Watch your local nightly news, follow your local police department on social media or just chat with your neighbours and you’ll undoubtedly hear about the ongoing issue of crime — homes being broken into, windows being smashed, porch pirates taking off with parcels. Crimes of opportunity are a serious problem nationwide. And although the Royal Canadian Mounted Police reported a slight decrease in property crime offences in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 — there were fewer break-and-enters and motor vehicle thefts overall — property crime is still an issue in communities across Alberta.
“No matter where you live — on a country acreage or in the biggest city — these are often crimes of opportunity,” says Dominic Schamuhn, AMA’s advocacy manager. “It just takes a moment to happen, but there are steps we can take to keep our properties, homes and vehicles safe.”
A good place to start, says Schamuhn, is tweaking your evening routine to ensure that doors, windows, the garage, shed and cars — whether parked in your garage, on your driveway or on the street in front of your home — are all locked before you call it a night. One helpful technique — supported by AMA, the RCMP, the Calgary Police Service and other local law-enforcement agencies — is dubbed the “9 p.m. routine,” which focuses on developing the habit of checking, and double-checking, that everything is secure before heading to bed.
“The name is catchy, but the specific time you do it isn’t what’s important. This is about building in a layer of protection for your home,” Schamuhn explains. “Think about the end of the day. You turn off the TV and turn off the lights. Now, as part of that routine, check to make sure doors and windows are locked. Make sure you haven’t forgotten anything on the porch. Maybe when you got home, the dog was barking, the kids were hungry and you forgot something on your front step? Check bikes and tools. Are they in the shed or garage? Are vehicles locked? Do this every night and you’ll remove opportunities for a would-be thief to access your property.”
There are other simple ways to help prevent thefts. If you’re not going to be home to receive deliveries, have online orders delivered to the post office, a pickup location, your office or a neighbour’s house (if they’ll be home). As for safety measures in your home, there are several you can consider — installing motion sensors, improving exterior lighting, setting up a doorbell camera with recording capabilities or purchasing a home alarm system. Any one of these adds a layer of protection for your home. While layers of protection can help, the gold standard is ensuring you’ve locked up and your valuables aren’t in sight of a thief. And since one good habit leads to another, practising the 9 p.m. routine every night before, say, you brush your teeth, can make all the difference.
Visit ama.ab.ca/crimeprevention for more tips on how to keep your home, vehicle and property safe.