Our Top 5 Home Security Tips for Summer

Nothing says summer like the California sun in June. Beach days, community events, and vacation plans help ring in the season, but summer also brings unique home security challenges that all homeowners should be aware of. From seasonal upticks in crime to smart home security and video features that bring efficiency and peace of mind, here are our top five home security tips for summer.

1. Be Aware of Summer Crime Trends

Generally, across the United States, home burglaries and violence tend to surge in summer months. On average, burglaries rise about 10% between June and August.

 

Some factors that may point to why crime increases in the summer season include:

 

• Longer daylight hours give burglars more daylight hours to operate, making it easy to scout targets and execute break-ins.
• Vacation and travel plans often leave homes unoccupied for extended periods, making them vulnerable to burglary.
• Summer schedules, which often involve more time spent outside the home, may cause homeowners and families to deviate from their usual routines of arming alarm systems and locking doors, creating opportunities for property crimes to occur.
• More social events, such as concerts, festivals, and other large group gatherings, increase foot traffic and interactions, leading to a higher chance of a wider range of criminal activities from a statistical perspective.
• There are even studies that suggest higher temperatures contribute to mood shifts that ultimately lead to more crime, like 2019 research from the University of Southern California that found violent crime rates increase by about 5.7% when the temperature rises above 85 degrees.

But staying aware of the potential risks of any situation doesn’t mean living in fear. After all, summer in Southern California is one of the best times of the year. And generally in California, both violent and property crime statistics show a downward trend in the last five years, with overall property crime down by 10.8% compared to 2019.

 

However, it’s most important to stay up-to-date with any crime trends directly affecting your neighborhood. Pay close attention to local news and use any information to make informed decisions about your summer activities and how best to protect your family and home.

2. Enhance Your Perimeter Protection

Since you’ll likely be spending more time outside, summer is the perfect opportunity to conduct a wider inspection of your home’s exterior security. Improved preparedness can be as simple as general property maintenance and testing outdoor security equipment.

 

There are a number of basic steps you should take to improve summer safety measures outdoors, including:

 

• Trimming any shrubs or trees near doors and windows to improve visibility and eliminate potential hiding areas.
• Repairing any fences or gates that surround your property.
• Replacing light bulbs for any exterior lighting fixtures.
• Cleaning the lenses of any surveillance cameras and double-checking their battery life, along with any other outdoor smart security devices.

Additionally, take a closer look at every entry point to your home. Are all doors and windows properly secured with functional locks? Do you have motion sensors installed near all entry points on both floors?

 

Glass break detectors, which trigger your alarm at the first sign of forced window or glass door entry, are another layer of security worth considering. Especially as second-story burglaries become increasingly common.

 

Finally, the right motion-activated exterior lighting provides an additional safeguard to your home’s exterior. Even though the summer sun means longer days, it’s important to maintain visibility on your property at night while deterring potential threats.

3. Check In On Your Home While Away

Is a vacation really a vacation if you keep wondering about your property’s safety? Luckily, with the advancement of security cameras and live video monitoring, relaxation is as simple as checking in on a video feed.

 

Professionally installed security camera systems that are customized for your home and property size give you full video coverage of your property while avoiding blindspots. And remote viewing options give you the ability to check-in on your home with live camera feeds, providing the peace of mind that everything is in order.

 

Other advantages of video monitoring systems include:

 

• Real-time alerts sent to your device with the option to take immediate action.
• Smart analytics that provide proactive detection of potential threats as they cross onto your property.
• The mere presence of cameras on your property serves as a visual deterrent to potential trespassers.

And for an added layer of surveillance protection, consider live video monitoring. With live video monitoring, security experts review events from your property in real-time. From there, they are able to verify a crime in progress, communicate with any suspicious persons, and simultaneously dispatch private security or local law enforcement, often stopping a crime before it happens.

 

Post Alarm provides several live video monitoring options under our Shield Services solution, including Night Shield® for overnight monitoring, Vacation Shield for temporary activations, Construction Shield for new homes and renovation projects, and Post Shield 24 which can be tailored to your needs up to 24 hours/day, 7 days/week.

4. Summer Smart Home Upgrades

While you’re tuning up your home’s exterior protection this summer, it might also be the right time to consider some additional smart home upgrades to turn up the dial on your smart home security. Two primary areas to focus on are smart locks and a smart thermostat.

 

Summer days likely mean your household is more active than usual, especially outside of the house. With so much coming and going, the convenience and safety of smart lock systems allow for easier home access without sacrificing protection:

 

• Keyless entry eliminates the unnecessarily risky “spare key under the doormat.”
• Remote locking and unlocking means no one is ever stuck on your front porch.
• Temporary access codes for family members and guests make it easy to give house sitters or maintenance workers short-term entry.

And as the summer temperatures rise, adding a smart thermostat to your home brings comfort and savings, which means more resources to maximize fun all season! Real-time user input with smart controls brings a whole new layer of control to your thermostat settings:

 

• Set rules and schedules like energy efficiency while at work, or cooler settings for bedtime.
• Change thermostat settings from anywhere through a single app.
• Get real-time feedback on your energy bills and identify where and when your usage may be spiking.

Generally, smart home integration allows for greater customization of your protection. And with total control and remote access to your system from any device, managing smart home devices doesn’t need to be complicated.

5. Build Community Safety

Finally, increasing summer safety can come down to the simple idea that there’s always safety in numbers. For instance, if you plan to be away from home for an extended period of time, tell a friend or trusted neighbor. While you should never widely advertise that your home will be empty for specific dates, having an ally who can check in on your property adds another physical layer of protection.

 

Along the same lines, it’s a good idea to communicate your travel dates with your home security provider. At Post Alarm, our Post Patrol subscribers enjoy the added benefit of Vacation Watch services, where officers physically check-in on residences, move mail/packages, and ensure homes stay undisturbed.

 

Additionally, growing and maintaining safer communities takes commitment and effort. On an individual level, that may include:

 

• Staying up-to-date on the latest local crime statistics and any community guidelines in your area.
• Regularly attending community events and meetings and communicating any troubling trends, and working together to improve safety measures.
• Organizing and participating in “neighborhood watch” groups.
• Get to know your neighbors and create opportunities for communication and connection.

In terms of home security systems, Post Alarm aims to protect entire communities, not just individuals. We believe that a safer home leads to a safer block, a safer block leads to a safer neighborhood, and so on. Because at the end of the day, we’re safer together.

Shields Up. Since 1956.

Summer should be a time of relaxation and enjoyment. While the season can bring its own unique security risks, taking the right approach to your home can ensure that summertime stays safe and stress-free.

 

At Post Alarm, we’ve always been a local, family-owned company, and we plan on staying that way. As a privately held, third-generation family business, Post has provided alarm and patrol services to Southern California communities, neighborhoods, and homeowners since 1956.

 

Our family founded Post Alarm with a passion for protecting people and the neighborhoods we call home. Now, we’re one of the only local, full-service security organizations in the Southern California area, providing professionally installed, fully integrated, and customized security solutions that result in earlier threat detection and a synchronized response, getting you help faster when it matters most.

 

Ready to start building your custom video monitoring and security package? Reach out and get a free security quote today!