You may not realise it, but your house is a depository of everything personal such as your money, jewellery, valuable items and important things that other people also find uses for.

Criminals will not hesitate to enter your house and rob you of your belongings, especially if they find it easy to do so. Some of them will not even hesitate to do you harm if you resist.

In Australia, there is around 4.3 per cent of households experience burglaries in 2021, equivalent to around 400,00 incidents each year. No less than 66 per cent are reported to be residential break-ins, while 30 per cent are reported where intruders entered a house through an open door or window.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that burglary is the most common crime, where one happens every few seconds. Houses without security systems in place are 300 per cent likely to be broken into. Unfortunately, only 17 per cent of homes have security systems in place.

Australia ranks the 7th highest rate of burglaries worldwide.

Sounds disturbing right? But don’t worry because there are ways to protect your home.

Make break-ins difficult

Reinforce entry points by using solid core or metal doors. Use high quality heavy-duty knob-in-latch sets for your main doors to avoid easy access by intruders. You can also install a one-inch deadbolt to avoid doors from opening when pressure such as a kick or body ram is applied.

Security experts believe that a difficult house to break into deters criminals from spending too much time breaking in.

Install security systems

You can install motion sensor alarms around the house to detect movement from the outside. Another good idea is to set up motion-sensing floodlights.

Closed-circuit or Indoor IP cameras can also help you monitor your home while you are out on vacation or away for days. This can be attached to your security network to alert the police or security force in your community.

Make your house visible

Remove hedges or bushes that could hide your house from the street. It would also be advisable to make friends with your neighbours who you can request to check on your house from time to time.

Always leave some lights on during nighttime and make as much movement as possible to mislead burglars into thinking that nobody’s home.

If you are in the market looking to buy a house, try to look for one where there are good vehicle and foot traffic. This makes it more difficult for burglars to conduct surveillance activities on your house without getting noticed.