Crime Prevention and Seasonal Safety

This section includes:

• Crime prevention

• Vehicle advice

• Summer advice

• Festive advice

• Crime prevention courses

Crime Prevention

Hertfordshire continues to be one of the safest counties in the country, and with your help the Community Safety Partnership would like to keep it that way. 

There are some simple measures that you and your family can follow to keep yourselves and your property even safer. To view useful information and advice on home security, personal safety, preventing fraud and much more, please visit https://www.herts.police.uk/

• Fit good quality locks on doors, windows, sheds and garages (and ensure that you use them!).  Check your insurance policies – many of them have minimum security requirements for homes.
• Don’t leave a spare key outside your home in a ‘safe’ place and don’t keep your keys on a key ring which identifies what they unlock.
• Make sure you double lock UPVC doors, even when you are in (for most doors, this means lifting the handle and then turning the key).
• If you have a burglar alarm, make sure it is set if you go out.
• Use timer switches for lights or radios to make your home appear occupied if you are out.
• Keep ladders and tools locked away to prevent them from being used to break into a property.
• Ring doorbells allow you to see on your mobile who is approaching your property.

Vehicle Crime

Most vehicle crime is preventable. It can take as little as 10 seconds for a thief to steal something from your car. The best way to protect your property is to:

• Lock your vehicle
• Removing everything from the car; don't even leave a jacket where it can be seen
• Closing the sunroof along with the windows when you leave
• Not storing things in the boot; take them with you
• Storing car ownership information in your home, not your car
• Having a routine to ensure you always take the keys out of the ignition
• Taking removable stereos and sat nav equipment with you
• In addition, using secure (theft resistant) number plate screws can make your plates less attractive to thieves
• If you choose to leave your car unlocked overnight, remove all items from it.

Summer Advice

• If you are going to be out during the day give your home a lived in look by using a timer switch on lights to make sure a burglar thinks that someone is in. This is more effective if the timer switch is placed in a frequently used room – instead of a hallway – or in various room going on and off at different times.
• Please make sure your vehicle is properly secured, windows shut, locks activated and vehicle alarms activated. If you choose not to lock your car, remove all valuable items such as Sat Nav’s. Remember to wipe away any marks from inside the windscreen of any evidence that such a device has been attached.
• If you are going away don’t advertise this fact on social networking sites such as Facebook.  Ensure your children don’t do this either.

Crime Prevention Courses

The Hertfordshire’s Citizens’ Academy give you the chance to take interactive modules in crime prevention and community safety that have been developed alongside experts from Hertfordshire Constabulary. Helping you and your community safe through developing your knowledge of protection and crime prevention measures.

Other useful crime prevention videos