March 2024 is Neighbourhood Watch Month. We’re joining Neighbourhood Watch Australasia to help Australian homeowners with five free ways to boost their Secure Score, their home security and ultimately, the safety of their local community. What is Secure Score? Secure Score is a free, online home security audit tool designed to promote safer and more secure communities by empowering homeowners to make their homes more secure. A home’s Secure Score is determined by assessing the security measures from the street level, within the yard and inside the home. Each security feature, such as a spotlight, security camera or security screen, is assigned a value that makes up a home’s Secure Score – a score out of 100. Find out your Secure Score now – https://securescore.crimsafe.com.au/ Why do I want to boost my Secure Score? The higher your Secure Score, the more secure your home is from theft, damage or unwanted intruders entering your home. Similarly, the higher the Secure Scores in your local community, the more resilient your neighbourhood is against crime. Give your Secure Score a boost Improve your home security with five free ways to boost your Secure Score by as much as 27 points: +5 points – Move your wheelie bins to a secure location, not against the house Boost your Secure Score by 5 points simply by storing and securing your bin to a fixed structure away from the house. Intruders often climb onto bins for easy access to windows or to climb over fences. +5 points – Arrange to have your mail collected when you are on holiday, or away from home for an extended time. Avoid letting your mail pile up in the letterbox while you are away from home. A full mailbox is an easy indicator for an empty house, making it an easy target for unwanted intruders. Ask your neighbour or family member to swing past and collect your mail for you. It’s also a great way to prevent identity theft. +5 points – Lock your gates – both front and back, with a solid padlock. Locking your gates is a great deterrent to prevent unwanted intruders from accessing your house or property. Intruders are more likely to make noise, raise suspicion or trigger sensor lights if they are forced to jump your fences because your gates are locked. +6 points – Lock your garden shed and garage Your shed and garage are likely filled with valuable tools and garden equipment. Like those valuables inside your home, you need to protect your assets that are otherwise stored outside the home. Locking your shed and garage is an ideal way to prevent theft, but also prevent those tools, like screwdrivers, crowbars etc, from being used to break into your doors or windows. +6 points – Join your local Neighbourhood Watch group. Your local Neighbourhood Watch group is a great resource for community information, helpful tips and tricks to engage with your neighbourhood and a great excuse to socialise with your neighbours and get to know them. You can find your local one here. Want to boost your home security further? In conjunction with our crime prevention partner, Neighbourhood Watch Australasia, we’ve developed a tiered action plan to help you boost your Secure Score, and home security, by as much as 66 points. While some security improvements require an investment, many can be done at no cost – proof that improving home security doesn’t have to cost a lot. The complete tiered action plan, worth 66 Secure Score points, can be accessed in two ways: Find out your Secure Score here, then get your free copy in your inbox for future reference; or Download a free copy here. If you’d like to discover what safety in numbers means for your neighbourhood, check out your Secure Score now – https://securescore.crimsafe.com.au/, and read more in our ‘Safety in Numbers’ blog.
