MPD: Protect Your Home During Your Vacation

Summer vacation.

Those two little words say it all — an escape from the city, even from a place as lovely as Georgetown.

Whether you're looking forward to blissful days at the beach or a relaxing mountain retreat, these precious weeks spent with family and friends are ones we look forward to all year.

One thing you don't want to have to worry about you're while away is protecting your home from theft.

The DC Metropolitan Police Department's Second District offers the following tips:

• "While on business or leisure travel, make plans to have your mail held (which can be done online www.usps.gov ) and only inform trusted neighbors to remove newspapers or flyers from your yard. Never post vacation pictures on social media in real time. Save them for when you return home."
• Report on the MPD listserv any company that repeatedly leaves unwanted flyers in your yard.
• "Keep shades and blinds in their normal positions"
• "Put several household lights on timers so they turn on and off at appropriate times."
• "Arrange to have grass mowed (or snow shoveled in the winter) while you’re gone."
• "Make sure all your door and window locks are in working order — AND USE THEM!"
• "You may want to leave a radio on — or put it on a timer."
• "Ask a neighbor to park in your driveway overnight — anything that might suggest someone’s home."
• "Activate your home alarm."