Is your landscaping attracting burglars? Beautiful trees and bushes add to curb appeal and on a hot day provide much needed shade, but they can also provide an open invitation to burglars.
Mike Barbour, owner of Top Gun Shooting in Taylor hosts safety workshops every Monday.
“In my experience, the gun is always the last resort,” says Barbour.
Landscaping is the first line of defense against burglars and there are small things that can make you a big target for criminals.
“They’re looking for the weakest, easiest target out there,” says Barbour.
Burglars like homes with big bushes and full trees next to the house.
“They can hide behind that bush, wait until no cars are going by and try to get the window open,” says Barbour.
“So if you’re going to have bushes out front, keep them smaller, trimmed up nicely, so they are not creating a big hiding space,” says Barbour.
If you put a shade tree by a window, make sure the bottom of the tree is cut up high enough that no one can hide in it. For extra security, find something with thorns.
“If you wanted to leave your window open at night, having a thorny tree in front of that window would be helpful to deter someone from trying to get in to that window,” says Barbour.
Even burglars don’t like to be pricked by thorns. Burglars also don’t like to be seen.
Outdoor Lighting is important and there’s new “Dusk till Dawn” light bulb technology to help.
Other tips:
- Swap out the standard 3/4 inch screws in your door hinges, for something longer and more substantial.
- Get deadbolts that go further into your door frame than the ones your house came with.
- Whether you have a security alarm or not, put a sticker in a visible place on your house.
“The more you can do to make your house less inviting (to burglars), the better,” says Barbour.
So if your house has lots of places your kids love to play hide and seek, remember that burglars like to play that game too.
Monday's safety workshop at Top Gun Shooting in Taylor focuses on vacation safety highlighting little things you can do to protect yourself while out of town.
It starts at 7pm and is free.
Top Gun in Taylor hostsfree safety workshops nearly every Monday, the focus is always different.
