Basic rules for keeping your home safe
- Lock all doors and windows. Invest in good locks. To make it difficult to break a door, deadbolt
locks should be a minimum of 1.5 inches with long bolts that end in a solid door frame. - Close your garage door, even for a few minutes.
- Turn on your security alarm even while you are at home.
- Display an alarm company sign.
- Register your home security alarm permit annually with the City of Dallas. Police will not answer your along if you do not have a current valid security alarm permit. Click here to register your permit: https://www.dallasalarmpermit.com/
- Illuminate all entrances.
- Trim bushes and trees that hide doors and windows.
- Don’t hide a key under the mat or flower pot.
- Know your neighbors. Exchange phone numbers and email addresses with each other.
- Do no leave boxes for high-priced items on your curb for all to see.
- Consider getting a dog. Burglars don’t like dogs! Even small dogs with big barks make a home a little less attractive to burglars.
- Consider using a safe or fire safe box. In addition to expensive items, consider putting important documents such as wills or mortgage papers here for safekeeping.
- Review the Crime Prevention page on the Dallas Police Department website. Click HERE for DPD Crime Prevention page.
Document the contents of your home with video
To best document what is in your house, take a video of each room, panning slowly in every direction. Video each room, each closet, and the garage and attic spaces. Capture the type of the electronic equipment you have. This is a great way to demonstrate and/or prove what articles are in and around your house in case of a fire or burglary. As you are videoing say the model of each large item such as a television, appliance, computer, etc. If you have crystal, china, or sterling name the pattern and how many pieces you have of each item. Later, write the serial/model number of those items. Keep the information in a firebox or safe deposit box.
Basic rules for keeping your car safe
The most common reasons vehicles are stolen are for “joyrides”, reselling the vehicle for parts and to use the vehicle to commit other crimes.
- Leave nothing visible in your car – no money, however little, GPS, phone charger, laptop, iPad … nothing!
- Lock your car and close the windows completely.
- Park your car in a garage if possible.
- Use anti-theft devices such as a steering wheel lock, electronic alarms, ignition kill-switch, VIN etching, or vehicle tracking devises such as Lojack or Onstar that can track a vehicle if it is reported stolen.
- Park in well-lit areas.
- Keep information, such as the make, model, year model, license place and VIN (vehicle identification number) easily accessible in the event the car is stolen.
Protecting your kids
Children have a natural trust in people, especially adults. It’s sometimes hard to teach children to balance this trust with caution. But it’s important that children know common sense rules that can help keep them safe, while building the self-confidence they need to handle emergencies.
- Make sure children know their full name and address (city and state), and their phone number with area code.
- Be sure kids know how to call 9-1-1 in emergencies. Practice making emergency calls on a make-believe phone.
- Tell children never to accept rides or gifts from someone they or you don’t know well.
- Teach children to go to a store clerk, security guard, or police officer for help if they get lost in a mall or store, or on the street.
- Set rules and guidelines for your child’s internet use, monitoring the child’s use of online services.
- Instruct your child to never give out personal information to anyone they talk to online.
- Advise your child not to arrange a face-to-face meeting without your permission with anyone he/she meets online.
- Always leave a phone number where you can be reached. Post it by the phone, along with numbers for a neighbor and for emergency situations. Have your child check in with you or a neighbor when he or she gets home.
- Work on an escape plan in case of fire or other emergencies. Rehearse the plan with your children.
- Tell your child never to let anyone into your home without your permission.
- Never let a caller – at the door or on the phone – know that there’s no adult home. Kids can always say their parents are busy and take a message.
