Protecting Your Valuables
Listing & Marking Your Property.
It is a good idea to make a detailed list of any valuables you may have. Jewellery, antiques, electrical and electronic items.
Please make the list as detailed as possible. You should include full descriptions of the items, any identifying marks or defects that make the item unique. this could help in recovering your property if it is stolen. Don’t forget to list serial numbers from electrical items as well.
Take photographs of your valuables too, as this will aid the police in tracing them if stolen.
Include a coin in the picture, (a 2p piece for example), and/or a ruler, this will give a good indication of the size of the item in the picture, in relation to the coin/ruler.
We recommend that you have the photographs printed, and that you keep them in a safe place. (Digital images on a laptop or digital camera are of little use if they are stolen too)!
If you do not have access to this type of camera then we recommend purchasing a cheap “single use” camera. These are available from supermarkets and chemists, usually for under a fiver.
Photographs will also be useful if you have to make an insurance claim.
Mark any valuable property with your postcode, house name or number.
Inexpensive UV marker pens are available for this. These pens will leave a near invisible mark that will show up under an ultra violet light.
Once you have taken steps to make sure that everything is suitably marked and catalogued. Feel free to advertise the fact. Special stickers can be applied to marked items that will let thieves know that this has been done.
Storing Your Valuables.
Jewellery will, of course, usually be stored in a jewellery box. This will probably be kept on your dressing table, or at least somewhere convenient for you to get at.
Unfortunately, what is convenient for you will also be convenient for a burglar, should he or she get in. Your jewellery box may have a lock, but, don’t imagine for one minute that this is any deterrent. The box will simply be taken, to be opened later.
At the very least, find somewhere hidden to store your jewellery. Preferably somewhere that a burglar is unlikely to find. Be as imaginative as possible. Don’t forget that a burglar will readily empty out drawers in the search for “goodies”.
Anything of value, even if it’s just sentimental value, should preferably be locked safely away in a well secured safe. Again, keep the safe as well hidden as you can.
Perhaps there may be some sense in leaving a box full of inexpensive, costume jewellery, in full view, in the hope that a burglar will be satisfied with this, and not think to look further!
Storing Your Electrical & Electronic Goods.
It would be utterly ridiculous to suggest that you lock your TV in a safe, every time you finish watching it. It is also highly unlikely that you will want to chain and padlock everything down.
Actually though, special safes are available for the storage of laptops and other small gadgets. You should, perhaps, consider having one. They are an excellent, “last line of defence”.
As for your TV, sound system, PC, etc. there is very little that you can do, except for making sure that these items are kept out of sight, (not readily visible from windows etc). And, of course, making sure that your home is as impenetrable to burglars as possible.
Storing Antiques & Ornaments.
Again, you will probably not want to lock these away, and why should you? Having these items on display, for your enjoyment, is probably the main reason for having them in the first place.
Follow sensible precautions, don’t leave them visible to prying eyes, and increase your home security as much as you can, and you will at least lessen the risk of losing them.
Insurance.
Don’t forget to include items of value on your home contents insurance, or a specialist insurance policy for particularly important or valuable pieces.
Insurance can’t, of course, replace items of great personal value, but it will, at the least, help to lessen the blow if they are stolen.
The important thing is, to do all that you can to reduce your risk of burglary in the first place.
