A Message About Our Garage Doors
One of the simplest things we can do to reduce crime in Richland Park/Oaks is more closely monitor our garage doors. The Richardson Police department reports the mass majority of our crimes occur because we leave garage doors open and unattended. Open garage doors are invitations to criminals. Like sugar to ants, criminals seem to always find these open doors. It takes only a few minutes to ransack a garage, and you will probably never even hear them. So please keep your garage doors closed.
We hope you understand the problems with the back alley garages we have in Richland Park/Oaks. We can reduce crime in our neighborhood by being more aware of our garage doors. It takes the crime patrol about 1.5 hours to check all 968 garage doors on each and every shift, and this time can be reduced if we all pitch in. Through education and little team work, we can help take a bite out of crime.
Please review this detailed message about garage doors.
Tips
- Try to wait until the garage door reaches the fully closed position before leaving the area.
- Do not leave an open garage door unattended, not even for a few minutes
- When leaving your home, ask yourself did I lock all doors, shut the garage and set the alarm
- Consider replacing older garage door systems; newer models have better security features and are more reliable
- Do not leave the garage door partially open; make sure it stays fully closed
- Remove the cord hanging down from the garage door; thieves are grabbing this cord with a coat hanger to gain access to closed garages
- Check your neighbors garages when you’re driving around; call them if you find a door that’s open
- Engrave valuables with TX and then your drivers license number; this will help police identify (and return) stolen property. Keep a list of all valuables along with serial number
- Get to know your neighbors, including the cars they drive. If you see a suspicious car, please call the police right away
- Always keep the door between your house and garage locked. Many open garage door thefts lead to home burglaries because this door is left unlocked.
- Think about adding a garage door contact to your home alarm system that will activate the alarm if the garage door is opened. This will provide extra protection for valuables located in your garage.
- Never enter your garage
