Home security tips -- Good lighting helps prevent crimes

It is obvious that lighting plays a critical role in making your home safer. Yet, many homeowners don't plan it well from the viewpoint of security. Here are several critical home security tips on lighting.

* All sides of your home should have security lighting in place, placed high out of reach. Make sure it is reasonably vandal resistant.

* Lighting near doors is especially important, because burglars tend to focus on doors the most.

* To reduce risk of burglary, any lighting is better than no lighting. If you see that any portion of the house or yard is not adequately lit, take care of it.

* Your garage is another critical area of your home. Make use of an automatic garage opener. Most garage openers turn on one or more lights when activated.

* To protect your carport, leave a light on. If you are going away, have a light set on a timer. Also have lights activated by motion detectors to deter intruders.

* In general, lights attached to motion detectors are the best choice for exteriors, particularly for the backyard. Connect an alarm as well and you will immediately get to know if someone moves around in your yard.

* Some people hesitate to use motion sensor type lighting because of the false alarms caused by small animals like cats and dogs. Proper placement of the motion sensors as well as correct settings for sensitivity will take care of this problem to a large extent.

* Using motion sensors in the front of the house requires careful planning, because they can be triggered by people walking on the sidewalk or by children playing. Nevertheless, it is a good idea to hook lights to motion sensors.

* Many people leave just a small light on when going out. This is done to avoid walking into a dark home when returning. Examples include hallway lights or a light in one corner of the kitchen / living room.

Unfortunately, this kind of lighting signals to would-be burglars that no one is home.

The solution is to leave several lights on. Leave a radio on as well. When going on a vacation, put interior lights and a radio on timers.

As you can see, your objective is twofold. One, to ensure that lighting can reach all nooks and corners of your home and yard on demand. Two, your home should look occupied even when it is not.

Follow these simple home security tips on lighting and you will have gone a long way towards creating a safer home for you and your family.

James Strobes is a home and office security consultant. For information on home security in general, wireless home security systems and more, see the foregoing links

Beyond Home Security: Internet remote monitoring and family life.

Defending your material possessions is nowadays a lot easier than what it used to be even just a few years ago. Technology has raised the level of protection achievable exponentially.

The use of wireless video cameras, motion detectors and video recording in combination with web based remote monitoring are definitely forcing a good number of "old school" burglars to seriously consider a career change.

A higher level of protection for your material possessions though it is not the only advantage that these latest technologies have to offer. There is another level of home security, growing along side with financial loss prevention, which can be considered even more valuable.

Imagine the convenience of being able to check what is happening on your property at any time, from wherever you are. That is exactly what you can do with an internet based home security camera system.

How many times have you found yourself in a time crunch because something in your house was in urgent need of repair and the only way to get it done was for you to be present. Think of how convenient could be being able to supervise the work from your office instead.

You could also have your housekeeping done in all tranquillity as you keep your productivity and income flowing. This would also mean that you would not have to spend your free time, working hard to keep the house clean.

Some of us have pets which are by necessity left alone in the house. Well, I am sure that if you are one concerned pet owner you would certainly feel much better if you could see how your best friend is doing, any time you whish to.

And then of course the most obvious of all supervising needs... kids.

If your kids are of young age he or she, or they, will have to be in company of a baby sitter, but even if they are not alone, I have no doubts about it because I am a parent myself, you would be able to carry through your working day in a much more relaxed manner if you were able check on them every now and then.

Not to mention of course those horrible cases of child abuse that we hear about occasionally in the news. Your cameras are running all the time and even if you are not "watching" all the time, it's all being recorded. You could, just to be safe, go over a portion of the recorded video sometimes... being parents is hard enough without having to deal with extraordinarily challenging situations.

Imagine the typical scenario of an average middle class family where both parents have to work in order to be able to afford their somewhat comfortable life style. The children are already at the point when they don't like to be called children anymore. You know, when the girls start using make up if you are not there and the boys don't want to be kissed in public anymore...

