It may come as no surprise that Thanksgiving is one of the most popular holidays of the year. Families and friends travel from near and far and gather together to devour mass quantities of food, watch television, and focus on all that they are thankful for. If you are traveling this Thanksgiving, your home may be an easy target for burglars. Keeping your home safe while you are away should be a priority during your trip.

The best way to protect your home is with a professional, and monitored home security system. If someone tries to break in, our local 24-hour Monitoring Response Center will receive the notification and respond promptly. In addition, a monitored security system is an effective way to help detect fire quickly and decrease the response time of the fire department when you are away from home or sleeping at night.

A security system should not be your only line of defense. Other precautions can be taken to make your home appear less of a target:

• Have a neighbor or friend collect your mail, or have it held at the post office. One of the main indicators to a burglar that you are not home is a pile of mail or newspapers lying on your front porch or in your driveway. If a burglar sees the stack of mail or newspapers, they will know the home is vacant and that they can take their time going through your belongings.
• Do not post on social media all your travel details including when you are leaving. Some of your “friends” or “followers” see this as a perfect opportunity to break in to your home.
• Utilize Anet 24 from Amherst Alarm to schedule your lights to turn on and off at certain times. Periodically turning on and off lights in your home gives the appearance that some one is there and can be another preventative measure.
• Turn your home phone ringer off. If a burglar hears a phone ringing several times and no one answering, they can tell whether anyone is home or if the home is unoccupied.
• Get a house sitter- Have a family member or neighbor keep an eye on your home, pick up mail, and turn the lights on and off. In addition, they can take care of pets while you are away and stay overnight to make sure your home is secure.

These are just a few Thanksgiving security tips to make sure you are able to enjoy your holiday. One of the easiest ways to avoid being robbed is to make sure your home appears occupied while you are gone. If your home gives the appearance that it is occupied, burglars will often avoid it, as they do not want to get caught.

The best way to protect your home is with a monitored security system like Anet 24, which allows you to control your locks, and lights right from your smart phone or web-enabled device. If you have a video security system, you can even monitor the video of your property while away.

Have a safe holiday and don’t forget to contact us for all your home security needs.