A 30+ YEAR LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS DISCUSSES EXTERIOR LIGHTING TO REDUCE LIKELIHOOD OF BURGLARY AND THEFT.

Exterior Lighting for Extra Home Security

A 30+ year law enforcement officers discusses exterior lighting to reduce likelihood of burglary and theft.

This posting is a bit out of the norm for this website, but I thought it timely, especially at the holiday season to talk a bit about making your home a harder target. I just installed 4 new motion security lights at my home. I should have done so years ago, but living in a less crime ridden area, I did not see a need to enhance the existing exterior lighting.

However, being in law enforcement, I keep up with the crimes occurring around my home, and seeing an increase in residential burglary, as well as a multi-fold increase in automobile burglaries, I decided to make my home a harder target. If your law enforcement agency uses one of the free crime mapping websites you absolutely should keep up with the activities occurring around your neighborhood. A couple you can check are www.crimereports.com and www.raidsonline.com these are free to you and free to your police or sheriff department. If your law enforcement agency is not sending their crime data out to the public, get in touch with them and ask about it. It is very easy to push the crime data to these public websites.

One very simple and easy way to increase your safety outside your home is to add lighting.

 Seldom ever did I investigate a burglary where the home was well illuminated. And I don’t recall any burglaries where the home had really good lighting to include motion detection. While browsing Amazon, I found these lights Secure Home Motion Lights for a good price, less than $40. These lights have features that make them stand out amongst the crowd.

They use halogen bulbs, 2- 150 watt bulbs

Half-bright setting

Multiple settings for motion

Completely adjustable for detector and halogen reflectors

Gradual full bright activation

Installation was a breeze, took about 15 minutes per light. Even if you are only a weekend warrior like me, installation should be simple. Just follow instructions, removing the old fixture and replacing with the Secure Home Light is not a problem. I like the half-bright feature, this setting turns the lights on at dusk, and they remain on for 3 or 6 hours or have a dusk to dawn setting, any motion brings the lights to full brightness.  As thieves travel around looking for the “easy target” when they see a home with obvious lighting,,, that tells them the homeowner is security conscious. So, they find a home on down the road that looks like and easier target.

Setting up the lights was a breeze, the motion sensor has a test setting so you can hone in on the motion needed to activate the lights. Another handy feature is the gradual activation when motion is detected. When the motion sensor is tripped, the lights come on slowly; this adds life to the halogen bulbs. That sudden burst of 100% power can blow bulbs, so I am hopeful this feature will add life to the bulbs.

So there you have it, a simple weekend project that will make your home a harder target. If you use the links above to purchase your security lights, I will make a few pennies. The Amazon links help me to keep my website running. The links do not cost you anything more, so consider browsing Amazon. Check out Amazon Prime, watch this video to see what it is all about, Amazon Prime Video.

John Hames