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Is Your Home Ready for Your Vacation?
Loudoun Sheriff Offers Home Security Tips
Summer is here and
many Loudoun residents are making plans for their vacation. The Loudoun
Sheriff’s Office Crime Prevention Unit is taking this time to remind residents
to also prepare their home for while they are away.
Members of the Crime Prevention
Unit recommend residents make their homes look as lived-in as possible while
they are enjoying their well-deserved time off. Here are a few simple tips:
• First and foremost, get to know
your neighbors; a trusted relationship with a few neighbors goes a long way in
keeping your community safe.
• Leave on interior lights or place
them on automatic timers. Motion sensor lights should be installed on the
exterior of the home near entrances.
• Vehicles left in the driveway
might make it appear as if someone is home. Please make sure you remove all
valuables from the vehicles and ensure the vehicle is locked.
• All exterior doors should be
secured by a deadbolt lock. Install good locks on windows and a locking bar or
track lock device on sliding glass doors.
• Close and lock all garage doors.
You may want to consider disabling the garage door opener by disconnecting it
from the power source while you are away.
• Arrange to have any deliveries
picked up by a neighbor. This includes your mail and newspapers. Ask a trusted
neighbor to collect any flyers and papers left on your front step.
• Trim all shrubs and bushes around
the home. They should not be allowed to grow higher than 24 inches or higher
than the lower ledge of a first floor window. A well kept yard is a deterrent to
burglars.
• Leave the keys to your home with
someone you trust. If you have an alarm set a temporary pass code for anyone who
may be checking your home. Make sure someone knows your itinerary so they know
where you will be, your phone number and when you will be back. Also leave names
and phone numbers of relatives or friends who should be contacted in case of a
fire, burglary, or other emergencies.
By taking these steps you can
reduce the chances of your home being burglarized. Most burglaries are crimes of
opportunity. This means the more difficult it is for someone to enter your home,
the more likely they will move on to a home that is less secure.
If you are a Loudoun resident or a
county business owner and you would like to schedule a free security check
please contact Deputy Specialist Nathan Payne at 703-777-0477 or Deputy
Specialist James Spurlock at 703-771-5749 of the Loudoun Sheriff’s Office Crime
Prevention Unit. If you have question you can also contact them by email at
nathaniel.payne@loudoun.gov or
james.spurlock@loudoun.gov.
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Click on the pictures below
to enlarge them for better viewing. When completed, use your
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Pictured above, Deputy Specialist, Nathan Payne from the
Loudoun County Sheriff's department, provided a Home Security Seminar to
interested residents of Ashburn Farm. Deputy Specialist
Payne also provides free home inspections to Loudoun County residents on a
request and appointment basis. He will tour your home with you, both inside
and outside and provide you with information you can use to better
secure your home. A written report is also provided. To call and arrange for
a home security inspection you can call 703-777-0477.
Information on future
presentations, workshops, and neighborhood watch meeting announcements
are distributed via the Ashburn Farm Association email alert system.
If you would like to receive this type of information, as well as
community crime alerts click on the link in the right column to be
added.
Be a Part of this
Program
There are no
meetings to attend and no signing up is required for this volunteer
effort. Your morning or evening walks could be your way of helping -
carry a cell phone during these times and report something does not look
right. Notify
the Sheriff's Department non-emergency number at 703-777-1021, or call 911
depending on your perception of the situation. You could simply observe what goes on around you
and in your
neighborhood. Maintain a phone tree
or email list so that alert information can be quickly relayed to
your immediate neighbors.
Report
anything to see that is suspicious - 703-777-1021
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Sheriff's Non-Emergency
Number: 703-777-1021
Click here for information on Community Policing.
To signup for
Ashburn Farm Association Community Email Alerts send an email to
emaillists@afhoa.net
with your name and address information.
If you think you have been the
victim of a scam, or are dealing with a scammer presently, call the
Consumer Protection Hotline of
the attorney general's office.
1-800-451-1525
or
send an email to
consumer@oag.state.va.us
Click here to access the:
Internet Crime Complaint Center (a Partnership of the FBI and the National
White Collar Crime Center.)
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