Crime & Safety

Seventh Precinct Releases Burglary Prevention Tips

Police offer advice to homeowners to combat growing concerns.

With residential burglaries a growing concern in the area, police in Nassau County's 7th Precinct have released a list of tips to homeowners to prevent break-ins.

Although the number of residential burglaries are about the same in the Precinct as they were at this point in 2010, according to the most recent statistics available on the precinct's website, there have been 15 burglaries over the past four weeks compared to 7 over the same period last year.

According to the release by the Precinct's Problem Oriented Policing (POP) unit, there has been an increase in marked and unmarked patrols in the Precinct.

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Police also suggest the following burglary prevention tips:

  • Don’t leave windows open or unlocked when the house is unoccupied.
  •  Lock rear gates when not in use, most burglars don’t want to be seen from the stree, so they enter your house from the rear.
  •  Prune overgrown shrubbery, which may hide windows and doors.
  •  Do not have packages left on the front step all day: if you cannot stay home arrange for a delivery time or have a neighbor take in the package.
  •  Have a neighbor watch your house if you’ll be away.
  •  Don’t publicize your absence from the house on the Internet or voice mail.
  •  Consider installing an alarm if you don’t have one. Have alarm signs visible from the street and on all doors and windows.
  •  Eliminate the outside mailbox by inserting a mail slot in the front door or the garage door. This not only helps prevent burglaries but also identity theft.
  •  Have outside doors of solid core wood or metal clad; steel doors and frames are the most secure while hollow core doors with wood frames are easily kicked in. Replace the strike plate screws with longer steel screws that go through the doorjamb and into the door frame.
  •  Use deadbolts with at least a one-inch throw thereby making the mechanism difficult to pry or jimmy open.
  •  Ensure that sliding doors have metal pins or a metal bar installed to prevent them from being pried open.
  •  Install outside motion detection lights at the corners of your home and high enough so that the intruder can’t unscrew the bulb.
  •  Have interior lights and a radio/television on timers which go on and off at varying times of the day.
  •  Take close up pictures of your jewelry. Videotape the interior of the house and keep a copy at another location.
  •  Mark your valuables with an identifying number to help us in tracking down the burglary proceeds.
  •  Do not leave valuables in bureau drawers in the master bedroom; this is the first place where a burglar will look.
  •   If buying a safe, make sure it is of good quality. Many safes that people buy are fire safes which are easily broken into. Bolt down the safe so a burglar can’t carry it away.   

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