Leave a light on

Sometimes a good deterrent to crime can be three women in an old Ford Crown Victoria.

On a warm Wednesday evening this week, SCOPE volunteers Lois Martin, Lavonne Hellman and Marilyn Greer cruised the rural streets of Otis Orchards in an old sheriff’s cruiser, stopping occasionally to check homes that were empty while their residents vacationed.

“We check the windows to see if they’re broken, and the doors to see if they’re open,” Hellman said. “I think it helps.”

The women were part of SCOPE’s free vacation home-check program, a year-round service in which volunteers check residences and businesses to make sure nobody has broken into them.

“The program provides peace of mind to traveling homeowners. I may also prevent burglaries, which increase in the summer,” said Spokane Valley Police Detective Chuck Haley.

“You can’t always stop them, but you can at least make it harder for the crooks,” Haley said.

Summer is prime time for burglars, Haley said.

“People are out more in the summer, people are out at night,” he said. “When it’s 20 below, they’re home, warm where everybody else is.”

Homeowners can take a few measures to make sure their homes stay safe during the high theft months, Haley and police spokesman Sgt. Dave Reagan said. The most basic principles are simple:

“Leave a light on, lock up and tell the neighbors,” Reagan said. “If crooks weren’t lazy they’d be working for a living. They always take the easiest victim.”

The best way to secure your home is to make sure it always looks like somebody is inside, Haley said. Some common sense also helps, he said.

Make sure garage doors are closed at night. Thieves will often enter garages and steal power tools and other items, he said. Put curtains in garage windows so thieves can’t tell if your car is inside.

Also keep lights on outside, he said. Motion sensor lights work well, and a porch light does not cost much to keep lit during the night.

Residents should also take steps to aid in recovery of items before they’re ever even stolen, Haley said.

Homeowners should photograph their valuables and write down serial numbers, he said. Engraving a driver’s license number onto an item also helps.

In case stolen materials are ever recovered, or a thief attempts to pawn them, the numbers will help police get the stolen items back to their owners.

“If you’re ever a victim of a crime, preparation ahead of time is the key,” Haley said.

When people go on vacation, they should take steps to make sure their home doesn’t look like a target, Reagan said.

Residents should hold their newspaper so they don’t pile up on the front porch, and leave a radio playing in the home, he said.

But perhaps the most important step is to let your neighbors know what’s going on, Haley said.

“Neighbors looking out for neighbors is really the most effective thing,” he said.