Apartment Security For Residents
How To Secure Yourself, Your Family, And Your Property From CriminalsApartment Security for Residents
If you’re a resident of an apartment unit, you have a responsibility to do your best to protect yourself, your family, and your property. There are many little tips and tricks you can do to keep the criminals away. But, you also need some help from your management to create a line of defense before criminals get to your front door. We will go over things to look for when choosing an apartment, along with the many things you can do to protect your living space once you have chosen a location.
Do Your Research
Before ever moving in you should do your best to research the apartment complex and management company, if there is one. Yelp reviews and similar websites are great resources to find out if your manager is willing to help you secure your home. Renters often feel helpless when it comes to the security of their home. They feel like they are at the mercy of their manager and there is nothing they can do. This is often not the case. In most states, you can request important security features such as deadbolts, peepholes, and security chains for a small charge. These simple things can significantly help the security of you apartment.
Other Security Measures
There are additional security measures you can take that are completely in your control. Protect your weakest points. The majority of burglaries occur through an open door or window. So I’ll state the obvious, lock them. Even if your doors and windows are locked they could still be vulnerable. Security latches are an inexpensive way to secure you windows from being wiggled open. Ensure your door jam and strike plate on your door are strong. These are usually the weakest point of a locked door, so make sure they are made of strong materials. Sliding glass doors are also a well-known security weak point for security professionals and criminals alike. Similar to windows, they can often easily be wiggled off the track or be forced open due to weak or poorly installed locks. Check the strength of your locks and place a stick in the track when you aren’t home in the event your locks don’t hold up.
Stay Vigilant and Be a Good Neighbor
As a resident you can aid in the overall security of the complex by staying vigilant and reporting basic security risks to the management. Overgrown bushes, that make an easy hiding place, and burnt out lights are two major security risks that you don’t have to go out of your way to notice. Tell management or maintenance directly and it should be taken care of in a timely manner. Also, keep an eye out for anything you feel is unusual. Report it to management or your apartment security, if you are lucky enough to have one. And lastly, watch out for your neighbors the same way you would want them to watch out for you. There is often no better asset for apartment security than a good neighbor. If you notice unlocked windows or doors, tell them immediately, especially if you know they are out of town on vacation.
Hide Your Valuables
Keep any valuables out of sight. Criminals love to see their potential take on display. Your primary goal is to deter criminals from ever attempting to break in to your apartment. All you really have to do is make you place look more secure and less desirable than the next. It’s all about risk vs reward. Show criminals that your apartment is high risk and low reward and you should stay safe and secure.
Apartment Security Cameras
If you still don’t feel that you apartment is as safe as it could be, security cameras could be a great solution. If you do put a security camera in your apartment you have two important options. You either want to advertise it with security stickers by your door and doorbell as a deterrent for would be criminals, or conceal it as much as possible to hopefully catch the criminal in the act. I would prefer you advertise you security cameras as much as possible. The first level of security is prevention. Criminals will likely go on to the next building if they see you have cameras. The other school of thought says that if they know you have a camera, they will do better to hide their identity and possibly break or steal your camera. For me, once a criminal is in your personal space, most the damage has been done. You feel violated and constantly unsafe knowing that someone have intruded on your home. So I recommend letting everyone know you have security and they should go somewhere else. The next most important aspect of security cameras is to ensure that the video is being stored in a secure location. If the criminal spots the camera, it is likely they will attempt to break or steal everything associated will it, trying to conceal their crime. If you have the option, have it linked and stored online. When setting up your security camera system you need to test your system. Too often cameras won’t capture faces because they are installed at bad angles and with bad lighting. Does your camera work in low lighting at all? These are things you need to test and should know before something bad happens. Make sure you know how to use your cameras. Understand how to recall and review video from a certain date and time. Some systems only store data for so long before it records over the old footage. You need to know how long period is so you don’t lose your important evidence.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, apartment security is up to you and you alone. Yes, others should be doing their part, but you can’t rely on that by itself. Your goal should be to stop crime before it happens. Make your apartment high risk and low reward so the criminals can move on to someplace else. You don’t have to do everything we talked about, but it is always smart to take some action to protect yourself, you family, and you property.