Regardless of how safe of a neighborhood you may think you live in, the unfortunate truth remains that you simply never know when disaster or crime might strike. These days, home invasion, vandalism, and burglary reports are through the roof, and even statistically “safe” neighborhoods are being hit. Faced with this news, you may be wondering how you can go about keeping your home and neighborhood safe. Luckily, there are some simple steps you can take to reduce the risk of crime occurring at your home and to deter criminals from targeting your neighborhood altogether.

For starters, you may want to consider installing some kind of sensor-activated lighting around your home. These are relatively inexpensive yet have been proven to be very effective in keeping potential criminals away, especially during the dark hours of night when invasions and vandalism are most likely to occur. You may want to place a couple of these around your home, especially near entry doors and garages. Once these sensors are installed, lights will illuminate the area if a sensor is tripped, which is usually enough to send a would-be criminal on his or her way.

You may also want to consider having a security company come out and install a home security system at your home. There are a number of options when it comes to these systems, whether you are looking to have surveillance cameras installed or even a basic alarm system. These are a great way to keep criminals at bay, especially since most security installation companies will issue you signs to put on your lawn or on windows and doors, indicating that your home is armed.

Another good idea to improve the overall security and safety of your entire neighborhood is to form some sort of local neighborhood watch group with some of your neighbors. In doing so, you can all be on the lookout for suspicious activity of behavior. Furthermore, you can alert each other if you see anything suspicious and determine when it might be necessary to contact local authorities, such as a police department.

Overall, there are plenty of steps that you can take to better secure not only your home, but your entire neighborhood as well. So whether you want to do something as simple as form a neighborhood watch group or even something as major as having a home security system installed, you can be sure to make a difference and keep your home safer than ever