With people traveling for the holidays,now is the perfect opportunity for crooks to take advantage of people’s empty homes.
Officer Bill Koehn is the crime prevention officer for the Overland Park Police Department and his job is to keep burglars out of your home.
"They definitely want to show up when no one else is home,” said Officer Koehn.
41 Action News spent the day with Officer Koehn to get tips on how to protect your home beyond locking the doors.
He says when you leave for your holiday vacation, you want to give the illusion someone is home. Automated lights can help create that illusion.
"This time of year have them come on 4:30, 5 o'clock in the evening, go off at 11, 11:30 at night,” said Koehn
However, Koehn says lights with no blinds is useless, especially when you have gifts under the Christmas tree.
"I can also see all those presents underneath too so I want to keep those shades drawn so people can’t see into my house,” said Koehn.
The best way to make sure your home is kept safe is to trust a friend or a neighbor to swing by to make sure everything is intact. It’s the go to for most people.
"A neighbor will check in or somebody will be there," said Lin Lynch from Kansas City.
"We have a pet sitter who comes over every day to take care of our cats and so I think everyone believes that somebody is actually home because they see activity every day,” said Sam Wilson of Overland Park.
You can also enlist your neighbors to help by taking out the trash and parking a car in the driveway to make it look like someone is home.
You’ll want to close the blinds to the garage, so a burglar does not see it's empty
A security system or camera in sight can also help keep the bad guys away.
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Ali Hoxie can be reached at ali.hoxie@kshb.com
