FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 19, 2016 Contact: Kraig Troxell, Public Information Officer, 703-771-5278 Kraig.Troxell@loudoun.gov Alex Kowalski, Public Information Officer, 703-777-0625 Aleksandra.Kowalski@loudoun.gov LCSO #CrimePreventionMonth – Home Safety! Loudoun County, VA –The month of October is National Crime Prevention month and the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office is challenging the entire community to make crime prevention a priority. LCSO strongly believes that citizen involvement in crime prevention can and has played a vital role in helping many communities stay safe. The National Crime Prevention Council designated October as Crime Prevention Month in 1984. The month-long campaign reinforces the fact that awareness and prevention pays off by keeping communities safer. As part of an ongoing effort to inform the community on the latest crime trends, the agency will post tips each Wednesday on social media and through press releases related to four specific categories. This week will focus on home safety. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a burglary occurs somewhere in the United States every 15.4 seconds. Home burglaries are often times a crime of opportunity that capitalizes on carelessness and neglect. In 2015, there were more than 1.5 million burglaries in the United States. Intruders will generally spend no more than 60 seconds trying to break into a home; so take a few minutes to watch our video about how to protect your home. This week the LCSO released an informational video on how to reduce your chances on becoming a victim of a residential burglary. The video includes crime prevention tips and what to do if you find that someone has broken into your home. The video can be viewed here. Here are 5 tips to protect yourself from becoming a victim of a burglary: (1) With colder weather right around the corner, cooler nights can cause outdoor lights to burn out. Keep a close eye on outdoor lighting once night time temps start to drop to ensure they are still working properly. (2) Cooler daytime temperatures may tempt us to open our windows and enjoy some fresh air. Be sure to close and lock windows when you are not at home. Even a quick trip to the grocery store can be enough time for someone to burglarize your home using that open window as their means of entry. (3) Open garage doors are an invitation for would be thieves. Please check your garage doors as one of your last steps before heading to bed each night. (4) Valuables should never be stored in plain sight in a vehicle. It is better to bring them into the house and prevent their loss to would be thieves. (5) With the holiday’s right around the corner, if you are going to be away from home take a few steps to prevent being targeted. Make your home look like someone is still there. Have someone collect your mail and newspaper while you’re gone. Use light timers to keep a few lights turned on inside the house at night. Be careful keeping outdoor lighting on all the time. A sure sign that someone is out of town is an outside light that has been on continuously for several days. REMEMBER! The best crime prevention tool is alert neighbors. Be aware of suspicious activity in your neighborhood, and report it to LCSO. Suspicious Activity can be unusual door-to-door solicitation, strange vehicles in area, anyone loitering or walking aimlessly in your neighborhood, especially late at night, or suspicious people around homes where you know the residents are away or out of town. If you are a resident of Loudoun County and believe you were a victim of a burglary please contact the Loudoun County Sheriff’s at 703-777-1021 or file a report online at http://sheriff.loudoun.gov/reportonline. As part of National Crime Prevention Month, over the course of the next week the LCSO will focus on Child Safety. Take the proper measures to protect yourself from crime watch and use #CrimePreventionMonth to re-tweet and share our posts on social media. ###