Vacation House Watch Form - The West Fargo Police Department will make an attempt to check your house while you are gone on vacation.
The facts about burglary
- More than six million residential burglaries occur every year in this country. That's one every ten seconds!
- Nearly half of these burglaries are committed without force — that is through UNLOCKED doors and windows!
Most of these burglaries could be prevented
- Always lock your doors and windows even when leaving for “just a minute.”
- Never leave a house key available: under a doormat, in a flower pot, on the ledge of the door. These are the first places a burglar will look.
If you would like to make life even harder for crooks — remember the following tips:
- Exterior doors should have “dead bolt” locks with a 1 inch strong metal bar extending into the frame.
- Sliding doors and windows should all have “ventilation” locks as well as auxiliary locks to bolster security.
- Be sure to include good locks for garage, cellar, patio or other doors that lead out through storage areas or a spare room.
- For more information on locks, contact the West Fargo Police Department or a local locksmith.
Going Out?
- Lock all doors and windows.
- Use timers so that lights, radio, TV, go on and off throughout the house to indicate someone is home.
- For longer trips be sure to stop mail and newspaper delivery or have a neighbor collect them daily.
- In short make your house look, “LIVED IN.” Remember, if you come home and see a broken window or a jimmied door, don’t go in. Confronting a burglar can be dangerous. Phone the police immediately.
Other Tips
- Install a wide angle lens viewer in the front door. Never open the door without knowing who is there.
- Consider alarm systems or trained security dogs for additional protection.
- Whenever you move to a new home, have the locks changed.
Operation I.D.
Another deterrent to “would be” burglars is Operation Identification.
- Mark your valuables with your driver’s license number preceded by the letters “ND.”
- Post Operation I.D. stickers in doors and windows to warn housebreakers to stay away.
- Burglars don’t want marked merchandise because it is difficult to fence and evidence of guilt if they are caught.
- So mark your items as conspicuously as possible without defacing them.
- Photograph those items that cannot be engraved (jewelry, silverware, antiques).
- Operation I.D. also facilitates the return of stolen property when it is recovered.
Don’t let them knock your block off!
Want to know the best crime prevention tool ever invented? A GOOD NEIGHBOR!
- Law enforcement officers can’t be everywhere at once, but you and your neighbors can. You’re the ones who really know what’s going on in the neighborhood.
- Put that neighborhood know–how to work. It’s simple: just use your eyes and ears — then your telephone. If you spot something suspicious, call the police or sheriff immediately.
- Don’t try to stop a criminal yourself —it can be dangerous.
- Neighbors working together in cooperation with law enforcement make one of the best crime fighting teams around.
- For more information on how to start your own NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH GROUP — contact the West Fargo Police Department
Vacation House Watch
Vacation House Watch Form - The West Fargo Police Department will make an attempt to check your house while you are gone on vacation.
Crime and Violence Prevention Center California Department of Justice