Vacation Security Checklist
- Replace broken screens, latches, and windowpanes.
- Secure gates and sheds.
- Trim shrubbery.
- Don’t hide house keys outside.
- Give a neighbor a spare key. Ask them to get mail and newspapers, put trash cans in front of your house on trash day, mow and rake the lawn, and/or park in the driveway.
- Turn off iron, ice-maker, electronics, and phone ringer.
- Leave automatic sprinklers on, put timers on lamps, and install motion-activated lights outside.
- Leave draperies open slightly on upper floors.
- Don’t announce your absence with answering machine messages or notes on the door.
- Remove garage door openers and house keys from cars.
- Put valuables in safe-deposit box.
- Inform your local police that you'll be away.