.
     

What safety tips do you have for Halloween?