With Halloween just round the corner, the experts from National Home Security Month (NHSM) have collated a few golden rules to help keep your family safe and your home secure this spooky season.
Most children are taken out trick-or-treating by parents after working hours, and it’s easy to forget how dark it can get in the evenings at the end of October. So if your child is dressing up as a wicked witch or scary skeleton this Halloween, make sure they are wearing some reflective clothing or have reflective tape on their costumes, so that oncoming traffic can see them well in advance.
It is also a good idea to carry a torch, stick to main roads and be aware of road safety at all times. Make sure your older children go out in a group, preferably accompanied by an adult, and for teenagers who, “won’t be seen dead with mum and dad”, encourage them to carry a mobile phone in case of emergency.
For added security and peace of mind, it’s worth carrying a personal attack alarm if you are walking around after dark. This is an inexpensive little accessory, but can make all the difference to how secure you feel when out and about.
If you have young children, or a baby, and don’t want to be disturbed at home this Halloween, display a ‘No Trick Or Treat’ sign on your front door. These are available from most local police constabularies and are an effective way to stop people coming to your door.
Even if you readily welcome trick-or-treaters, it’s important to make sure you (and your children) keep safe when opening the door to strangers. To do this, you can look through a ‘spy hole’ or a digital door viewer to see who’s on the other side of the door, and always keep a door chain engaged if you feel threatened by the size of the group on the other side.
Another effective way of securing your home against sinister tricksters is to invest in a letterplate restrictor. With a restrictor, letterplates can be adjusted from full closure to part restriction or full opening, depending whether you’re at home or away. They are also really useful to prevent vandalism as they stop nasty ‘tricks’ being pushed through your front door.
The NHSM Facebook and Twitter channels will be supplying daily tips for keeping your home and your outdoors safe and secure during the dark nights. For more information visit www.homesecuritymonth.com, or search for ‘National Home Security Month’ on Facebook and Twitter.
With this in mind, Yale’s Dark Nights campaign is designed to create awareness of home security and to encourage people to lock up their homes in time for the dark nights.