Safety Tips

  • Close your blinds/curtains – especially at night or whenever you are not home.  Don’t give someone the opportunity to watch you and learn your routine.  If you are at  home alone at night, turn on lights in different rooms to give the appearance that more people are home.  If you see someone or something that looks suspicious, call the police department.
  • Do not leave your name on your answering machine.  If you are going away for holidays or the weekend, do not leave this information on your machine
  • Always lock your door – even when you are home, or just going to the mailbox, or next door.  It only takes a minute for someone to get into your home. 
  • Make sure all of your windows are always locked.  Please let us know if they are not working properly.
  • Invest in an alarm system with a motion sensor.  Small window alarms can be purchased at  Lowes/Home Depot.
  • Don’t hide a spare key.  If you can think of a hiding place, then a criminal can too!
  • Get to know your neighbors! Ask them to keep an eye on your place… and do the same for them.
  • Make sure to leave your outdoor lights on in the evening whether someone is home or not.  Please let us know if your flood lights are burned out.
  • Do not list your address in the phone book.  The phone company can handle this request.
  • Do not open your door to a stranger, including door-to door salesmen.  Verbally answering through the closed locked door lets them know the apartment is not empty.
  • Get Renter’s insurance
  • Inscribe  all your valuables with  identifying numbers approved by local police.  This will help ensure your items can be returned to you if they are stolen.  Make a list of all valuables by serial number/description/brand name with pictures in case your items are stolen.  Give a copy to a family member.  See the UGA  Police Department web site for information about engraving your property.
  • Always lock your vehicles and close your windows completely!  Perpetrators can force down windows that are left partially open.
  • Do not leave any items of value in your cars.  Purses, IPOds, cell phones, cameras, CD’s, laptop computers, even loose change laying on the console are an invitation to thieves.
  • If plan to go away for a period of time make sure you have mail and newspaper deliveries stopped or make arrangements for a trusted friend or neighbor to pick them up.