Be smart and set the scene for secure outside spaces

At this time of year, we tend to prefer staying indoors – after all, who really wants to go out and get cold if they can avoid it? But if we’re spending more time inside, that can make it easier for criminals to seize the opportunity to steal things that don’t belong to them, while it gets dark earlier in the evenings and fewer people are out and about in residential areas.

Fortunately, there are various ways to protect your home and your property. All you need to do is make your home a bit smarter – so let’s take a closer look at how.

Help prevent crime by smartening up your home

Smart technology is becoming increasingly popular in home settings and there are many good reasons why. Not only can it help make your everyday life more comfortable and convenient, but you can also use it to deter any would-be intruders.

A smart home system featuring a range of devices can easily be used to create the impression that someone is there. Motorised blinds or shutters and smart lighting can be programmed to activate at specific times, for example, while a roller blind can be set to close just as several lights come on in different rooms. This makes it look like someone’s at home, which might put an intruder off.

These days, you can also incorporate a smart home alarm into your smart home setup. If the alarm’s sensor picks up any signs of an attempted break-in, it will make the lights come on, an alarm sound and your blinds or shutters open all at the same time. This will send out warning signals to intruders, making them unlikely to stick around and try their luck. No matter whether you’re at home or not, you can keep a close eye on what’s happening around your property and even watch what’s going on via a security camera if you have one.

Set a smart and secure scene for outside spaces

But remember, it’s not just indoors where you can make it look like someone’s at home or create a deterrent. There are often other spaces in and around your garden that could attract burglars too. You might have a barbecue on your patio, for example, or some nice outdoor furniture – or maybe some children’s toys or outdoor speakers. You might also have cars, bikes, e-scooters or other things that a thief might think worth stealing on your driveway.

Apart from installing an outdoor camera – or maybe even several – you can also use your lighting to put off intruders. You can connect your existing outdoor lighting system to security cameras, which will make the lights switch on automatically when they detect any movement. By programming a smart scene using a device like Somfy’s TaHoma switch, you can set a strategically placed motion sensor to trigger the lighting in your garden, around your driveway and on your patio, with selected indoor lights coming on and a couple of roller blinds opening at the same time. This will give the impression that someone has woken up and got out of bed to come and investigate what’s going on.

It doesn’t matter whether anyone is actually at home or not: a smart scene like this can be activated at any time, even if you’re on holiday or away for the weekend. Set everything to return to normal after 20 minutes or so, and you will help to significantly enhance the security of your neighbourhood, which benefits everyone!

Don’t forget to liaise with your neighbours

Depending on where you live, you’ve probably got neighbours nearby. Banding together as a neighbourhood has been proven to provide a real security boost. Keeping your eyes and ears open to what’s going on in the surrounding area may mean that an attempted break-in can be discovered more quickly and – ideally – averted altogether.

If you’re planning to go away, let your neighbours know so they can take action if they spot anything suspicious. With any luck they won’t need to do anything at all, especially if you have a smart home that automatically takes preventive measures if anyone tries anything they shouldn’t – but it’s better to be on the safe side, don’t you think?