Now that Cyber Monday shopping is complete and the holidays are underway for many households in our community it is a sad reality that unwanted criminal activity can also follow. Already there have been reports within our community of several vehicles being broken into or rifled through and missing packages. These incidents have been reported to the Columbus Police.
Please help secure our community by following these best practices this holiday season:
- Remove valuables and secure vehicles at night
Do not leave computer or shopping bags in your car overnight. When possible park utilizing a garage. Double check that car doors are fully closed and locked at the end of the day. - Make sure outdoor lighting is ON and functional at night
Outdoor lighting can do a lot to deter theft as this makes it more challenging for hiding. - If you have cameras on your property ensure they are placed correctly to capture images that might be useful in identification
Double check your camera placement and ensure that areas like driveways and walkways are within your camera range. These should be checked regularly to ensure that no animals or people may have tampered with them. - Secure any deliveries as soon as possible
If packages are delivered to your home remove them from your porch as soon as possible. Ideas for securing packages include: providing a discreet location where these items can be dropped off for delivery so they are not visible from the street, delivering items to an office, or seeing if a neighbor can gather the package until you are able to collect it yourself. Amazon, Target, and many others have drive-up services where you can collect items from the store or deliver to a storage locker instead of leaving items on a porch.Door Kicking Trend Affecting VAT homeowners
Finally a note about a recent social media trend of “door kicking”. Two teens have been spotted several times in recent weeks throughout our community walking up to garage doors and proceeding to kick the doors with considerable force. This often makes quite a loud sound startling homeowners who go out to explore and find no source of the noise as the teens have run off. However “harmless” this might be viewed – kicking these doors can lead to damage and repairs by homeowners. The suspects have been caught on camera multiple times and identification is in process. These incidents have also been reported to the Columbus Police for follow up. Should you have any further details about the identity of these suspects or should your property have been damaged from this trend please file police reports or contact Columbus Police as appropriate.
We hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday season.