Make It a Miserable Christmas for Thieves This Year

It’s that time of year again - The countdown to Christmas begins.

The weeks leading up to Christmas are the biggest shopping weeks for the year and for many of us this means stocking our homes with the latest electrical gadgets, jewellery and must-have accessories.

Forget about Father Christmas shimmying down your chimney, it’s burglars you may have to contend with this coming festive season. Christmas traditionally sees a spike in incidents of domestic burglary, as organised and opportunistic thieves target homeowners who have stocked up on presents, or who leave their homes unattended while off visiting relatives.

This year we want to spoil Christmas for criminals and help keep you, your family and your possessions safe over the Festive Period.

Read our Top Tips for keeping your home and valuables safe this Christmas and New Year.

Don’t keep presents on view and keep receipts separate from your presents, this could enable a thief to return what you've bought in exchange for cold hard cash.

Festive lighting - be secure. A common mistake of many festive decorators is to feed extension cables through partially open windows, criminals know to look for this vulnerability. When it comes to outdoor lighting, opt for solar or battery operated lights or install outdoor electrical outlets.

Keep your curtains, drapes and window blinds closed at night, making sure valuable items are out of sight. When going out for the evening make use of inexpensive timers to give the illusion of occupancy.

Away over Christmas - plan ahead! If you're going away at Christmas be sure to cancel any newspaper or milk subscriptions. Arrange for a neighbour to park on the driveway to help create the impression someone is home. Do not leave descriptive telephone answer machine messages and make use of light timers.

Don't hide keys & use alarms if you have them. Burglars know to look for hidden door keys so don't hide spare keys under rocks, in flowerpots, or above door ledges. Instead give the spare key to family or trusted neighbour. Many houses these days have alarms, many though are rarely set, make sure yours is on and protecting your home.

Check doors and windows for weak spots. Government statistics show that 30% of burglaries happen through windows. Installing a few dead-bolts and new window hinges could increase the security of your home.

Secure sheds just as well as houses - they contain just the tools a burglar needs to get into your house. Garden forks are particularly useful as are makeshift ladders like wheelie bins and trampolines so keep them chained up.

Be cautious when using social media such as Facebook – do you really want to advertise that your home is empty by showing you are somewhere else or having a countdown to your holiday?

The risk of burglary doesn't end after the presents have been opened. The number of break-ins usually increases after Christmas, reaching its peak on New Year's Eve... So let’s not forget one final Top Tip from the team here at Security Services:

After Christmas day, don’t pile up empty gift boxes from your new IPad or Mobile Phone, Portable DVD player, or Gaming Console on the street for the bin men. Burglars appreciate knowing that you have expensive gifts inside for them to steal. Break them down or cut them up to conceal the items better.

Hopefully your property will not be targeted by burglars and our Top Tips provided helps to keep you and your home safe during the Festive Season.

From everyone at The Security Services Group have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!