Do you have someone throwing eggs, paint or toilet paper in and around your Sydney property? While some may put this down to childish pranks, it can becoming irritating if it happens more than once. If you are dealing with a reoccurring problem with vandals causing damage to your property, here are some important steps that you can take to catch the perpetrators.
1. Talk to your teenagers- If you have teenage children, your stolen letter box could be due to a fall out with a kid at school. Teenagers do a number of things to get other teens attention, so talking to your teenager about anyone who might be causing the damage is important. Make sure that your teenager knows you won’t punish them for what someone else has done, you just want to know who it is as you will be notifying the police should it happen again.
This works in two ways- either they will tell you who they think it might be, or they will go to school and tell their friends about the further police involvement if it happens again and that should get back to the person who’s doing it.
2. If you hear something and immediately run out of your property you should take down the number plate and call the police immediately who will follow it up. Once again, eggs and throwing things like toilet paper are usually done by young people still living at home so they are easy to track down.
3. Install security systems- cctv systems work as a great deterrent for people who want to cause damage to your property to send you a message. People who do this aren’t hardened criminals (in most instances) so they are still scared of video cameras recording their actions.
If they are unaware of your recent video surveillance installation, then the next time they try to terrorize your home, you’ll be able to catch them in the act on camera. The HD video footage you’ve obtained through your surveillance equipment means that you can go to the police with hard evidence and if something truly serious ensues you can use the footage in court as evidence.
4. Ramp up all security measures in your home- If there is someone out to get you because they are seeking revenge or are upset at you for any reason, you want to make sure that your home is secure and that you have a high level of security in place. It’s one thing to want to ward off vandals, but if things escalate and they try to enter your property, you want to make it impossible.
Unfortunately we can never truly know how far people will go, so it’s always better to be over-cautious. When it comes to protecting your family and keeping your home safe, taking a serious number of precautions is always the best way to go and remember, never underestimate your enemy.
