What To Do After A Break-in At Your Lafayette Home?
It’s every homeowner’s nightmare. You arrive home and find your door is wide open or a window broken. You can’t think straight, fretting about what’s been taken and the damage to your home. What should you do? Stay calm, take a breath, and follow these steps after a break-in at your Lafayette home.
Once the dust settles, see how to better prevent intrusions with an advanced security system.
Immediate Steps After A Burglary
Finding your house has been broken into is traumatic. You could be shaken, furious, or just in shock. Whatever the case, it’s essential to stay level-headed by doing the following:
- Do not enter. It might be tempting to run inside to assess the situation. Don’t. There’s a chance someone is still there.
- Contact the police right away. Keep yourself and loved ones at a safe distance and wait for emergency services. Work with the authorities to make an official report.
- Don’t touch a thing. Let the police secure the premises and gather evidence.
What Are The Next Steps?
You’ve spoken with the authorities, and your home is safe to re-enter. What should you do next?
- Notify your bank and credit card issuers . If a thief snagged sensitive documents, purses, or wallets, you must contact your credit card issuers and banks right away. It’s wise to lock accounts and your credit. You can also request a fraud alert with the major credit bureaus.
- Call your insurance company. File a claim with your insurance provider. This needs to be done within 24 hours of the incident.
- Take pictures of damage. Document shattered windows, forced doors, and any other damage you find.
- Document what was taken. Make a list of what’s missing and provide it to law enforcement and your Insurer.
- Secure your property. Get your home secured by replacing locks, fixing doors and windows, and taking care of other damage. If you utilize a digital lock, now is the time to update your codes.
Getting your home back in order will help ease your mind and make things feel normal. After you do so, it’s time to start thinking enhancing your home security.
Strengthen Your Lafayette Home’s Security
How can you keep this from occuring again? Your starting point should be to assess your home security. An advanced system with these tools will work wonders in strengthening your home’s protection:
- Security cameras: Just about every would-be burglar will hesitate when they observe surveillance cameras. Today’s outdoor and doorbell cameras offer advanced features like AI-driven smart detection. Whenever there’s suspicious activity, you’ll be sent an alert.
- Access-point sensors: All doors and windows (especially those on the lower level) should be shielded by glass-break or contact sensors.
- Smart locks and lighting: These automated devices can be operated from anywhere. Worried you neglected to lock up? You can verify and operate the lock directly from your mobile device. You can even have inside lights go on if a camera detects suspicious activity.
If you want an integrated system that alerts you and monitoring agents whenever a sensor or camera is triggered, get a package from the home security specialists at ADT. You’ll benefit from smartphone access, round-the-clock monitoring, and advanced automation.
Stop Break-Ins With The Top Home Security Systems In Lafayette
Stop burglaries before they happen with an ADT home security system in Lafayette from Secure24 Alarm Systems. As an authorized ADT dealer, we install the latest equipment from the industry leader. Learn more about your options by dialing (337) 306-6995 or completing our form today.