New Year Security Resolutions

It’s a New Year and we all pride our­selves on a fresh start. Per­haps you made some New Year’s res­o­lu­tions. If we may be so blunt…may we rec­om­mend some res­o­lu­tions to increase your security…whether at home or work? Here are a few sug­ges­tions.

1. Mark Jan­u­ary as the time to check on your Alarm Sys­tem account. Make a point of doing a “test” of the alarm with the mon­i­tor­ing sta­tion to ensure sig­nals are being received. Call the ser­vice office to review your emer­gency con­tact list. Are the peo­ple on your con­tact list still avail­able? Are the phone #’s still accu­rate?

2. Take a moment to think about your keys. Have you giv­en out keys to neigh­bours, con­trac­tors, employ­ees and friends in the past, so they can check on your space in your absence? Did you get them back? How many years has it been since your locks were replaced or re-keyed? A lock re-key can ren­der all old keys inop­er­a­tive, giv­ing you a fresh start. Or maybe it’s time to take it to the next lev­el and upgrade to a high­er-grade lock with key con­trol?

3. Plan­ning on going away for a week or two this win­ter? Make arrange­ments to have all mail and fly­ers picked up dai­ly, and your dri­ve­way and walk­way shov­elled prompt­ly. If your neigh­bour is will­ing to park a car in your dri­ve­way while you are away…even bet­ter.

4. Have you been pro­cras­ti­nat­ing on updat­ing your alarm sys­tem? Is it time to start mon­i­tor­ing for flood or low tem­per­a­ture? Are you plan­ning on final­ly can­celling the land­line? We can help. Make the call and book a new secu­ri­ty review of your home or busi­ness.

5. Do you know all your neigh­bours? It’s impor­tant to not only know the neigh­bours beside you but also behind and across the street. The hol­i­days are a great time to extend a wel­com­ing hand to your neigh­bours. If some­body is new to the neigh­bour­hood, stop and talk to them. It’s impor­tant to have the con­ver­sa­tion about what to do when there is sus­pi­cious behav­iour on your street. By exchang­ing phone #’s it’s easy to send a text… Safe neigh­bour­hoods are those where every­one com­mu­ni­cates.

6. Every win­ter we wit­ness many homes and busi­ness­es dev­as­tat­ed by fire, and inevitably lives are also lost. Many of these sit­u­a­tions are pre­ventable or could have been min­i­mized. Work­ing and up to date Smoke detec­tors, and Car­bon Monox­ide detec­tors are not only required by law, they are very afford­able Life Safe­ty tools. Every New Years’ day, check the date on your detec­tors. Smoke detec­tors should be replaced at least every 10 years, and CO detec­tors every 8 years. If in doubt…throw them out and replace them with new units. For the price of a few cof­fees at Star­bucks, you could save lives.
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