5 Apartment Security Tips for Renters

Apartment security is a very important topic in Chicago. With so many renters and owners living in apartment buildings, it's important to make sure you have the right security in your building. Here are five tips to help ensure your apartment remains secure.

Lock Doors and Windows

The first thing you want to make sure you always do is lock your door and windows. You don't want to make it easy for someone to break in. Most burglaries are the result of an unlocked window or door.

Even if all you're doing is leaving to get your mail or go enjoy the amenities, make sure you lock all doors and windows. It's also important to put a security bar in any sliding patio doors.

Upgrade your Locks

If your apartment building allows it, you can hire a professional locksmith to upgrade your locks. Instead of the typical knob lock and deadbolt, You can upgrade to a mortise lock or a double-cylinder deadbolt for more peace of mind.

Make sure you hire a professional locksmith to handle this job as you want it done right. It's also necessary to clear it with the landlord or manager first to ensure they know you plan to upgrade your lock.

Add Timer Lights or Motion Sensor Lights

If you have an outdoor light, you can add a motion sensor light to it and make your outdoor area more secure. If a motion sensor light isn't possible, you can still set up an outdoor light on a timer to ensure it comes on and goes off at the right time.

Turning your outdoor light on at night can be a good way to deter burglars from breaking in. If you're going out of town, it can be a good idea to leave a few lights on timers to make it appear like you're still at home.

Install a Security System

Another upgrade you will need to get permission from the landlord for, but a great way to secure your apartment is a camera security system. If your landlord will allow it, you can have a security system installed to keep you safe. Many of today's systems are wireless, which make them easier to install in apartments without having to drill holes in walls.

Use a Safety Deposit Box

If you have valuable items and documents, don't store them in your apartment. Instead, store these items in a safety deposit box to ensure they remain safe. Even if you get robbed, you want to make sure things, such as your Social Security card or a precious heirloom from your grandmother remain safe.

There are several ways to make sure your apartment security keeps you safe. The building should have already taken some precautions, such as installing the proper lighting and maybe even providing a gated or secure entrance. Don't believe that a secure entrance or a doorman will keep criminals out, however. Take your own precautions to ensure your apartment remains safe.

4 Tips to Secure Sliding Glass Doors in Your Home

An experienced burglar can get into your home through your sliding glass door in less than a minute. With more than 8 million property crimes happening every year, you should be aware of the entry points a burglar can get in through.

Securing your sliding glass doors will help to ensure your home is harder to break into. Of course, this should be just one of the steps you take in your full home security plan.

While your front door and your windows may be very secure, your sliding glass door may be lacking in this area. Here are four great tips to secure your sliding glass doors.

Install Additional Locks

Having a professional locksmith install additional locks is one of the best ways to secure your sliding glass doors. Yes, they do come with locks, but they are usually very simple latches that burglars can easily bypass. A heavy-duty latch guard made with hardened steel can be installed on both the bottom and the top of the sliding glass door to ensure it’s secure.

Add Window Film

Another way burglars get in through the sliding glass door is by breaking it. It's usually not too difficult to break, but it can also be easily secured with window film. Sure, you want to let in the natural light, but you also want to keep thing safe. Having a professional install the film means you can get the performance you want while letting in plenty of light.

With the right window film, you can make your sliding glass door shatterproof. This makes it much more difficult for a burglar to get in.

Add a Rod in the Tracks

Maybe the easiest way to add security to your sliding glass doors is with a rod in the tracks. A metal rod adds security and makes it harder to open the door. If you have a door with a metal rod, use it and the door will become far more secure.

If your sliding glass door doesn't already have a metal rod, you can add a wooden dowel from a local hardware store. This is a great way to keep your door secure.

Add Door Sensors

Another easy way to add protection to your sliding glass door is by using a glass break sensor on your door. This can be installed as a part of your home security system and the alarm will sound if the door is broken.

