The Township of Washington Police Department are urging all residents to be diligent this holiday season by locking their homes, setting alarms, and leaving lights on both inside and outside of their homes. Historically home burglary’s occur more often during the winter months/holiday season, especially due to the fact there are fewer daylight hours. This gives burglars more time to be concealed by darkness. According to the FBI, nearly 400,000 burglaries occur in the U.S. during November and December each year. Burglars don’t have time to break into heavily secured homes. Chances are that they will target your home if they know it’s not well secured and that you are not home. Burglars are opportunists, eliminate opportunities for them by locking all doors/windows/gates. Also, secure your vehicles as burglars will attempt to gain entry, and steal them if they can.
Please put lights on timers inside and outside, make every attempt to have your packages picked up during the day, even if by a neighbor. The key is to make your home look occupied, and make it difficult to break in. During the Holiday Season, daylight hours are minimized which is something burglars use to their advantage. If you see something, say something…please don’t wait, call the Township of Washington Police immediately.
The Township of Washington Police have a few tips to help prevent your home from being burglarized this Holiday Season:
- Lock all outside doors and windows before you leave the house or go to bed, even if it is for a short period of time.
- Leave lights on when you go out. If you are going to be away for a length of time, connect some lamps to automatic timers to turn them on in the evening and off during the day.
- Keep your garage door closed and locked, as well as exterior gates around your home.
- If you hear someone attempting to open any doors or windows or walking around outside your house, call the Police immediately.
- Don’t allow daily deliveries of mail, newspapers or flyers build up while you are away. Especially during the Holiday season make sure all packages are removed in a timely manner. Arrange with the Post Office to hold your mail, or arrange for a friend or neighbor to take these items regularly.
- Arrange for your lawn to be mowed, leaves and snow to be removed if you are going away for an extended time.
- If you have an alarm system, please utilize it. An alarm system that isn’t activated is useless.
- If you have cameras, please make sure they are in working order.
- Keep your travel plans off Social Media. By announcing your plans, it can be an invitation to a burglar.
- Look out for any suspicious vehicles or persons in your neighborhood and call them in as soon as you see them.
As always, we are urging residents to not leave their vehicles running unattended, remove keys and key fobs and most important of all lock your vehicles at all times.
The Washington Township Police also offer a Residential and Commercial Security Survey Program. Please click here for information on this program.
If you observe anything suspicious, please contact the Washington Township Police immediately at 201-664-1140.
