Springtime Home Security Tips for Homeowners
Spring is Here!
As the south heats up, we spend a lot more time outside. When we spend more time outside, our home opens up as well and new security issues can arise as we might be a bit more careless around our home as far as security and personal safety is concerned!
Enjoy your Spring days, but don’t let your guard down.
3 Springtime Home Security and Safety Tips!
Whether you live in South Carolina, or elsewhere, take head and prevent crime and personal tragedies by taking safety and security measures before accidents and crime happen!
1 Open Doors and Windows Invite Trouble!
Open doors and unlocked and open windows invite trouble. Criminals always look ofr easy ways in and if you don’t know this statistic, it should scare you just a bit:
Most burglaries happen between the hours of 10 AM – 2PM.
That means during the day when you least expect it and when your guard is down. Therefore, always alarm your home, even if you are home and don’t leave doors unlocked and windows open when you do leave.
2 Swimming Pools and Personal Safety
While swimming pools in the south offer relief from heat and humidity, they are a safety hazard for families with kids. Did you know that children ages 1 to 4 have the highest drowning rates?
Tips to help your family stay safe in and around the water
- Supervise When in or Around Water. Designate a responsible adult to watch young children while in the pool and all children swimming or playing in or around water. Supervisors of preschool children should provide “touch supervision”, be close enough to reach the child at all times. Because drowning occurs quickly and quietly, adults should not be involved in any other distracting activity (such as reading, playing cards, talking on the phone, or mowing the lawn) while supervising children.
- Use the Buddy System. Always swim with a buddy.
Read more about pool safety here.
3 Prevent Bike Theft!
When the weather cooperates, we tend to want to go outside and exercise. While bikes may have been locked up all winter, now that it’s springtime, these are parked either outside or in an open garage.
Bikes are an easy ‘steal’ for a criminal looking for a quick win.
Don’t want your bikes to disappear? Alarm your home and your garage, install security cameras, like the Ring camera and keep an eye on your property at all times, even when you aren’t home!
Want More Security Tips or Need Specific Questions Answered?
We’d love the opportunity to talk with you. Give us a call anytime at 843-318-6392 with your concerns and questions.
Happy Springtime!
3 Valentine’s Day Tips To Secure Your Home While You Are Celebrating
Do You Have Plans for Valentine’s Day?
Happy Valentine’s Day! We wish you a wonderful day with the one you love. How will we spend Valentine’s Day? We will take time to be with our family!
Valentine’s Day is a great time to stop and thank those we love and those who have a daily impact on our lives.
At Strand Security, we love our customers, we love our staff and we love our community.
Valentine’s Day is a great time to let someone know you care. And what says ‘I care’ more than helping someone stay safe and secure? Here are 3 tips to secure your home while you are celebrating Valentine’s Day, or not!
1. Don’t Announce Your Valentine’s Day Plans Online
It seems so simple! Yet many people, teenagers and adults, make this mistake: they will announce their plans to go somewhere, online! Criminals do monitor social media and someone might see your post and know you are away for the day or the evening!
Posting your Valentine’s Day plans online is just not a smart move. Instead, wait until you are home to post pictures or a status.
It’s a simple way to secure your home and we certainly don’t wish a burglary on anyone! Holidays are prime days for criminals: they know people are excited, distracted and often let their guard down. Don’t be that person that is targeted!
2. Arm your System When You Leave
If you have plans to go out and celebrate Valentine’s Day, please remember to do this one thing! Nothing will spoil your day or night quicker than coming home to a home that’s been burglarized!
Before you leave for the day or evening, remember to arm your system. It’s a simple thing to do but an equally simple thing to forget as you rush out the door to make it to a romantic dinner. 😉
Arm your system before you leave and have a fantastic date, worry-free.
3. Arm Your System When You Stay In!
Now if you have prepared a lovely backyard Valentine’s Day dinner, or any other home cooked family meal, don’t forget to arm you home! If you are distracted and busy in the home, you still would want your home to be armed, especially if you are in the backyard, or occupied somewhere in the house not near a entrance way. It’s a good habit to get into: arm your home when you are home!
Valentine’s Day Is All About Love!
Nothing says “I love you” more than keeping those you love safe and sound and caring enough to to action.
If you do not have an alarm system in your home, we encourage you to consider the possibilities! Come talk to us and protect those you love.
Personal Safety Tips for a Stress-Free and Safe Halloween
The 2020 Holiday Season Will be a Bit Different!
