subject: Working Through Manassas Home Security Holiday Issues [print this page] The holidays present a whole new list of home security issues for Manassas residents, but the standard things hold true as well. One point which every homeowner must understand is that the holidays are times for everyone to take vacations. That means that much of the staff at your police department will be taking vacations at some point, mostly the senior staff. In other words, you cant always expect there to be enough security coming from the public services. You have to take matters into your own hands.
On some levels, there are Manassas residents who are fine with this home security setup. If there were less of a public police presence, it would mean less of a burden for taxpayers. The ones who redirected those savings into a new locking apparatus or a home alarm system would be the ones who understand the tradeoff best. As it is, you are not going to see anything like that anytime soon in the theater of public works, but you still have to take things seriously, especially when the holidays arrive.
What does it mean to your safety when you realize that half the homes in your area are in fact empty? If there was a bad time for a thief to take a vacation, it would have to be around Christmas time. Everyone leaves their homes and either heads off in search of relaxation or heads off to the home of a relative in order to touch base with family once again. Either way, being away from home means there are so many more opportunities for the criminals of the world. While it doesnt make sense to cancel a trip because of these concerns, it would be a good idea to check a few things off the list.
First off, you have to be sure your home alarm system is indeed functioning when you head off. How can you know for sure? Set up a time with your monitoring service provider so you can go through the test together. You might not want to warn them and see how they respond, but this method has been known to cause more trouble than it is worth. If everything is on the up and up, you can start fine tuning things. Have your mailman hold off on mail deliveries till you return; do the same with magazines.
When someone passes by your home, it will not look as if it has been vacated for some time. You can take it a step further by picking up some light and TV timers before you leave town. These devices add another layer of doubt to anyone passing through. Some people recommend leaving a car in the driveway, too, but that might be going too far. If you plan well enough in advance, you can even figure out how to control and monitor your home alarm from a cell phone or computer. This can be done with cameras as well.
