Laguna Niguel Neighborhood News July-September 2017 July - September 2018 | Page 3
Home Security:
Protecting Against Garage Door Break-Ins
a Favorite Entry-point for Thieves.
Thieves know it, but not many home owners know how
easy it is to gain access into a home through a traditional
garage door.
The second that garage door closes, most home owners mistakenly assume
that their home is secure, protected from the bad guys. Unfortunately, it’s often
one of the first place criminals will check; but don’t worry, there are a couple
things you can do to make it even more secure.
One of the weakest points of your garage door is the opener itself. Every garage
door opener has an emergency release – something that comes in handy should
the power ever go out, but also something that is a major flaw in your home’s
security. The problem with these emergency door releases is most criminals
know how to use them to their advantage. By simply running a wire through the
top of your garage door – in the same way thieves used to jimmy old car locks
with a Slim Jim – a thief can easily pull the emergency release and gain entry
into your home in seconds.
How To Secure Your Garage
Help Keep
Your
Community
Crime Free –
Join
Neighborhood
Watch
• It works! Throughout the country,
dramatic decreases in burglary and
related offenses are reported in
communities with active programs.
• Many families have two working
parents and children involved in
many activities that keep them away
from home. An empty house in a
neighborhood where none of the
neighbors know the owner is a prime
target for burglary.
How Does a Neighborhood
Watch Start?
To prevent break-ins through your garage door, there are a couple of things
you can do:
Zip Tie your Emergency Release Shut
Simply running a Zip Tie through the holes in your emergency release switch
will make it almost impossible for a thief to use the jimmy method.
Keep in mind that the zip tie should only be used when you are going on
vacation. I probably would not keep it on there when actually in the home,
because during an emergency situation where you need to quickly evacuate
having it on the emergency release could be dangerous .
Install a Vacation Lock
A heavy duty vacation garage door
deadlock is a great solution for securing
any garage door. They are easy to install,
can be found for under $10, and make it
that much harder on the bad guy to gain
entry through your garage door. The lever
slides right through the garage door track,
making it almost impossible for the door to
be raised once the lock is engaged.
A motivated individual, or a few
concerned residents, can spearhead
the efforts to establish a Watch.
As part of the program, a Crime
Prevention Specialist will come to
your neighborhood watch meetings
and share valuable information about
home/vacation/vehicle security tips.
In addition, you’ll learn how to identify
suspicious activity, how to provide
suspect information when calling the
Sheriff’s Department and much more!
Be involved, call today! To start or
to reactivate a Neighborhood Watch
program, call Crime Prevention
Specialist Kimberly Sawyer at 949-362-
4305 or email at [email protected]
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