Do I Need a Security Camera? Some things to Consider...

Are you considering adding a security camera to your home or office to make it more secure? These are becoming increasingly popular for their effectiveness and advancements in technology. It’s a great way to watch out for criminals, watch for internal theft in your office, keep an eye out for quality assurance, and just feel a peace of mind. Take a look at why you need a security camera, what it can be used for, and what you should know before making the purchase.

Criminal watch

One of the biggest reasons that people get security cameras is to watch for criminal activity. Whether it’s protecting your home at night or while you’re away, or having your office on watch during the night, crime detection can happen to anyone and by having proof on camera it will only help you recover your items or catch the thief. Most of the time when a criminal sees a camera, they will be more likely to leave to avoid getting caught doing something illegal.

At the office

There are a couple of great reasons to get cameras at work. If you want to make sure you’re getting the quality you expect from your suppliers, have cameras put up for quality assurance. Whether you’re a food manufacturer, a company that has to prepare shipments to your customers, or you want to make sure your sales staff is taking care of your customers properly, putting up cameras will remind your staff that they are being watched and need to perform to their best ability.

If you’ve ever worried about theft happening within the building, it’s a great way to catch any of this in the moment. Internal theft can be a large problem for companies that don’t realize it’s happening since it can go on for a long time and start to add up.

Whether your staff is taking home office supplies or something more serious, like internal records and sensitive customer data, this can become a financial problem or a legal problem. Having cameras up will deter your staff from getting any ideas, while at the same time giving you a chance to see if there are other issues in the office that are slowing down productivity.

Don’t forget claims made in the office that could cost you. Be extra cautious in case someone files a harassment claim, somebody slips and falls in the parking lot, or a customer says they didn’t get the service they expect, you’ll have it all on camera. These types of things can cost you a lot of money, but if you have proof something didn’t happen as it was claimed, it will likely get dropped.

Things to look for in a camera

While it’s nice to have the visual recorded for covering your company or your home’s security, you’ll want to be sure to avoid recording audio. There is an Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 that restricts audio recording.

Keep in mind that just like any other technology, security cameras can be hacked but you can stay secure by updating your password that accesses the cameras on a regular basis. Be sure to choose one that is higher-end and can see up to 100 feet in HD, because the lower-end versions will only reach 30-40 ft. at best with low quality. You’ll also want to look for features that apply to you, such as night vision, video playback, video recording, and have notifications sent to you when motion is detected.

Then decide where you want to place your cameras and if you want them visible or not, since a hidden camera will catch things that normally would happen while those doing the action wouldn’t know they are being watched. Keep in mind that a wired camera tends to perform better and wireless cameras will kill your wireless Internet.

These are some of the things to consider if you are looking to get a security camera for your home or office. They can really give you the peace of mind you need as long as you choose the right setup and understand the best ways to utilize them. Use these tips to get the most of out of your security camera needs.

Safes for You to Securely Store Valuables at Home

When it comes to storing your valuables, this is one area that you don’t want to take a shortcut. If a home burglary is going to happen, it’s crucial that you have a secure safe to store your valuables to avoid theft. Some of the most common items taken from homes are jewelry, money, firearms, baseball cards, and family heirlooms.

Not only is it important to protect these things that are worth good money or sentimental to you, but you should have a way to protect important personal documents like birth certificates and passports in the event of a fire or other disaster. Take a look at the best way to securely store your valuables at home from theft or a disaster.

Small safes for your home or office

To get started, you may simply want a small safe to use in your home or office.

You can get a lightweight and inexpensive safes like Amazon Basics Security Safe which features 0.5 cubic feet of steel-enclosed space and a carpeted floor only accessible digitally.

A Combination Fire Safe is great if you need fire and water protection for things like photos and USB drives, such as the SWF123DSB for something heavy duty in the home.

One of the best in fireproof safes for those wanting a small safe is the First Alert 2092DF that can float and handle fires. It has a programmable lock and steel locking bolts and weighs a hefty 100lbs.

For a Biometric safe to hold your valuables or firearms, get the BARSKA biometric safe for an inexpensive, small, and ideal storage solution.

By Tanemori (Hatena Ftolife) [CC BY 2.1 jp (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.1/jp/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons

The Varieties in size and features

When you aren’t concerned about size or price and simply want the best for your valuables, your home could use one of the safes mentioned below.

The Safstar Digital Electronic Security Safe Box is a great choice for something compact, affordable, and for the smart accessibility, it allows between the digital PIN and the backup key option. It won’t hold as much as the large SentrySafe SFW205CWB water-resistant combination safe which gives you 60% more storage than a traditional safe, so it’s important to determine what size you need from the start.

If you are concerned about a fireproof option, the SentrySafe can’t offer that, but you can get that feature with the First Alert 2092DF. If you like something compact, the Safstar is one of the best, but the Stack-On PDS-1500 Drawer Safe is another option which allows access electronically and with backup keys. On the larger end of things, the SentrySafe is a top choice, as well as the BARSK Large Biometric Safe that features a huge memory storage for fingerprints and a silent access mode.

Options for the ultimate hiding places

If your goal is to be as discrete a possible, you may like one of these types of safes in your home. Store your valuables in a hollowed-out book, wrapped up in your freezer, or in a VHS tape. There are places in your home that a thief is less likely to look, giving you protection through discretion, but it won’t save you from a fire or flood. For discrete hiding options, hide your valuables in a houseplant or under the plastic liner of your trash can. Try a hollowed-out book or false VHS tape in your living room where a criminal is not likely to spend the time digging.

