Master Deputy Stanley Murray from Orange County Sheriff’s Office provided the following notice to residents in our area.
June 8th 2016, is the last day of public school in Orange County, announcing the beginning of summer in and around our communities. Nationally statistics show a rise in home and vehicle crimes occurring.
Take the time to deter crime to your home and vehicles with the following considerations:
Lighting:
1. Implement a thorough physical inspection of your interior and exterior fixtures of faulty or inoperable lighting.
2. This a great time to add motion lighting around the dark pockets of your home to decrease the opportunity for criminal activity to occur.
3. If possible utilize LED over fluorescent bulbs to increase illumination time and decrease electrical consumption.
Locks:
1. Ensure the door plate screws in the frame of your door are tightly fastened and in place
2. When possible exchange your standard one(1) inch door frame screw for a minimum three (3)inch screw to increase stability of the door frame area, and decrease kick-ins.
3. Consider the adding of “headless” window locks with hex key application from your local hardware stores to decrease the opportunity for entry into your home.
4. Consider the use of your garage to house your car instead of the driveway to decrease the opportunity for vehicle break-ins or auto thefts.
5. At the minimum consider removing ALL items of value from plain sight of the interior of your locked vehicle to include phone and tablet chargers, which could leave the belief an electronic device is inside.
Landscaping:
1: Be watchful of overgrown shrubbery that is covering window areas that hinder natural surveillance of suspicious activity or crimes in progress.
2. Check loose or faulty fencing around your yard to prevent potential “pockets” for illegal entry onto property areas closed off to the public.
3. Check adjoining sheds for faulty locks or doors to prevent thefts of lawn or landscaping equipment.
Consider calling 911 or the Orange County Sheriff’s Office non-emergency number of 407-836-4357(HELP) after identifying suspicious activity and actual crimes in progress.
Master Deputy Stanley Murray
Orange County Sheriff’s Office
Crime Prevention Unit- Sector 5 & 6
Stanley.Murray@ocfl.net