An empty house, car or even cabin can be an easy target for potential burglars. Most cabins are used on the weekends or seasonally, making them an easy score to a thief. Without the proper precautions, you may visit your cabin and find everything from the tool shed to the bedroom stripped of valuables. Prepare yourself and your cabin with these burglar deterrents.
Big-Time Thieves and Amateurs
There are more than 8,000 home burglaries in the United States every day. Fewer than 15 percent of these criminals are caught, which means many repeat offenders are still on the loose and searching for their next targets.
While professional burglars can spot a cabin or house that’s been empty for a long time, you’re more likely to be vandalized by opportunistic amateurs. These thieves aren’t cracking any vaults, but they’ll certainly break a window or force a door open if they know you won’t be around for the next couple months.
That’s why you should either pay or enlist a friend who lives nearby to check up on your cabin periodically. They should check locks, windows and even the mail. And consider installing a home security system with cameras for added peace of mind.
Don’t Lend Cover
A cabin in the woods generally removed from the hustle and bustle of civilization will naturally have more shrubs, trees and bushes around it. While you may enjoy the ruggedness of an overgrown forest on the steps of your cabin, these plants can lend cover to any burglars seeking an easy hit.
Trim back the forest so that burglars can’t use your landscaping as cover as they break in. While this may seem like a waste of time if your cabin is miles from neighbors, amateur burglars get cold feet if they don’t have the cover they want.
Timers
Light is a sure sign someone is home. In a burglar’s mind, a dark house translates to an empty house. Give the appearance of an occupied home with timers on your lights and TV. This might not fool a veteran of the burglary trade, but the chance that your cabin will be a target is slim.
With the TV on at typical times of the evening and lights on a realistic time schedule, only the most nuanced burglars will know if you’re actually home or not. If you’re reluctant to have your TV come on, fool burglars by purchasing an inexpensive Fake TV that emits a television’s flickering glow.
Don’t Advertise Your Absence
Not everyone you know needs to know you have a cabin, and unless you plan on sharing it with them, they don’t ever need to know. There’s no reason you should advertise on Facebook or Twitter that there’s a vacant cabin the majority of the year. While part of the fun is sharing your adventures, do so carefully.
