What To Do After A Break-in At Your Lakeland Home?
It’s every resident’s nightmare. You arrive home and find your door has been forced open or a window broken. You can’t think clearly, stressing about what’s been taken and the harm done to your home. What will you do? Stay calm, take a breath, and follow these tips after a break-in at your Lakeland home.
When things calm down, see how to better prevent break-ins with a modern security system.
First Steps After A Break-In
Finding your house has been broken into is traumatic. You could be scared, furious, or just in disbelief. Whatever the case, it’s essential to act rationally by doing the following:
- Stay outside. It’s not surprising that you want to go inside to look around. Don’t. There’s a chance someone is still there.
- Contact the police immediately. Keep yourself and family members at a safe spot nearby and wait until help arrives. Work with law enforcement to file a report.
- Avoid touching anything. Let the police secure the scene and gather evidence.
What Do You Do Next?
You’ve completed a report with law enforcement, and your home is safe to re-enter. What should happen next?
- Cancel credit cards and notify your bank . If a burglar grabbed wallets, purses, or personal records, you must alert your credit card issuers and banks immediately. It’s smart to freeze accounts and your credit. You can also request a fraud alert with credit bureaus.
- Contact your insurance provider. File a claim with your insurance company. You should do so within one day of the incident.
- Take photos of the damage. Document broken windows, forced doors, and any other damage you see.
- Document what is missing. Write down what’s gone and provide it to the police and your insurance company.
- Secure your property. Restore your home’s security by installing new locks, fixing doors and windows, and addressing remaining damage. If you have a keypad lock system, now is the time to change your codes.
Getting your home back in order will do wonders for your stress and get life back to normal. After you do so, it’s time to consider improving your home security.
Assess And Improve The Security At Your Lakeland Home
How can you prevent this from happening again? Your initial step should be to evaluate your home security. A new system with the following equipment will go a long way to keeping your home safe:
- Video cameras: Nearly all would-be burglars will think twice about breaking in when they see security cameras. Modern exterior and doorbell cameras offer advanced capabilities like smart detection. Whenever there’s questionable activity, you’ll be sent a notification.
- Access-point sensors: All doors and windows (particularly those on the ground floor) should be safeguarded by glass-break or contact sensors.
- Smart locks and lighting: These automated devices can be managed remotely. Worried you forgot to lock up? You can confirm and engage the lock right from your mobile device. You can even have inside lights turn on if a camera discovers someone lurking.
If you are looking for a modern system that alerts you and monitoring staff any time a camera or sensor is triggered, look into a package from ADT, your home security professionals. You’ll benefit from mobile access, round-the-clock monitoring, and advanced automation.
Prevent Break-Ins With The Best Home Security In Lakeland
Stop intrusions from happening with an ADT home security system in Lakeland from Secure24 Alarm Systems. As your trusted ADT dealer, we install advanced equipment from the top name in the business. Discover your options by dialing (863) 225-1652 or completing our form today.