As the year 2020 draws to a close, we are still struggling to make sense of this pandemic.
Wether you live in Horry County, Georgetown County, South Carolina or somewhere else in the USA, we just know your life has been affected!
Kids are learning virtually, seniors are homebound due to the danger of being exposed to COVID-19, millions are still out of work and others are working from home, and we are seeing yet another spike of new cases.
How will we navigate the upcoming holidays?
Personal safety is important to us. We want our customers and friends to be safe as well.
How Will We Navigate the Holidays During a Pandemic?
It’s safe to say things will be different.
- More shopping will be done online than ever before
- Less travel is expected to take place
- Families will be separated due to safety concerns
Each family will need to decide for themselves how to navigate the unknown of a pandemic holiday season.
We are glad however to have discovered some great resources for those who need ideas and suggestions.
CDC Guidelines for Personal Safety During a Pandemic Holiday Season
As many people in the United States begin to plan for fall and winter holiday celebrations, CDC offers the following considerations to help protect individuals and their families, friends, and communities from COVID-19. These considerations are meant to supplement—not replace—any state, local, territorial, or tribal health and safety laws, rules, and regulations with which holiday gatherings must comply. When planning to host a holiday celebration, you should assess current COVID-19 levels in your community to determine whether to postpone, cancel, or limit the number of attendees.
Low Risk Halloween Activities!
For parents who are concerned about potential COVID-19 exposure a ‘traditional Trick or Treat‘ activity might pose, here are some lower risk Halloween activity ideas.
Safe alternatives:
- Carving or decorating pumpkins with members of your household and displaying them
- Carving or decorating pumpkins outside, at a safe distance, with neighbors or friends
- Decorating your house, apartment, or living space
- Doing a Halloween scavenger hunt where children are given lists of Halloween-themed things to look for while they walk outdoors from house to house admiring Halloween decorations at a distance
- Having a virtual Halloween costume contest
- Having a Halloween movie night with people you live with
- Having a scavenger hunt-style trick-or-treat search with your household members in or around your home rather than going house to house
Halloween Activities to Avoid in 2020!
While it’s tempting, the CDC urges all of us to do our part and avoid large gatherings and close contact with people outside our safe zone.
Here are their recommendations of activities to avoid:
- Participating in traditional trick-or-treating where treats are handed to children who go door to door
- Having trunk-or-treat where treats are handed out from trunks of cars lined up in large parking lots
- Attending crowded costume parties held indoors
- Going to an indoor haunted house where people may be crowded together and screaming
- Going on hayrides or tractor rides with people who are not in your household
Safety First To Protect Those You Love!
While we all want to be able to be with family during the holidays, it might be wise to adjust your plans now to only get together with family members who are local to you. Avoid unnecessary travel, including airplanes.
Instead, use technology to connect virtually and make alternative plans.
Be safe. Stay healthy.
When You Find Yourself In Trouble, Remember This!
How Will You React When Attacked?
Unfortunately, many of us don’t know ‘how we will react’ until we are attacked.
You can never really completely prepare for the unexpected – but you can practice!
Personal safety is a huge concern and should be on top of your list of things to ‘prepare for”.
This list should also include
So how will you react when attacked?
This Is How One Woman Reacted When She Was Held At Gunpoint
Heather of Strand Security was held at gunpoint during a store robbery.
What she did was…FIGHT!
Her message to all of us is very clear.
NEVER GIVE UP
There is always something you can do, there is always a way to fight.
She learned this in high school during a self-defense class; she credits this class, and the knowledge she received, with saving her life during the armed robbery!
You know what else she’s doing?
Heather Is Now Fighting For Your Safety!
Just last week, Strand Security announced their next Self Defense Class!
On Dec. 3, you need to be there with us, so can be prepared should you ever be attacked.
Listen to, and watch, this video; both Heather and Dorien talk about why this self-defense class is so important and they each give you ONE THING they learned from the last class they took!
Don’t YOU want to know what to do when attacked, and practice those moves in a safe environment?
Join us on Saturday December 3 for the next self defense class.
Grab a Friend and Sign Up!
If you don’t want to go alone, we get that, too!
Grab a friend and sign up for our next class and if you don’t know whom to ask, check out this AWESOME list of people in your life who need self-defense!
Here is the info to sign up.
We can’t wait to see you on Saturday December 3 in Murrells Inlet!
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