A false container in your kitchen could be under the sink or disguised as a food box, while an item that isn’t temperature sensitive could be hidden in aluminum foil in the back of your freezer. Try a floor safe in your bedroom or inside a container marked as “Christmas ornaments” in your attic. Just avoid hiding things in your desk drawers, your jewelry box, a DVD case that is worth more than your VHS tapes, or in an area that could get damaged like your jars of food or your toilet’s water tank.

When it comes to protecting your valuables or those hard to replace items, these are some of the most efficient ways to protect them. Be sure to get your home and office equipped with what you need today. Call The Professional Locksmith for more information!

5 Home Security Tips for New Homeowners

As a new homeowner, there are many things you will be learning for the first time. One of those things will be how to keep your home and your family safe on a regular basis without it interfering too much with life. Everybody knows to lock the door when they leave and to keep an eye out for suspicious people in the neighborhood, but what else will it take to keep your home and family secure?

There are some things you may not have thought to do, such as getting to know the neighbors and changing the locks when you move in. Take a look at these five tips to get you started when it comes to new home ownership and keeping things secure.

Replace the locks

The first thing you should do when you move into a new home is to change your locks. Most likely, the previous owners still have a key somewhere as does anyone involved in selling the property to you. That means that your home is not technically secure and available only to your family.

Make sure you change your locks upon arriving at the new home to make sure no one else has access to it, such as the previous family or realtor. Then, make sure you reconfigure your garage door code.

Get a home security system

Next, you’ll want to install a home security system. Make your home less appealing to a criminal that enters the neighborhood, from the trimmed bushes allowing for a great line of sight to the motion-detecting lights, make sure no criminal will want to bother breaking into your home.

Be sure to set up your home with a trustworthy home security system that will notify you in the event that there is a security breach. Make sure to have a professional install it and remember to tell your homeowners insurance since you’ll likely receive a discount for having one installed.

Get to know your neighbors and the area

One of the simplest ways to keep your home and family safe is to get to know your neighbors and your surroundings. When you know who lives near you, it’ll be easier to spot a visitor to the area to watch for suspicious activity. You’ll also have neighbors to watch your home as you do the same for them in the event that suspicious activity is taking place.

You can even join the neighborhood watch program and volunteer to collect mail and newspapers for neighbors that go on vacation, as they can do the same for you. Then, be sure to get to know your surroundings to get familiar with what habits are normal in the neighborhood compared to the times when something new comes up. Do you always see this certain service provider and delivery truck, while that moving van or construction crew has never been here before?

Think about fire safety

In addition to security, you’ll want to think about fire safety. Make sure you’ve made a plan for home fire defense and have a fire monitoring package with your home security system. Smoke detectors throughout the house are vital, as well as fire extinguishers, and carbon monoxide detectors.

Keep up with the maintenance

Having all of these items checked off will be a great feeling, but keeping up with maintaining everything is just as important. You need to be regularly checking your outside lights, your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, your fire extinguishers, and your window locks to ensure everything is in working order.

If something isn’t functioning properly, it can be all it takes to have a breach in your safety. Make sure you are trimming the bushes, verifying your home security system is working, and things on your property meant to deter an intruder are ready to perform.

These are the top five ways that you can make sure your new home is secure and prepared in the event of a fire or home invasion.

Simple Tips to Not Lose Your Keys

Do you ever have that problem of losing your keys? Your day is going along just fine and suddenly you can’t find your keys to get in the car and head home for the day. Maybe you made it home and you can’t find the keys to your house. Perhaps your teenager misplaced your car keys or you can’t find the key to your office.

Whatever the case, losing keys you use every day can give you that sinking feeling of worry, dread, and panic. Not only are you wasting time searching everything you own to find them, but you may be missing out on important obligations because you can’t get into the office, the car, or the house. Fortunately, there are some easy tricks that you can learn to ensure you don’t lose your keys anymore and the likelihood of losing them in the future will be slim to none. Try these tips to stop losing your keys.

Your life is too cluttered

One of the main culprits behind losing your keys or anything in your life is that you are lacking organization. It’s time to get rid of clutter once and for all, allowing you to easily see where you’ve placed items without things other visual distractions along the way. Minimizing your belongings to only keep on you the things you really need allows you to more easily find missing objects since there are fewer hiding spots.

Make a home for everything

Once you’ve started paring things down, you can start to make a “home” for everything you own. Now that you have less stuff, you can dedicate a place to where things go when they are not in use and this allows for you to eliminate excuses about why things are missing. As long as the keys, wallet, and phone have a spot that it’s supposed to go, it would be much harder to lose these items.

When you arrive home at night, make sure to put each item you’ve brought home with you in its dedicated spot, whether it’s the key rack, the bowl on the counter, or the hook by the door. Do this for each household member so that everyone knows where things go after using them and things stop getting lost.

Use technology for help

Now that you’re organized, it’s time to use technology to your advantage. For starters, it’s much harder to lose a phone when the ringer is on and you can find it by calling the phone. Sometimes you can’t find an item when looking for it or feeling for it in a bag, but you’ll eventually hear it and see it light up. Next, use technology to help keep track of your phone even easier.

You can attach a BlueTooth tracking device like Tile or download apps like “Find my Phone” to help you track the item in the event that it is lost and nowhere to be found. Just get on a desktop to locate your phone through these tech options.

It’s important to remember that life gets busy and forgetting things is bound to happen. By implementing tricks like these, you’ll find it easier to keep track of your stuff and have methods in place to find them if you were to lose it again. When you dedicate a space in your home for things to live, hang a motivational sign to remind you to put things in their place, stop collecting clutter, and use technology as an aid, things can stop getting lost and life can get a little simpler.

Use these tips to make sure you don’t lose your keys anymore! If you do get locked out, please call The Professional Locksmith and they'll get you in!