An ex-burglar spills the beans on how you can keep your house safe

Keep your home safe from burglars doesn’t need to be complex.

According to an ex-burglar, whose letter to his neighbourhood was published in the Herald Sun, there’s a few things you can do to protect your home and car from thieves.

The anonymous ex-crim said they had spent six years in jail for “opportunistic crimes, mostly property theft, either residential or vehicle”, said they were “attempting to set right the damage I caused” as they were now “drug and crime free and am honest in all my affairs”.

The well-written A4 letter said that the person didn’t want to reveal their identity as they have a young family and spent six years in prison for many crimes.

And the writer wanted to reiterate that they did not want to make people scared or feel unsafe – they just wanted to raise awareness.

Vehicles

• Don’t leave spare car or house keys in them;

• Never leave keys in them in shops or service stations (it takes five seconds to drive off);

• Don’t leave licenses in them.

Garages and sheds

• Always use padlocks where available;

• Always lock roller doors and the back door to the garage at night;

• If you have an access door from the garage to the house, keep it locked as you would the front and back doors;

• Mark items with identification pens.

Houses

• Alarm systems are cheap these days and are the best form of deterrence. Even if a burglar does enter, they won’t hang around long if an alarm is sounding;

• Minimise cash lying around openly;

• Don’t have spare keys for the house or cars lying around openly and make sure they’re accounted for if you are in fact burgled;

• If you have pet doors, make sure you have the main door deadlocked and window latches aren’t easily opened;

• If your property is stolen, enquire at pawn shops.

Tell us: do you think these tips are useful?