How to Outwit Porch Pirates This Season!
It’s not just the season to be jolly, it’s that time of year when porch pirates and UPS pinchers and poachers steal your holiday deliveries! They’re brazen and bold, shameless and audacious and here’s how to outsmart them!
Porch and other outdoor cameras and video doorbells do wonders as you can see in this YouTube video.
They can help stop burglars, thieves and marauding malcontents from pilfering your packages. Lava Lizard compared the top 14 best porch cameras out there, and rates them based on reliability, battery life, weather-resistance, wireless capabilities and set-up ease. Take a look at the top choices from major brands like Blink, Zmodo, Zumimall, Samzuy, Dct, Ring and more.
Police departments are eager to harness the collective power of those surveillance cameras to catch criminals who may be cruising unsuspecting neighborhoods. Town of Erie Deputy Police Chief Lee Mathis says the department has a RING account and uses it it send out and share information with people who have doorbell cameras. “We also do community alerts through our Facebook page and I would urge anyone who has evidence of a crime to call 303-441-4444 – our non-emergency dispatch number to speak with an officer on duty.”
Top Tips from Burglars and Cops
While Erie sits in a kind of bubble and has received “safe neighborhood” ratings for years, there’s still wisdom in “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” We spent a little time on home security websites, to find the top tips for securing your home – from law enforcement and even former thieves and burglars. And none of it costs a lot of money or are difficult to execute.
Two things that burglars confess turn them off and away are alarm systems and loud dogs!
A recent CNN report featured an inventor who created a device to discourage repeat visitors to your front door. You can watch the video of pirate after pirate turning tail and running away when they trigger the device’s loud (think gunshot) pop! And Amazon has lockers you can use to have packages delivered with multiple locations throughout the region. And the geniuses at Porch Pod have created a smart package lockbox for your porch. You can accept multiple packages and it connects to your home WiFi and uses the tracking bar codes from FedEx, UPS, USPS and more to validate the package deliveries and unlock.
How to Burglar-Proof Your Property
In addition to outdoor cameras to capture images of passersby and suspicious characters, law enforcement also recommends the following insurance for gift-giving season:
—The sound of a LOUD barking dog. Note that you don’t have to own a big, bad canine protector, you can use the sound of one as a deterrent. Listen to this video to see how effective the noise of a mad dog on a Home Safe device can be. And this unit can sense when a visitor approaches a door.
A switched-on television indicates someone might be home and Ring technology can remotely turn on a TV or radio.
Safe and Sound in Colliers Hill
Safety is important to all of us in master-planned community of Colliers Hill where neighbors stick together and keep a close watch on one another, and that includes our friendly neighborhood patrol officers! The new homes being built here — from Richmond American Homes, KB Home and soon – Boulder Creek – are criss-crossed with trails and walking paths and lots of exciting amenities. Close to historic downtown Erie, see why Colliers Hill is one of Colorado’s fastest growing communities – with ranch and two-story models priced from the $400s.
