• More than six million residential burglaries occur every year in this country.

That's one every ten seconds!

• Nearly half of these burglaries are committed without force — that is through

UNLOCKED doors and windows!

• Always lock your doors and windows even when leaving for "just a minute."

• Never leave a house key available: under a doormat, in a flower pot, on the ledge of

the door. These are the first places a burglar will look.

• Exterior doors should have "dead bolt" locks with a 1 inch strong metal bar extending

into the frame.

• Sliding doors and windows should all have "ventilation" locks as well as auxiliary locks

to bolster security.

• Be sure to include good locks for

garage, cellar, patio or other doors that lead out through storage areas or a spare

room.

• For more information on locks, contact your local law enforcement agency or write for

the Attorney General's Home Security Handbook.

• Lock all doors and windows.

• Use timers so that lights, radio, TV, go on and off throughout the house to

indicate someone is home.

• For longer trips be sure to stop mail and newspaper delivery or have a neighbor collect

them daily.

• In short make your house look, "LIVED IN."

Remember, if you come home and see a broken window or a jimmied door, don’t go in.

Confronting a burglar can be dangerous. Phone the police immediately.

• Install a wide angle lens viewer in the front door. Never open the door without knowing

who is there.

• Consider alarm systems or trained security dogs for additional protection.

• Whenever you move to a new home, have the locks changed.

Another deterrent to "would be" burglars is Operation Identification.

• Mark your valuables with your driver’s license number preceded by the letters "CA."

• Post Operation I.D. stickers in doors and windows to warn housebreakers

to stay away.

• Burglars don’t want marked merchandise because it is difficult to fence and

evidence of guilt if they are caught.

• So mark your items as conspicuously as possible without defacing them.

• Photograph those items that cannot be engraved (jewelry, silverware, antiques).

• Operation I.D. also facilitates the return of stolen property when it is recovered.

• Law enforcement officers can’t be everywhere at once, but you and your neighbors

can. You’re the ones who really know what’s going on in the neighborhood.

• Put that neighborhood know–how to work. It’s simple: just use your eyes and ears —

then your telephone. If you spot something suspicious, call the police or sheriff immediately.

• Don’t try to stop a criminal yourself —it can be dangerous.

• Neighbors working together in cooperation with law enforcement make one of the best

crime fighting teams around.

• For more information on how to start your own NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH GROUP —

contact your local law enforcement agency.