The Athens Clarke County Police Department offers the following advice for having a safe and secure holiday season:
With the holiday season upon us, many students and residents may be leaving their homes unattended for an extended period. We will take every opportunity and make every effort to provide excellent service to our citizens and students by conducting frequent patrols and partnering with the University of Georgia Police.
Bearing in mind these facts, the ACCPD is encouraging citizens who will be leaving town to exercise caution and take these preventive measures to help ensure they are not victimized.
• Lock all doors (utilizing deadbolts if available) and windows before leaving on your holiday trip. If you have a sliding glass door in your home or apartment, place a dowel or commercially available sliding door lock in the channel.
• Arm your alarm system whenever you leave your home, especially for an
extended period of time. Also, make sure you have current emergency contact information with your alarm company.
• Consider the purchase of a light timer or leave lights on prior to leaving.
• If leaving for the holiday, consider taking high value items with you, or in
the case of larger items (those that are hard to move) consider moving
them to a closet to conceal them. (Examples of the sorts of items that are
frequently stolen in burglaries are: lap tops, flat screen televisions,
gaming systems like PS3 or Xbox 360, iPods, MP3 players, and jewelry.)
Be sure to record model and serial numbers of all electronic equipment.
• If you have friends or neighbors that you trust and are staying behind, ask them to keep an eye on your home/apartment. Have someone pick up your mail and newspapers. Also, have someone change the location of any vehicles left behind.
• Check the Athens-Clarke County Police website for more tips .
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