Homeland security

Avoid being a victim in your own home, and take a hard look around with a criminal eye while you have time. This is the message Pasco County Sheriff's Office deputies are sending out this Labor Day weekend.

With the extra day off, it's a good time to take a close look at your home's security. This week, the sheriff's office released a video on YouTube providing safety tips to residents to help prevent break-ins. They've also provided a Home/Business Security Audit Checklist at www.pascosheriff.com.

"You can always improve the security of your home," Cpl. Alan Wilkett said. "The harder you make it for criminals to break into your home, the more likely you will not be a victim."

In the 10-minute video, Wilkett provides valuable tips to keep homes safe from the inside out.

The video's backdrop is Pasco County's Safety Town, where he uses a newly constructed, smaller-scale house to point out safety improvements.

There are three sides to a crime, he says: Desire, means and opportunity.

"Today, the security audit is designed to lessen the opportunity. If we can lessen the opportunity, we can lessen the opportunity for your home to be broken into."

He points out that the exterior of a home should be well-lit, with at least 60-watt bulbs lighting the entrance and back door. House numbers should be prominently displayed with contrasting numbers from the house paint so emergency responders can locate it easily.

"We want to make sure the address to your home is very well seen," he says on the video.

Shrubbery should be trimmed below windows and not obscure entries.

Otherwise, "It means an intruder could hide behind that shrub and gain entry into that home without the possibility of being observed by a passer-by," he says, standing in front of a second "home" at Safety Town that has overgrown bushes peeking over the front window.

Inside, doors should have handle locks and deadbolts, which Wilkett calls "one of the highest security measures you can have on a door," and hinge pins should be inside, so would-be intruders can't easily remove the door from outside.

If you want a decorative door with glass insets, he says, make sure the glass is at least a foot away from the door locks so someone can't easily break the window, reach inside and unlock the door.

Windows should not only be closed but locked, Wilkett says.

"An open window opens the opportunity for criminals to make their way inside the residence," he says.

And each night, residents should get into a safety routine.

"A great habit to get into is that every evening you should make sure all the points of entry to the home are secured," Wilkett says.

For safety tips, check out the video and audit. To search for the video on YouTube, type in keyword PASCOSHERIFF and look for a video entitled Home Safety Security Audit. To print the audit, go to www.pascosheriff.com/websmart/pasco/releases/HomeBusSecAudit.pdf.