You can also add a door sensor to the actual door that will trigger the alarm if it's opened. With two sensors, you will have plenty of protection for your sliding glass door. You need both sensors to fully protect the door as one will sense the sound of broken glass, while the other will sense the door actually opening.

Use these four tips to make sure your sliding glass doors are all secured properly. Hiring the help of a professional locksmith and a home security professional will help to ensure you don't have to worry about burglars getting in through your sliding glass door.

Top 3 Benefits of Using a Mobile Locksmith Service

It's not uncommon for people to never think about a locksmith until they need one. Usually, this happens when you're stranded on the side of the road or in a parking long and your keys are dangling in the ignition of your car, but the doors are locked. This is the time when you start thinking about your locksmith needs.

When there's an emergency and you cannot get into your car, home or office, you need the best mobile locksmith service in Chicago. There are several significant benefits to a mobile locksmith service that you gain. Not only will they be able to help you any time of the day, but they also tend to respond very fast when you need them the most.

If you're in need of a locksmith, or you're just planning for the possibility of needing one in the future, it's important to understand the benefits of a mobile locksmith service. Here are three of the best benefits.

24/7 Availability

Emergencies happen at the wrong time of day. Maybe you don't normally stay out late, but you decided to one night. Of course, this would be the once in a blue moon time that you locked your keys in your car and you can't get home.

Mobile locksmith services in Chicago are available 24/7 making it possible to get the help you need, no matter the time of day or day of the week. You get the immediate help you need without any need to panic.

Fast Response Time

One of the biggest benefits of a mobile locksmith service is the fast response time. Since they are mobile, they are usually out and about on other jobs. This means they can quickly get to you without any issue. In fact, you may get lucky and they could be right down the road from you when you call.

A mobile locksmith can respond very quickly when you have an issue with your office keys, home keys or car keys. They will arrive as fast as possible to get your life back to normal.

Service All Locations

Since these locksmiths are mobile, they can service any location in Chicago. It doesn't matter where you're stranded, a mobile locksmith can help. With the ability to go wherever they are needed, these locksmiths are a bit like superheroes.

Along with these three major benefits, mobile locksmiths come with the right tools and they provide incredible professionalism. They have every tool they need to help you right in the vehicle they are driving. This means they don't have to go back to an office to make a key or to get the right part or tool.

When you call the right mobile locksmith service, you'll get a trained professional ready to handle your issue immediately. These are just a few of the many benefits you gain from a mobile locksmith. With the fast response times, 24/7 availability and ability to service all locations, you'll be back to normal in no time.

Why You Shouldn’t Break Into Your Own Car or Home

You've locked your keys in your car or lost the key to your house. You feel a bit desperate and you just want to get into your car or home. When this happens, call a Chicago locksmith before you try to break into your car or home.

Breaking into your car or home is dangerous. It can cause suspicion, damage and many other issues. Here are some of the main reasons you should never try to break into your own car or home.

Injury

If you try to break into your car, it could lead to serious injury. Maybe you think a broken window isn't that big of a deal to fix and you really want into the car. However, when you break that window, the process backfires and you end up cut badly. Even if you don't decide to break the window, trying to break into your own car could lead to injury.

The same goes for your home. Often, breaking into your own home means you're trying to climb into a window, which can be dangerous. You could fall on something inside or outside or hurt yourself in the process. Or, even if you think it goes smoothly you could later cut yourself on the glass you didn’t see in the creases of your car seat.

Damage your Car or Home

One of the main reasons you should never try to break into your own car or home is the damage you can cause. Often, calling a Chicago locksmith is cheaper than replacing a window or other damage you could cause. You may bend a door the wrong way; break a lock on a home window or something else. If you damage the mechanism that locks the window or door, you could spend much more to fix it instead of just calling a locksmith to help you into your vehicle or home.

Cause Legal Issues

If a police vehicle drives by during your attempted break-in, they won't know you own the home or car. They will likely suspect you are a thief and could arrest you for trying to break into your own car or home. Worst case scenario, they question you and the stress of the situation gets to you. This causes you to fight with the police, which could lead to legal issues.

