Home Security Tips
Palm Springs is a City of great neighborhoods because our residents choose to make a difference in the places where they live.
This checklist was designed to assist you in making a security survey of your own home. The purpose of the survey is to identify security weaknesses of your home and daily routines around your home. These are things that make your home look inviting to the criminal. It should begin at the curb and end with the interior of the home. It should include house numbers, landscaping, doors, locks, strike plates, windows, indoor-outdoor lighting and its use, the garage and driveways.
Home Security Checklist
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From the Curb
- Ensure house numbers are visible from the street for emergency service such as police, fire and ambulance;
- Ensure overall appearance of your home noes not give criminals information about you and your family that would assist them in victimizing you—things such as a full mailbox, outdoor lighting on during the day, or the garage doors open with no cars present;
- Install no-solicitation signs to discourage solicitors from leaving hang-tags or other material, Palm Springs Municipal Code §5.48.050;
- Secure all fence gates with padlockes to make it more difficult for strangers to enter your yard.
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Landscaping & Lighting
- Trim shrubs and trees to 'open up the line of sight' of your hoome for your neighbors from several directions;
- Plant thorny bushes under accessable windows;
- Add entrance/exit lighting in addition to decorative lighting—consider security lighting operated by an electric eye or timer ;
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External Doors
- Doors should be of solid core construction with a solid wood frame, consider a metal door. Door frames should be strong enough to withstand some degree of force;
- Doors with outside exposed hinges should be 'pinned' to prevent easy removal from outside;
- Dead-bolts should have at least a 1" throw with strike plates secured by three to four inch screws;
- Glass sliding doors should be pinned to prevent lifting;
- French or double doors should be fitted with flush bolts at the top and bottom edge of the inactive or secondary door;
- Passage door between the garage and house should be evaluated as any exterior door and locked whenever you are gone.
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Windows
- Trim shrubs and trees to 'open up the line of sight' of your hoome for your neighbors from several directions;
- Trim shubbery to just below window sill to prohibit concealment of an intruder;
- Add entrance/exit lighting in addition to decorative lighting—consider security lighting operated by an electric eye or timer ;
- Jalousie windows are very difficult to secure without installing protective grillwork. Consider replacing.
Applicable Resources
Preventing Burglaries
http://www.lawndalecity.org/Home-Security-Handbook.pdf
Bumping: A Trend in Home Burglary
http://www.ncpc.org/resources/files/pdf/neighborhood-safety/Bumping-Burglary.pdf
Holiday Message - Palm Springs Police Department
PSPD Holiday Safety Message