Most residents of New York City wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. The Big Apple, with all of its people and excitement, can feel like the center of the universe. Of course, with all of that excitement comes danger, in the form of burglaries and home intrusions.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) publishes crime statistics weekly, and a quick glance at the data shows that continued vigilance is necessary. For the week of January 11-17, for example, there were more than 1000 grand larcenies and burglaries across the city. Avoid being one of those affected by adhering to the following home security tips for your New York City home.

Install a Home Alarm System: Alarms are important for New Yorkers, whether they live in apartments, townhomes, or houses. Installing an award-winning brand can make a real difference in your protection.

Change Your Locks: Many New Yorkers live in rental units. This begs the question: how many people had access to those keys before you moved in? Avoid a potential problem by changing the locks on your door each time you rent a new apartment. In fact, you can ask your landlord to perform this service for you, often free of charge.

Meet Your Neighbors: They’re not there just to socialize; the neighbors across the hall can be a powerful part of your home security plan. Have a candid discussion about what home security means to you. Encourage them to call you and the police if they spot suspicious behavior. It’s always better to respond to a false alarm than do nothing in the face of an emergency.

New York City is one of the most wonderful places on Earth. Don’t take any chances with your home security, and you’ll always be able to enjoy it.

Being a single parent is perhaps the hardest job on the planet. More often than not, single parents are mothers, and they face a unique set of challenges raising, providing for, and protecting their family. One of the most important issues faced by single moms in particular is home security. Luckily, with some simple measures, keeping your loved ones safe can be made much less daunting. Below, we’ve listed some tips for single moms who want to bolster their home security.

Install a Home Alarm System: For single mothers on a budget, an alarm system may not seem to be the most cost-effective way to secure the home. But for less than the price of your habitual cup of coffee each weekday morning, you can enjoy the peace of mind that comes with having the best name in security monitoring keeping you safe. Alarm systems can help protect your family from theft and burglary, fire, medical emergencies and carbon monoxide.

Talk to Your Community: Stay in contact with neighbors and friends to help keep an eye on your home and children. You and your family will benefit from the help you can get from the entire community. Carefully and gently explain your home security expectations with your children and let them know the difference between helpful neighbors and harmful strangers.

Put In Floodlights: No one wants to come home to a dark, empty house. With the installation of motion-detecting floodlights, you’ll ensure that your house is never pitch black. This improves your security at night while also deterring criminals looking to hide in the darkness.

Upgrade Your Locks: In this digital day and age, keys are quickly becoming a thing of the past. The latest high-tech solutions for securing your door include electronic keypads and fingerprint readers. These systems, a perfect addition to your home alarm, can be purchased at a local hardware store and take less than an hour to install.

College can be one of the most exciting times in a person’s life, but dorm life requires an increased sensitivity to personal and home security issues. Life in a residence hall can be lively and stimulating, but living with your fellow students increases your risk for falling victim to property crime. Below, find some tips to help you maintain safety while you live in your college dorm.

Lock the Door: It’s tempting to leave your door unlocked, but don’t assume that everyone is a trustworthy as you are. People you think are your friends may not hesitate to “borrow” items.

Don’t Let Strangers Into the Building: Exit doors in your dorm building require a keycard for entry. This is to ensure your safety as well as the safety of other residents in your building. Never prop a door open or let a stranger into the building with you.

Be Aware of Emergency Telephone Locations: Colleges are mandated by law to place emergency communication systems throughout the campus. Indeed, you’re supposed to be able to see at least one of the distinctive blue lights from any outdoor location. Know where the telephones are around your campus, and don’t be afraid to pick it up if you feel threatened at any time.

Limit Alcohol and Drug Intake: Pressure can quickly mount to partake in alcohol and drugs, but never consume any substance to the point where you lose control. Intoxication is one of the leading factors when it comes to injury and crime on a college campus.

Go Out in Groups: Especially important on campuses in an urban setting, never go out by yourself. Traveling in a group of at least two or three people is a significant deterrent to someone who might think about perpetrating a crime.

Home security isn’t just for your parents’ property. As you get older, you’ll realize that staying safe is a huge part of living on your own.

Have you been contemplating 2010 improvements for your Houston, Texas home? One of the most important improvements you can make is the installation of a home alarm system. In these uncertain times, there’s simply no better way to protect your family and precious possessions. With over 130 years of experience, ADT offers Texas residents the peace of mind that comes from knowing your home alarm system is the product of over a century of experience in the home security business.