I can assure you, from personal experience, when the kids are in their teens you want to be there, especially if you are not. In this particular case a remote monitoring security camera system is "The" most useful tool you may have around the house.

On a closing note security cameras with online remote monitoring gives you the opportunity to make sure everything is all right any time you whish to do so, giving you peace of mind if you have kids, pets, cleaning service, baby sitter, gardner, work done at the house... you name it. It really is an investment which increases exponentially the eventuality of a much safer future for you and your family, and that is much more precious than any material possession.

Mark Van Neem

The author owns four websites covering all aspects of Home Security. To find resources and information about companies specialized in security consulting and alarm systems installation visit www.SecurityCameraHome.info.

How To Successfully Use Home Security Cameras

Increasing home security can be accomplished in several ways. Some of those include home security systems and alarms, neighborhood watch programs and more. But home security camera systems are growing in popularity lately. Let see why.

A home security camera system does not have to be expensive or extensive to help you keep in touch with what is going on around your home at all times. Just a few well-placed cameras at very strategic locations can be all that you need. For instance, cameras that are placed at opposite outside corners of your home can provide good coverage of most of the perimeter of the house. You can even connect these cameras to motion sensitive devices that only turns them on when motion is detected in it's surveillance area.

A couple of cameras inside the home can also be used in a very similar way and because many surveillance cameras are very small these days they can be practically invisible to the casual observance. In fact, oftentimes something as simple and cheap as a webcam can be used to capture enough video to give you the information that you need to be able to successfully monitor your home. And these are very small and inexpensive cameras to use.

With these cameras in place, you can monitor what is happening at your home from a great distance by combining them with appropriate software and connecting through the internet to view the results. There is software available that will alert you by email when motion is detected in a particular area. Or you can choose to have the cameras record video continuously for you and save it to a server where you can then access it and review it at your leisure.

Some use these setups to keep an eye on babysitters, or to monitor what their children are doing while they are away.

Of course, even if you do not have children, a home security camera system can still be beneficial for peace of mind when you are away from home. It can help you make sure that no nasty surprises will be awaiting you upon your return home.

So give consideration to incorporating a home security camera system in your security arsenal. It's cheap and very effective.

Find out more about a home security camera system and home security surveillance by visiting our Home Security website.

The Emergence of the Department of Homeland Security

In the wake of the 9/11 tragedy, our nation's leaders began to realize the full extent of potential threats to our national security that exist both internally and abroad. This newfound realization has resulted in the prioritization of security measures that are designed to circumvent catastrophic events of this magnitude. In order to avoid future lapses of national security and combine the resources and communication protocols of various agencies, the Department of Homeland Security was created.

The need for one U.S. government agency that could oversee the administration of the many independent intelligence gathering entities was apparent in the post 9/11 aftermath. Vital information that was gathered through various investigative sources was deemed inconsequential of its own merit. Putting this information into the overall scope of events that led up to the catastrophe of 9/11, it was apparent that the disaster might have been avoided had some organization been able to put all the warning signs together into one cohesive picture. In order for that to become a feasible reality by which we could avoid future tragedies, intelligence sharing and unilateral cooperation would be necessary.

The creation of the Department of Homeland Security was announced on September 20th, shortly after 9/11. Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge was appointed as director and was charged with the task of coordinating the nation's intelligence gathering agencies and the overall efforts to prevent future terrorist attacks. Since that time, a great deal of changes to our nation's intelligence community have taken place. New positions have been created for the management of intelligence resources. Additional U.S. intelligence agents have been trained and are currently working in the field. Intelligence gathering and reporting methods have been updated to reflect the growing need for inter-agency cooperation.

In addition to creating new positions in intelligence and in the IT, human resources and administrative sections of the Department of Homeland Security, local and national law enforcement and emergency management personnel have been trained in emergency preparedness procedures designed for large scale events such as those of September 11th.

Hopefully, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security will ensure that we are never again faced with such a devastating loss of life.

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