Home exterior physical security assessment

Contents

Disclaimer

Content in Guidance is for informational purposes only. You can choose whether or not to use the information.

Guidance

Reduce the crime risk to your home by undertaking a physical risk assessment. Find the balance that works for you, your environment and possible threat actors.

Conducting a home crime risk assessment is a prudent step to enhance your home security. It involves evaluating the vulnerabilities of your property and lifestyle to potential criminal activity.

Objectives

Identify what you want to achieve by undertaking a physical assessment of your home.

Consider what you are protecting. If there is the opportunity, reduce the risk by transferring attractive assets off the property to another location. This can also be temporary, such as during vacation times.

Work out what your potential budget might be and who will carry out any upgrades.

Threat actors

Identify who you are protecting yourself from. Is it general deterrence, or do you want to create barriers which make it obvious to a criminal, who may then elect to pass and move on to another property.

Identify possible criminal actors that pose a threat and the types of offenses you anticipate them committing i.e. Burglary, Theft of motor vehicle, Arson.

Know your neighborhood

Good neighbors know and watch out for each other’s property. If you have good relations, they will tell you if there were unknown vehicles or people on your property.

Frequently criminals will do reconnaissance on a property, before they commit the offense. For burglars this ensures they are attending properties, where they gain maximum property property, for the least amount of effort. Good neighbors will tell you if they see something suspicious.

Be cautious about sharing vacation plans or posting photos while you’re away. This can alert potential burglars to your absence.

External perimeter assessment

Create open sight lines of your property

Improve the direct line of sight of the property from the street. This reduces the ability of offenders to gain entry/exit to the property.

Trim bushes and shrubs near the perimeter, on the grounds or near windows, to eliminate potential hiding or access points for offenders.

Review the perimeter to identify potential entry points. Upgrade gate locks, fence panels and points which many facilitate access.

Lighting

Ensure adequate outdoor lighting, especially at entry points, walkways, and around the perimeter of your home. Monitor sensor LED flood lighting is recommended due to the intensity of the light, cost effectiveness and reduced impact on neighboring properties.

Locks and keys

Consider installing deadbolts. The goal is to prevent a thief from breaking door glass panels, reaching in and simply unlocking the door with a simple turn of the lock.

Rekey or replace locks if you’ve recently moved into a new home or if you’ve given keys to contractors or others.

Avoid hiding spare keys outside your home, as burglars often know common hiding spots.

Entry points

Check the strength and integrity of doors and windows.

Doors should be solid core. Screws that secure hinges should be long, so they are embedded in the frame, reducing the risk of the door being forced open.

Reinforce weak points with deadbolts, security bars, shatter-resistant glass or smash resistant window tint.

Where there are no electronic options available such as CCTV or e-doorbell, install wide view peepholes in doors, so you can see who is outside, without having to open the door.

Outward facing doors

Replace any outward facing door hinges with inward facing hinges. This prevents offenders removing hinge pins and taking the door off, to gain entry.

Sliding doors

These doors are a known weakness for criminals.

Install pin locks to keep sliding doors securely shut. A low cost measure is to use dowel rods on the bottom of the door frame, to prevent the doors from being forced open.

Garage

Before you review your garage, don’t make it easy for offenders before they even arrive at your property. Don’t leave a garage door remote in vehicles parked outside your home. If your vehicle is broken in to, the offender now has access into your home.

Change the factory settings on your garage door opener code. Offender can drive neighborhoods with common openers, looking for doors that they work on.

Garage doors will have a manual release cable hanging on the side roller rail or near the ceiling. Reduce the length of the string or remove any loops. Offenders can use extended hooks to jag and open the garage.

Ensure your garage doors are secure with a strong lock.

Use locking pins that connect the door with the roller guard. This prevents the door from being forced open using a high lift jack or similar.

Keep garage doors closed and locked when not in use to prevent access to your home.

CCTV

Install cloud based CCTV with sight lines that provide visibility on the approaches to your property. If it’s not cloud based, there is a chance offenders could locate the system hard drive and destroy it.

Ideally cover public points such as roads with CCTV. This ensures that any reconnaissance undertaken by offenders prior to is captured. It may also capture the entry/exit off offenders during the commission of the offense.

CCTV should be viewable from a mobile device, so you can be alerted and then take action. If it’s not, its of limited value.

There are sensitivity options available, so you can select pathways of travel, so if there is movement within that area, you will be alerted.

Updated on August 24, 2023

Was this article helpful?

Yes No

Need Support?

Can't find the answer you're looking for?

Contact Support