You Could Make Yourself a Target of Crime

When you're desperate to get into your vehicle or home, you may not notice the person that has been watching you and comes up behind you with a gun. The next thing you know, you've become a victim of a crime because you were too busy trying to break into your car or home. Even worse, the thief could break into your car for you and take off with it.

If you're in an unsafe area or it's late at night, don't risk it. Call a Chicago locksmith instead and let a professional handle the job.

There are many things that could happen if you try to break into your own car or home. Most of them are not good. It's better to trust a professional locksmith and it will cost much less than the damage or injury you could cause trying to do it yourself.

What to Consider When Setting a Security Budget for Your Business

The security of your business is vital in preventing break-ins to protecting the building from fire to protecting your computers. You must take measures to protect your business on all fronts or you could see it all go down in flames faster than you could have ever imagined.

When it's time to set up your security budget for your business, you need to know what the most important factors are. You cannot just protect yourself on one front and avoid another. It's important to have full protection as this is your livelihood and the livelihood of all your employees.

How Big Should Your Security Budget Be?

On average, small businesses will spend about 6% to 7% of their annual budget on security. The number is a bit higher in the financial industry and a bit lower in the education industry. It will vary depending on the industry from 1% to 12%.

When considering your security budget, it's important to focus on prevention first and response second. You want to be proactive and protect your business on all fronts. However, it's also important to have a plan in place to deal with a potential incident.

Prevention and Protection Come First

Protecting your business from break-ins, fire, environmental disasters, employee theft, cyber-attacks and any other possible attack is the first step. If you can prevent an issue from happening, you won't have to deal with the consequences.

Make sure you consider all the possible prevention methods in your budget. You don't want to simply install a security system with cameras and call it a day. Instead, you want a full business security system complete with fire protection, environmental disaster protection (carbon monoxide, leak detectors, etc.) and security cameras. Of course, you also want a system to protect your computers and sensitive data. You may want to install a safe too for the most important documents.

Consider the Entry Points

If a break-in is one of the major concerns, consider beefing up your entry points. Installing locks and other hardware making it much more difficult for a criminal to enter your business will go a very long way. You can also use controlled entry to ensure the only people getting in and out of the business or at least certain areas of the business have to have a code or a swipe card.

Ongoing Expenses

Along with protecting your business from threats, you need to consider the ongoing expenses of security in your budget. Some forms of security will only need to be paid for once, but others require a monthly fee to keep them current. Make sure you consider these expenses in your business security budget.

Response Plan

How will you deal with a break-in or someone attacking your computers? What if a fire happens or environmental disaster strikes your business? Make sure you consider the necessary insurances and protections you will need to carry to protect your business from the worst case scenario.

When setting up your business security budget, there are several things to consider. You have to protect your business on all fronts. Having an expert assess the risks of your business is a good place to start when trying to figure out how much security will cost each year.

Common Times When You Need a Car Locksmith

Calling a car locksmith in Chicago isn't the most pleasant thing to have to do. Usually, it means you're locked out or you're having another type of problem you need to be solved fast. A car locksmith with 24/7 emergency service is best, but when do you need to make this call.

Key Won't Go into the Ignition

If your key simply won't go into the ignition, you won't be able to start your car. This is a big issue, especially considering it will likely happen at the worst time. A car locksmith in Chicago can come out and get you back on the road fast. By replacing your key, if the key is the issue, you'll be able to get your car started and get on your way.

Locked your Keys in Your Car

The sinking feeling of realizing your car is locked and your keys are hanging from the ignition is never a fun feeling. Maybe you have a spare, but it's all the way across town and you don't have time to go get it. This is a very common instance where you need a car locksmith.

A locksmith will get you into your car and help you recover your keys fast. With quick response, you'll be back on the road fast and you won't have to worry about spending hours going across town and back to get your spare key.

Lost Keys

Maybe you were having fun at an amusement park or doing something else and you lost your keys. If this is the case, you need a car locksmith in Chicago to come out and create a new key for you. Key replacement is a very common service provided by good locksmiths and will help you get back on the road fast.

