Resident Services

Resident Services / Police Services

Home Security

There are many steps you can take to ensure your home is safe and secure, including the following tips that the Police Division wishes to share:

Check the Locks
• Make sure every external door has a sturdy, well-installed dead bolt lock. Key-in-the-know locks alone are not enough.
• Sliding glass doors can offer easy access if they are not properly secured. You can secure them by installing commercially available locks or putting a broomstick or dowel in the inside track to jam the door. To prevent the door being lifted off the track, drill a hole through the sliding door frame and the fixed frame. Then insert a pin in the hole.
• Lock double-hung windows with key locks or “pin” windows by drilling a small hole into a 45-degree angle between the inner and outer frames, and then insert a nail that can be removed. Secure basement windows with grilles or grates.
• Instead of hiding keys around the outside of your home, give an extra key to a neighbor you trust.
• When you move into a new house or apartment, re-key the locks.

Check the Doors
• All outside doors should be metal or solid wood.
• If your doors don’t fit tightly in their frames, install weather stripping around them.
• Install a peephole or wide-angle viewer in all entry doors so you can see who is outside without opening the door. Door chains break easily and don’t keep intruders out.

Check the Outside
• Thieves hate bright lights. Install outside lights and keep them on at night.
• Keep your yard clean. Prune back shrubbery so it doesn’t hide doors or windows. Cut back tree limbs that a thief could use to climb to an upper-level window.
• Clearly display your house number so police and other emergency vehicles can find your home quickly.
• If you travel, create the illusion that you’re at home by getting some timers that will turn lights on and off in different area of your house throughout the evening. Lights burning 24 hours a day signal an empty house.
• Leave shades, blinds, and curtains in normal positions. And don’t let your mail pile up! Call the post office to stop delivery or have a neighbor pick it up.
• Make a list of our valuables, Take photos of the items, list their serial number and descriptions. Check with law enforcement about engraving your valuables through Operation Identification.
• Ask UA Police to do a free home security survey.

Consider an Alarm
Alarms can be a good investment, especially if you have many valuables in your home, or live in an isolated area or one with a history of break-ins.
• Check with several companies before you buy so you can decide what level of security fits your needs. Do business with an established company and check references before signing a contract.
• Learn how to use your system properly! Don’t “cry wolf” by setting off false alarms. People will stop paying attention and you’ll probably be fined.
• Some less expensive options - a sound-detecting socket that plugs into a light fixture and makes the light flash when it detects certain noises, motion sensing out-door lights that turn on when someone approaches, or lights with photo cells that turn on when it’s dark and off when it’s light.

Police Division
City of Upper Arlington
3600 Tremont Road
Upper Arlington, OH 43221
Phone: 614-583-5150
www.ua-ohio.net