PROVO, Utah--(BUSINESS WIRE)--More than 103 million Americans were expected to travel for the year-end holidays in 2016, and this year will likely see hundreds of millions away from home again. With so many homes unoccupied, the holiday season attracts nefarious activity of all kinds.
Vivint Smart Home customer Dan Rivers found that a Vivint smart home provides protection against even the most creative criminals. Rivers, a resident of Ridgecrest, Calif., received an alert of a would-be burglar stuck in an unexpected place – his chimney.
Rivers’ experience began when he left town for a short trip. A day later, a criminal spotted Rivers’ Vivint yard sign and thought he could circumvent the smart home system by entering through a chimney opening just 16 inches in diameter.
Once the criminal became wedged in the chimney, an accomplice broke a window to gain access to the home in an attempt to free the man. Rivers’ smart home system detected the broken window and alerted Vivint monitoring professionals and the local authorities. Vivint then notified Rivers that police were able to rescue and arrest the individual.
“There was a time when you could walk away from your house and leave your doors and windows open; you didn’t have any trouble,” Rivers said. “It wasn’t until that fella tried to break into my house that I realized the importance of having a smart home system. I would have come home to an empty house.”
Watch a video of Rivers’ experience: https://youtu.be/sc5EiCTtLG4.
Here are several tips homeowners can use to help protect their homes this holiday season and beyond:
- Keep bushes and trees trimmed to reduce places for criminals to hide.
- Use smart lighting indoors and outdoors that you can control remotely to provide the appearance of occupancy when no one is home.
- Always keep doors and windows locked.
- Install smart locks on exterior doors so you can check the status of your door locks remotely.
- If heading out of town, avoid advertising that no one is home by asking trusted neighbors or friends to pick up mail, newspapers and packages, and to put out trash cans.
- Use indoor and outdoor surveillance cameras, which not only serve as a deterrent, but can also help capture criminal activity to aid in police investigations.
- Don’t leave your garage door open, even if your home is occupied. Installing a garage door opener that you can control via a smart home app can help ensure a garage door is not mistakenly left open.
For more information on a Vivint smart home, visit www.vivint.com.
About Vivint Smart Home
Vivint Smart Home is the leading provider of smart home services in North America. Vivint delivers an integrated smart home system with in-home consultation, professional installation and support delivered by its Smart Home Pros, as well as 24/7 customer care and monitoring. Dedicated to redefining the home experience with intelligent products and services, Vivint serves more than one million customers throughout the U.S. and Canada. J.D. Power ranked Vivint Smart Home “Highest in Customer Satisfaction for Home Security Systems.” For more information, visit www.vivint.com.
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