What To Do After A Break-in At Your Savannah Home?
It’s every homeowner’s nightmare. You pull in the driveway and find your door is wide open or a window broken. You can barely process what’s happened, worrying about what’s missing and the harm done to your property. What should you do? Take a breath, stay calm, and follow our recommendations after a break-in at your Savannah home.
Once things are under control, learn how to better prevent break-ins with an advanced security system.
Initial Steps After A Burglary
Finding your house has been burglarized is traumatizing. You may be frightened, upset, or simply in disbelief. Whatever you’re feeling, it’s essential to stay level-headed by doing the following:
- Do not enter. It may be tempting to rush inside to assess the situation. Don’t. There’s a possibility someone is still present.
- Contact the authorities immediately. Keep yourself and loved ones at a safe distance and wait until help gets there. Work with the police to file a report.
- Don’t touch a thing. Let the police secure the area and do their job.
What Are The Next Steps?
You’ve spoken with law enforcement, and your home is safe to re-enter. What are the next steps?
- Cancel credit cards and call banks . If a burglar snagged purses, wallets, or personal documents, you’ll want to contact your credit card companies and banks right away. It’s smart to freeze accounts and your credit. You might also request a fraud alert with the three main credit bureaus.
- Reach out to your insurer. Initiate a claim with your insurance provider. This needs to be done within one day of the incident.
- Take photos of the damage. Document broken windows, kicked-in doors, and anything else that’s been damaged.
- Document what was taken. Write down what’s missing and provide it to the authorities and your insurance provider.
- Secure your house. Make your home safe again by replacing locks, fixing windows and doors, and addressing remaining damage. If you have a digital lock, now is the time to reset your access codes.
Cleaning up will help ease your mind and make things feel normal. After you’re done, it’s time to start thinking improving your home security.
Strengthen Your Savannah Home’s Security
How can you keep this from occuring again? Your first step should be to evaluate your home’s security. A modern system with the following equipment will work wonders in strengthening your home’s protection:
- Surveillance cameras: Just about every trespasser will think twice about breaking in when they see video cameras. Newer outdoor and doorbell cameras provide advanced functionality like AI-powered smart detection. Whenever there’s unusual activity, you’ll get a notification.
- Access-point sensors: All doors and windows (especially those on the lower level) should be protected by glass-break or contact sensors.
- Smart locks and lighting: These automated tools can be managed remotely. Are you worried you forgot to lock your door? You can check and activate the lock from your mobile device. You can even have interior lights switch on if a camera detects someone lurking.
If you want a connected system that alerts you and monitoring agents whenever a sensor or camera is set off, look into a package from the home security specialists at ADT. You’ll benefit from mobile access, 24/7 monitoring, and advanced automation.
Prevent Break-Ins With The Leading Home Security Systems In Savannah
Stop break-ins at your property with an ADT home security system in Savannah from Secure24 Alarm Systems. As your trusted ADT dealer, we install the latest equipment from the top name in the business. Learn more about your options by reaching out to (912) 226-4483 or submitting our form today.