Although Rocky River has avoided many of the crimes commonly associated with densely populated areas, a few home burglaries have occurred lately and your police department wants to do everything possible to help keep you safe and secure.

• First and foremost…please lock your doors! When you’re not home and leave your door unlocked, you may be inviting a criminal into your house with unfettered access to everything you own. Most criminals are looking for “easy prey” and leaving your doors open provides just that.

• Invest in a good quality deadbolt lock with a long throw and reinforced strike plates that anchor deep into the door jamb.

• Consider replacing outer doors that have glass panes with solid doors, or ones that have only small, high mounted glass panes. This can eliminate the criminal from breaking the glass and reaching in to unlock the door.

• Use light to its advantage. Install light fixtures high off the ground to avoid tampering and put one at every doorway to your home. Energy efficient florescent bulbs are now commonplace, less expensive to purchase, and much cheaper to operate which will save you money on your electric bill.

• Trim bushes down so that anyone lurking around your home does not have a place to hide.

• Use anti-burglar bars in your sliding glass patio doors and consider installing pins through the frames to avoid them from being lifted out of the tracks. Installing pins through the frames of common double-hung windows is also a good idea.

• Get to know your neighbors and keep a vigilant eye open. If you suspect any wrong-doing or suspicious behavior, PLEASE don’t hesitate to call the police. We would much rather find out that your call was related to a misdirected delivery man, plumber or alike, than to find out later that suspicious activity was seen but never reported and that a home entry had occurred in the neighborhood.

• Consider the possibility of purchasing a home security system. Some modest systems are actually fairly inexpensive and can help provide peace of mind.

Taking crime prevention and Homeland Security seriously is everybody’s business. Be proactive in protecting your property and reporting any suspicious activity to your police department right away. Remember the motto… “If you see it, report it”. Together we can keep Rocky River a great, safe and secure, place to live and work.

Ptl. William Dawson (CPS, Ohio Crime Prevention Assoc.)

Rocky River PD