Summer is the popular time for people to go on vacation, but law enforcement reminds you of ways to keep your home safe while you are traveling.

Jefferson Police Chief Mark Clouse says they offer residents a Vacation Home Checklist, where officers can periodically stop by your home to make sure there is nothing suspicious while you are gone. Information such as when you are gone, are your home’s lights on timers, will there be any vehicles on the property or is someone occasionally checking on your home or are allowed to come and go from your property while you’re gone are needed for the checklist.

“So that as we’re patrolling and as we’re doing Vacation Home Checklist, we have all those tools if you will to determine if everything appears to be okay while we’re checking your residence.”  

Clouse advises against people sharing pictures or other narratives of where you are on social media while on vacation.

“There are probably people that are watching Facebook and when you’re posting, ‘I’m in Colorado, look at the beautiful mountains,’ and all these things, they know you are not at home and will take advantage of that. So it may be best to wait til you get home to post those vacation pictures. I know that’s hard in today’s society, we’re an instant society anymore. But there are a lot of things that you can do to protect yourself.”   

Clouse adds that there should be a neighbor or a friend that you can ask to keep an eye on your home and to pick up any mail or packages that are delivered.