Why You Should Hire a Professional Car Locksmith

Whenever you think you need an auto locksmith, you should hire a professional. If you locked your keys in your car, it may be cheaper to break into it yourself, but you could do damage and cost yourself even more money in the long run. A professional locksmith will have the tools needed to do the job without damaging your vehicle.

Hiring a professional locksmith also means you will have access to multiple services. Maybe you didn't lock your keys in your car, but you cannot get the key into the ignition or there's another issue with the key. A locksmith will be able to assess the situation and provide multiple services to get you back on the road.

This includes dealing with a broken key stuck in the ignition, unlocking a locked car, creating new keys and more.

Fast Service

With the right car locksmith in Chicago, you'll get fast service to get you out of your jam as soon as possible. With access to your locksmith 24/7, it won't matter when you need help, someone will respond quickly.

When you have an issue with your vehicle or your vehicle's key and you think you need a locksmith, you probably do. These are just a few of the common times you should call a car locksmith in Chicago.

Top Items You Should Keep In a Household Safe

You may already have a safety deposit box at your bank for valuable items, but should you put all of your eggs in one basket? The problem with your bank’s safety deposit box is that these are usually not insured while your home’s safe would likely be covered under your homeowner’s insurance. Plus, keeping cash in a safe means that your cash wouldn’t be insured either.

That’s why a household safe is the best way to go for things like cash, valuables, important documents, and family photos. You can’t access your bank safety deposit box outside of business hours or in the event of death without proper court papers from your estate representative. If you’re wondering what items make the most sense to keep at home, take a look below for your guide on what to keep in a household safe.

Social Security Cards, Passports and Birth Certificates

One of the first things you’ll likely want to secure into your household safe is your important identification. This includes your original social security cards, original birth certificates, and your passports. These are all items that are hard to replace and something you’ll need to travel, get social security benefits, or apply for things like marriage certificates. Make sure to keep these important items safe that identify you and your family, while being hard to replace if they were to get destroyed or lost.

Insurance, Financials, and Contact Info

Next, you’ll want to secure your financial house, your insurance paperwork, and contact information. Put your homeowners insurance and any other policies in here so that in the event of an emergency, you’ll be able to more easily contact your agent and file a claim. Financial paperwork like taxes, debts, stocks and bonds, deeds and titles, and investments, retirement plan, and bank accounts should all go in the safe.

Anything that covers your financial house should be protected so that you can protect your credit, keep tabs on your finances, not have to try to replace these important items. Having contact information for your insurance agents, outstanding debts, emergency contacts, and family members will make emergencies much less stressful as you’ll have the information and documents all protected.

Legal Documents

Speaking of documents, you’ll want to make sure you’ve added legal documents to your safe, such as any power of attorneys, your will, and marriage and death certificates. Legal documents like these should always be kept to ensure you protect yourself and that they can be found in the event of an emergency that requires your living will or information on your power of attorney.

Digital copy of family photos

Don’t forget sentimental items when you set up your safe. Keep digital media in here for your family photos, an inventory of the house, and files that you want to keep from a criminal. You can also keep family heirlooms and other irreplaceable, sentimental items in here.

Cash and firearms

Don’t forget to keep some cash in your safe since you don’t want to keep this in your safety deposit box. This is for an emergency situation in which you don’t want to worry about ATM limits, but also not keeping too much and risking theft. You’ll also want to keep your firearms in a safe since those are often targeted items and are rarely recovered. These are also important to keep in a safe when not in use for the safety of your family.

Lastly, make sure you’ve put items in your safe into waterproof bags to ensure their protection against water damage. Keeping these items in a waterproof, fireproof, and criminal proof household safe will put your mind at ease that your most important family possessions are protected in the event of an emergency. 

Make sure you contact The Professional Locksmith for any Chicago Safe Installation needs!

