How to keep the bad guys away while you’re on holiday

Brian from Mount Roskill

Keeping your home safe while travelling can sometimes be as simple as leaving a light on and being better friends with your neighbours, experts suggest.
Cameras and sensors have made home security higher tech but some of the best ways to ensure your property is secure would be through tried-and-true methods like creating the illusion that you are home.
Make people think you never left
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The first , and most important step, in deterring potential thieves isn’t necessarily with a security camera, but by making them think you’re still home.
Mt Albert Neighbourhood Support Activator Tahi Mapp-Borren said keeping lights on, opening a few curtains and even getting a neighbour to park their car in your driveway goes a long way.
"Have someone collect your mail if you can, leave your key with a trusted neighbour rather than in some obvious place, have a little security check of your property before you go, maybe leave a bit of washing out on the line,” she said.
Mapp-Borren's own next-door neighbour, James McDonald, was a part-time musician who travelled frequently to perform. He had developed a solid system to ensure his unit was as secure while he was away.
“I keep the main blind down because if you were to kind of walk up to my front door and that window was open, you'd see that there's a TV right there... the top room I don't bother with the blind down” he said.
He also started renting his home on Airbnb when he’s away - it made him some extra money while keeping his house occupied and therefore less of a target to potential thieves.
“In a way, it feels safer than if it was totally unoccupied for three weeks or four weeks.”
Mapp-Borren also urged people to resist posting about their trips on social media until after they return, so as not to draw attention to the fact that they are not home.
Get to know your neighbours
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To create a sustainable and ongoing sense of safety in your home, Mapp-Borren emphasised the importance of building connections with neighbours.
“You don't have to be best friends, but you get a sense of each other so that you can just at that point of holiday or summer go, actually I do trust these people who are living next to me as neighbours and I feel comfortable about letting them know just to keep a wee eye on the place.”
McDonald had built a strong relationship with Mapp-Borren and her family, something that made him feel safer while travelling.
“I'm always in touch with Tahi because her family is so close, just in terms of location that, by default they would see if someone was around my place that maybe shouldn't be,” he said.
For additional peace of mind he also set up an alarm system and put a surveillance camera near the front door.
Do security cameras really work?
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Criminology Lecturer at the University of Auckland Dr Ronald Kramer said cameras can be hit or miss and in some cases, they can even have a reverse effect.
“Sometimes if people see a camera, they might reason that there's actually something worth stealing in there.”
He said a significant amount of home burglary is done by people who are desperate and may not be deterred by a camera, but more motivated thieves might look for an easier target with less visible security.
“If people are thinking it [security cameras] is the magic bullet to kind of stop your house from being burgled, that is probably not the case,” Kramer said.
“It'll deter some people, some types of offenders, but not all of them.”
While cameras may not deter thieves, however, they could help catch them, he pointed out.
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