5 Ways To Keep Your Home Safer While On Vacation

Vacations are typically a time to unwind and have fun. But there's absolutely nothing jovial about returning home from vacation to a burglarized home. So, if you plan to venture beyond your own backyard this summer, here are a few recommendations to make sure the home you leave is the same one you return to.

• Keep your vacation details private and protect who you tell. Don’t post “I’m so excited to going to FILL IN THE BLANK for a whole week!” on Facebook. If you insist on making a post only share with trusted friends. Also be sure to utilize new social media networks like Westchase Neighborhood Watch on Facebook.

Detective Larry McKinnon of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office adds it's not a good idea to “Check In” with applications like Facebook Places and Four Square when you are on vacation. He recommends letting know people know you were on vacation and posting photos after you are already safely back home.

“It can be entertaining, but it can also cause you some issues when it comes to the criminal element,” McKinnon said. “There’s a criminal element that surfs those websites.  They can Google your name and try to back-track you back to your home address."

• Make arrangements for a friend or family member to pick your mail, newspapers, and for an extended vacation, schedule regular mowing of your lawn.

“A pile of newspapers in your driveway sends a message that you’re not home and haven’t been home,” McKinnon said. "Nowadays you can even suspend your newspaper subscriptions for a week or two online.”

• Purchase inexpensive lighting timers for installation in rooms of your house.

“Go and buy two cheap timers and hook up to different lamps, so they go off at different times and it looks like there’s movement in the house,” McKinnon said.

• Double-check your house is secure before you leave. Check all doors and windows.

• Arrange for a special watch of your home. The Sheriff’s office can go by your home and patrol if time permits.

Detective McKinnon highly suggested inventorying valuables, going through the home and taking photos of items, putting on a memory stick and putting in a safe location. He also recommended etching your driver’s license number into a bicycle, lawn mower, video gaming system, etc.

“Every deputy out there can run your driver’s license number and find out where an item came from,” McKinnon said. “If I stop a guy with ten Sony Playstations in the back of his trunk and one has a driver’s license number on it, guess who’s going to get it back."

For additional information and crime prevention tips and programs, contact the Sheriff Office's Community Outreach Division at 813-247-8208.