Vacation checklist

• Make your home look as lived-in as possible while you’re away.
• Let your neighbors and the Pelham Police know. You can fill out a Vacant House Check form and drop it off at the police station. (see below for more info).
• Give a spare key to a neighbor you trust and give them an emergency telephone number to reach you.
• Arrange to have your mail and newspapers either stopped or picked up daily.
• Have someone mow your yard or rake the leaves so your house looks lived-in.
• Do not post that you are away on social media sites.

• Use automatic timers to turn on a radio, television and lights at different times to hide the fact you are not home.
• Turn down the ringer on the telephone, an unanswered telephone is a dead give-away no one is home.
• Be sure you don’t announce your absence on your answering machine message.
• Leave your blinds like you normally would if you were home. Only close them all the way if that is what you would normally do.
• Be sure to close and lock the garage as well as any storage sheds, gates, etc.
• Engrave all your valuables with your driver’s license number. If possible, videotape the contents of your home. Be sure to keep the video and the list of valuables in a safety deposit box.
• Ask your neighbor to occasionally park in your driveway. If you are leaving a vehicle parked outside, have the neighbor move it periodically so it looks as though you are home.

 

Vacant House Check Forms

See Dispatch at the COMMUNICATIONS WINDOW, open 24/7, at the Police Department to obtain and fill out the vacant house check form. Make sure to fill it out completely and drop it back off at the police station or fill it out in the lobby. Pelham police officers will then check on your residence periodically during routine patrols while you are away on vacation.