What To Do After A Break-in At Your Fort Wayne Home?
It’s every homeowner’s nightmare. You pull up the driveway and find your front door is wide open or a window broken. You can’t think straight, fretting about what’s been taken and the damage to your house. What should you do? Remain calm, take a deep breath, and follow our recommendations after a break-in at your Fort Wayne home.
When you’re ready, see how to better prevent break-ins with the latest home security system.
First Steps After A Break-In
Finding your house has been burglarized is traumatic. You could be frightened, upset, or just in disbelief. Whatever the case, it’s important to act rationally by doing the following:
- Do not enter. It’s only natural that you want to run inside to assess the situation. Don’t. There’s a chance someone is still present.
- Call the authorities right away. Keep yourself and loved ones safely away and wait until help gets there. Work with the police to file a report.
- Leave everything as is. Let the police secure the scene and do their job.
What Do You Do Next?
You’ve conversed with law enforcement, and your home is clear to re-enter. What are the next steps?
- Cancel credit cards and notify your bank . If a burglar snagged wallets, purses, or private documents, you must contact your credit card companies and banks at once. It’s smart to freeze accounts and your credit. You might also request a fraud alert with the major credit bureaus.
- Call your insurance provider. File a claim with your insurer. You should do so within one day of the break-in.
- Take photos of the damage. Document broken windows, kicked-in doors, and anything else that’s been damaged.
- Document what is missing. Create a record of what’s missing and provide it to the authorities and your Insurer.
- Secure your home. Get your home secured by installing new locks, fixing windows and doors, and taking care of other damage. If you utilize a keypad lock system, now is the time to reset your codes.
Cleaning up will bring you some peace and restore a sense of normalcy. Once you do, it’s time to consider enhancing your home security.
Evaluate And Upgrade The Security At Your Fort Wayne Home
How can you keep this from happening again? Your initial step should be to assess your home security. A new system with the following equipment will go a long way to keeping your home safe:
- Surveillance cameras: Almost every would-be burglar will reconsider their plans when they see surveillance cameras. Newer exterior and doorbell cameras offer advanced capabilities like smart detection. Whenever there’s questionable activity, you’ll get an alert.
- Entry-point sensors: All doors and windows (specifically those on the ground level) should be shielded by glass-break or contact sensors.
- Smart locks and lighting: These automated devices can be operated from anywhere. Worried you didn’t lock up? You can check and operate the lock right from your smartphone. You can even have inside lighting turn on if a camera spots an unwanted guest.
If you want an integrated system that warns you and monitoring representatives any time a device is set off, look into a package from ADT, your home security professionals. You’ll enjoy the mobile access, round-the-clock monitoring, and convenient automation.
Prevent Break-Ins With The Leading Home Security Systems In Fort Wayne
Stop intrusions at your property with an ADT home security package in Fort Wayne from Secure24 Alarm Systems. As your authorized ADT dealer, we install the latest equipment from the most respected name in the business. Explore your options by dialing (260) 203-1992 or submitting our form today.