5 Security Tips for Moving into a New Home

Moving into a new home comes with a lot of new responsibilities, but the first one should be your home’s security. Having a secure home means having a more secure life and not worrying about your family’s safety. You want to protect this investment you’ve made, your valuables inside the home, and the people you share the home with which is why you need to learn a few security tips for the move in.

With burglaries occurring mostly in residential properties more than any other type in the US, it’s important to be ready before anything can happen. Use these five tips for securing your new home.

Secure your doors and windows

Start by securing doors and windows since many times burglaries happen through these access points. You’ll want to inspect your doors to ensure strong frames and protected hinges. If the wood is hollow or you have a mail slot in the door, you may want to consider a replacement door since it may be easy to break down or reach through and unlock.

Install a latch guard, peephole, or additional deadbolt on your front door and then work on replacing the window latches with locks or key-operated levers. Swapping out tempered or laminated glass to a stronger material will help with home security as well.

Get to know the neighbors

One of the easiest ways to stay safer is to meet your neighbors and build a relationship that will motivate one another to keep an eye out on the neighborhood. Your neighbors can help keep an eye on your home when you’re away to look for suspicious activity, but only if they know you and your routines. You can do the same for them to help keep the neighborhood a little bit safer.

Install a security system

You’ll definitely want to work with a professional in your area to install a security system. They will be able to help you put cameras up and point them in the perfect places to monitor, set you up with a motion sensor, and make suggestions on the type of security measures to have for your home.

Light up landscaping and add signs

Head out to the front and back lawn to work on lighting up the house better at night with landscape lighting. Many times a lit-up home with landscape lighting throughout is not going to be a theft target like a darker home with hiding spots would.

You can install motion sensor lighting if you don’t want to leave it on all night. Then put signs up around the house to show that you have a security system inside so that any burglars trying to break in during the day while you’re away will want to go elsewhere knowing that an alarm may go off.

Attempt to break-in yourself

Lastly, stay safe by trying to break into your home to look for vulnerabilities. You can even ask a friend to try to break in to see if they find places around the home that you may not have thought to secure. It will help you to determine what you can see through the curtains from inside, what valuables you’ve left unattended outside, and what areas are easy to access or hiding spots.

Don’t be a victim of a burglary in your new home due to neglecting some safety precautions. Use these tips to secure up your new home so that you can breathe easier during the day and throughout the night.

How to Find the Right Positioning for Your Security Cameras

If you’ve ever purchased your first home security system and started feeling more secure before realizing that you couldn’t actually see much of the area around your entryways, you are not alone.   The final step in the process is to make sure you’ve got the right position for those security cameras you just spent a great deal of money on, but many people don’t remember to consider the positioning during setup or simply don’t know the best strategy to position these cameras.

The worst thing that could happen is that you’ve equipped your home with protection and extra security just to find out after something happens that you couldn’t see it properly. How do you know if you’ve put the camera in the right position before you actually need something filmed? Take a look below at this very important part of having a property security camera.

Don’t install the system yourself

The best way to avoid poor positioning of your security cameras is to simply not attempt to install the system yourself. Getting a professional to install your cameras that know how to set it up properly, what you’ll need for your property, and finally how to do make sure everything is lined up for the best view is the best way to go about this.

Some things in life can be done yourself without too much trouble, but this is not one of them. A professional installing your security cameras know what to look for to make sure you are in the best position for catching a thief, watching for a package to be delivered or to see what guests have arrived at your door.

What could happen with improper positioning?

The problem with improper positioning is that even if you think you’ve covered your line of sight well enough, a criminal could easily bypass your line of sight when they notice your house isn’t properly outfitted.

Since they know so much about how these systems work, they will take the opportunity to attempt a robbery if they can tell that the house doesn’t have an adequate setup. If they can tell a professional has installed the system, they will likely look elsewhere for an easier opportunity.

Another problem that often comes up with someone tries to DIY their home security is that they don’t know how to place a camera based on its specific focus range and the type of camera it is. It should be aimed at a specific area and some cameras should be close, while others can be farther away. When you aren’t an expert in home security, you risk getting the burglar on camera but not being able to see them well enough to have evidence for the police.

