What To Do After A Break-in At Your Fort Worth Home?
It’s every homeowner’s nightmare. You pull in the driveway to see your front door has been kicked in or a window smashed. You can barely process what’s happened, fretting about what’s been taken and the harm done to your home. What can you do? Stay calm, take a breath, and follow these steps after a break-in at your Fort Worth home.
When you’re ready, explore how to better prevent intrusions with the latest home security system.
First Steps After A Break-In
Discovering your house has been broken into is traumatizing. You may be scared, upset, or just in disbelief. Regardless, it’s critical to act rationally by doing the following:
- Stay outside. It may be tempting to rush inside to see what happened. Don’t. There’s a risk a burglar is still there.
- Contact the authorities right away. Keep yourself and others at a safe distance and wait until help gets there. Work with law enforcement to make an official report.
- Leave everything as is. Allow officers take over and gather evidence.
What Are The Next Steps?
You’ve spoken with the police, and it’s safe to go back inside. What are the next steps?
- Cancel credit cards and alert your bank . If a thief snagged wallets, purses, or private documents, you’ll want to alert your credit card issuers and banks immediately. It’s smart to freeze accounts and your credit. You might also place a fraud alert with the major credit bureaus.
- Contact your insurance company. File a claim with your insurance provider. This needs to be done within 24 hours of the break-in.
- Take pictures of damage. Document broken windows, forced doors, and anything else that’s been damaged.
- Document what was taken. Make a list of what’s missing and provide it to law enforcement and your insurance provider.
- Secure your house. Get your home secured by replacing locks, fixing doors and windows, and addressing remaining damage. If you have a keypad lock, now is the time to update your codes.
Getting your home back in order will do wonders for your stress and get life back to normal. After you’re done, it’s time to start thinking enhancing your home security.
Evaluate And Upgrade The Security At Your Fort Worth Home
How can you keep this from happening again? Your starting point should be to assess your home’s security. An advanced system with these devices will go a long way to strengthening your home’s protection:
- Surveillance cameras: Just about all trespassers will think twice about breaking in when they notice surveillance cameras. Modern exterior and doorbell cameras offer advanced capabilities like smart detection. Any time there’s questionable activity, you’ll receive an alert.
- Access-point sensors: All doors and windows (specifically those on the ground level) should be shielded by contact or glass-break sensors.
- Smart locks and lights: These automated components can be managed remotely. Worried you didn’t lock up? You can check and engage the lock directly from your smartphone. You can even have inside lighting turn on if a camera discovers someone lurking.
If you want a connected system that alerts you and monitoring agents whenever a sensor or camera is triggered, look into a package from ADT, your home security experts. You’ll enjoy the smartphone access, 24/7 monitoring, and custom automation.
Avoid Break-Ins With The Best Home Security In Fort Worth
Stop break-ins before they happen with an ADT home security system in Fort Worth from Secure24 Alarm Systems. As an authorized ADT dealer, we install the latest equipment from the most respected name in the business. Learn more about your options by dialing (817) 415-2313 or filling out our form today.