What To Do After A Break-in At Your Cincinnati Home?
It’s every family’s nightmare. You pull in the driveway and find your door is wide open or a window shattered. You can’t think straight, worrying about what’s been taken and the damage to your property. What will you do? Remain calm, take a deep breath, and follow our recommendations after a break-in at your Cincinnati home.
Once things are under control, learn how to better prevent burglaries with an advanced security system.
Initial Steps After A Burglary
Seeing your house broken into is traumatic. You may be upset, scared, or simply in disbelief. Whatever the case, it’s essential to stay level-headed by doing the following:
- Do not enter. It’s not surprising that you want to run inside to see what happened. Don’t. There’s a chance someone is still inside.
- Contact the authorities right away. Keep yourself and others at a safe distance and wait until help arrives. Work with the authorities to file a report.
- Leave everything as is. Let officers take charge and collect evidence.
What Should You Do Next?
You’ve completed a report with the authorities, and your home is safe to re-enter. What should you do next?
- Cancel credit cards and call banks . If a thief snagged wallets, purses, or private documents, you’ll want to alert your credit card companies and banks right away. It’s a good idea to freeze accounts and your credit. You can also add a fraud alert with credit bureaus.
- Contact your insurance provider. Start the claims process with your insurance company. You should do so within 24 hours of the burglary.
- Record damage on camera. Document broken windows, forced doors, and anything else that’s been damaged.
- Inventory stolen goods. Create a record of what’s missing and provide it to the police and your Insurer.
- Secure your house. Make your home safe again by installing new locks, fixing windows and doors, and taking care of other damage. If you use a keypad lock system, now is the time to reset your access codes.
Getting your home back in order will bring you some peace and get life back to normal. After you do so, it’s time to start thinking improving your home security.
Strengthen Your Cincinnati Home’s Security
What can you do to prevent another burglary from taking place? Your initial step should be to take stock of your home security. An advanced system with these devices will go a long way to better protecting your home:
- Surveillance cameras: Just about every prowler will think twice about breaking in when they observe video cameras. Today’s outdoor and doorbell cameras offer advanced features like AI-powered smart detection. When there’s suspicious activity, you’ll receive a warning.
- Entry-point sensors: All doors and windows (especially those on the lower level) should be safeguarded by glass-break or contact sensors.
- Smart lights and locks: These automated components can be managed remotely. Worried you forgot to lock up? You can verify and activate the lock from your smartphone. You can even have inside lights turn on if a camera discovers someone lurking.
If you are looking for a connected system that notifies you and monitoring representatives whenever a device is tripped, get a package from the home security experts at ADT. You’ll enjoy the mobile access, 24/7 monitoring, and custom automation.
Prevent Break-Ins With The Best Home Security In Cincinnati
Stop break-ins before they happen with an ADT home security system in Cincinnati from Secure24 Alarm Systems. As an authorized ADT dealer, we install advanced equipment from the industry leader. Learn more about your options by dialing (513) 230-7397 or filling out our form today.