Areas of the home that should have cameras

When you attempt to set up home security yourself, you may do everything right but neglect a part of the house. That’s why a professional should do the installation and look for vulnerabilities with the home that you may have missed. You’ll want security cameras at the front and back doors, side doors, and garage, as well as by windows, but a professional notice other opportunities, such as your basement window or upstairs balcony.

Don’t take the chance of installing your own cameras and missing the view of one of these other vulnerable locations or having an unfocused picture if something does happen. You’ll also want to make sure your cameras are following security camera placement laws which a professional may be more informed about than you are.

If home security is a priority for you, don’t take the chance of having your home at risk because you wanted to save some money doing it yourself. Do it right from the start by hiring a professional to install it that knows proper placement, vulnerabilities in your home, and the laws of camera placement.

What to look for in a home safe

Have you been looking for a way to protect some of the most precious items in your home, like old family photos, expensive jewelry, and important documents like birth certificates? A home safe may be the perfect solution for you to keep items that you want to protect from a fire or other disaster, especially when it comes to a priceless heirloom or family photos.

You can use a safe for a more secure location to store things like your will, car titles, sensitive computer data, and passports so that in the event of a flood, fire, or burglary, you can ensure these items will likely go untouched. Take a look at what you should be looking for in a home safe.

What to consider before buying a safe

First, you’ll want to consider a few points before making your safe purchase. Things like size, features, and use are important to know before getting a safe for the home.

Do you want a safe with fire protection, water protection, and theft protection, or are you only concerned with one of these areas? What items will you be keeping in the safe? You’ll need to know this so that you can choose the correct size.

Where in the home will the safe need to go? This will affect the safe type, whether it’s a wall safe or floor safe.  Consider the size you’ll need, the budget you can afford, the location, and the elements of protection you want in a safe.  Then talk to your professional locksmith about safe installation to get it bolted down in the home so that a burglar can’t walk off with it.  

Types of safes

There are a variety of safe types that you’ll want to consider for your needs. Most people like to have a fireproof or water resistant safe in the home in the event of fire or flooding, but there are other specialty safes that could be beneficial to you, like a jewelry safe, data safe, burglary safe, and gun safe. They can range from anywhere as low as $25 to a few hundred dollars.

Since you’ll want to store documents that are easy to grab in an emergency or important enough that they shouldn’t just be left out, you’ll want to get something that can hold everything from your passports to your tax returns. Get one big enough to store the following:

• “power of attorney” document

• insurance policies

• social security cards

• a copy of your will, deeds

• emergency cash

• camera negatives

• anything of value!

You’ll want one that can also store important collections like baseball cards or stamps that are irreplaceable. Valuable items like tape recordings or flash drives, engagement rings, computer data, and family heirlooms here need to go here as well. You’d be smart to keep a photo or video inventory of the home in here.

Look for a low UL rating on the safe since the lower the number, the better protection from fire, and be sure to place items into resealable plastic bags to help prevent water damage. You can choose between a dial lock like a school locker would have or a digital lock like you’d see in hotel safes. A safe on the ground can handle more weight and be bolted down while a wall safe is going to hold less weight.

A jewelry safe may make sense in your bedroom closet but a burglar would probably never look for your jewelry in a basement, so the location of the safe is an important decision. While fire is the most common reason for a loss of assets, burglary and water damage follow, making fire protection the most important element in your decision for a safe.

A burglary safe will have a harder lock to pick and more weight to deter a home invader. Consider where in the home you are most likely to have a burglar invade, where you are likely to see flooding, and where you are likely to still be able to access the items without too much trouble.

If you were to lose everything in your home, what would be the most devastating thing to lose? Consider getting a safe for your home to protect those items that would hurt the most to lose. In the event of an emergency, you can focus on your family’s safety knowing that those irreplaceable items are already stowed away in that home safe.