As one of the largest cities in Texas, Houston has a relatively high incidence of crime, especially in the downtown area. The latest monthly statistics show over 12,000 acts of theft or burglary in the month of November 2009 alone. This is clearly a statistic that every homeowner needs to take seriously.

How can the installation of a home security system help keep you protected against crime in Houston? The first part of the equation is deterrence. When a criminal sees the familiar ADT decal, he knows that your home is not going to be an easy target.

The main benefit, of course, is ADT’s award-winning technology. Standard ADT monitored security systems come equipped with innovative, cutting-edge features that lead the industry. Two-Way Voice, for example, is perfect for older Houston residents. This feature allows a homeowner to communicate with a trained home security professional from nearly anywhere in the house in the event of an emergency.

Have you recently ditched your landline in favor of your cell phone? Texas homeowners without access to land lines can still enjoy ADT products. Unlike other home security companies, ADT accommodates these customers with CellTech, eliminating the need for a hard line through the use of cellular technology.

Protect your Houston, TX home with the most powerful solution on the market — ADT. No other security system can offer the same level of protection.

Cameras are everywhere. Security companies offer cameras small enough to fit in your phone and affordable enough for almost everyone to own. Because of this, security cameras have become a more popular option for consumers, offering clandestine surveillance of almost any location.

Today customers can choose from many innovative technologies with which to protect their property. Retail stores can use visible, tamper-proof cameras to help deter robbery.  Banks and ATMs can use tiny cameras to record every transaction. Many cities are also turning to traffic light cameras to help enforce speed limits and traffic laws.

Cameras are also playing a bigger role in home security nowadays. Although many homes use cameras for outdoor security, more and more families are taking this technology inside.  A carefully placed camera inside the home can give parents peace of mind when they are away. Live video feeds offer a home view almost instantly. With the touch of a button parents can check up on their children, pets, or even monitor a babysitter or housekeeper.

With the Baby Boomers generation coming into retirement, families that have aging parents to care for are also using video surveillance more frequently. Quality home security cameras can be highly beneficial as well as potentially life saving. Monitored security systems and home alarms have the power to greatly reduce the time it would take for a fire, health, or other emergency professional to get to a loved-one’s residence.

In the end, it really doesn’t matter what your home situation is or what you are most concerned about protecting or monitoring.  There are a number of useful security technologies available from reputable companies. Invest in the home security options that make you the most comfortable, and the safest.

For property owners in Houston, Texas, home security should be a top priority. Along with the benefits that come with living in one of the largest cities in the United States, there are also a few risks. With the holidays drawing near, there’s never been a better time to improve your home’s safety.

It only takes a quick look at the data on the Houston Police Department’s website to realize how important it is to maintain an effective home security solution. In September 2009, there were nearly 2,500 burglaries in Houston alone.

If you’re looking for the best way to help protect your home and loved ones in Houston, ADT home security is your answer. For more than 130 years, ADT has provided powerful solutions for property owners who want to help protect their homes and loved ones.

ADT is different from other home security companies in many ways. Take their network of four interconnected security monitoring centers as an example. With four centers monitoring your home, you’ll never have to worry about losing your connection to ADT. In the rare case that a center loses power, another immediately takes over, making sure that you get 24/7 home security coverage. This comprehensive system sets ADT apart from the competition.

ADT is America’s trusted leader in home security. Contact a trained professional from ADT today to find out how they can help keep your Houston, Texas home safe and sound this winter.

Home security and home safety should be one of your top priorities. With crime rates rising in many parts of the country, it’s more important than ever before to keep these two things in mind as you head into 2010. Below, you’ll find our top 10 practices for enhancing your home security.

Install an ADT Home Security System: ADT is the most trusted name in home alarms, and burglars know it. Homes with monitored home alarm systems are three times less likely to be burglarized.

Change Your Locks: A new set of locks can go a long way toward preventing a break-in. Over the years, you’ve handed out plenty of sets of keys. Eliminate the chance of them being used for nefarious purposes.

Update batteries in the smoke detectors: Home security isn’t just about intrusion; make sure that in the event of a fire, you’re prepared.

Perform a Home Safety Survey: Twice each year, prepare a checklist of potential hazards, and carefully move through your property ensuring that everything is in proper working order.

Organize a Neighborhood Watch: Strength is in numbers. Talk to your neighbors about creating a vigilant neighborhood watch to make the block stronger as a whole.

Install Floodlights: Floodlights work to illuminate a large area, taking away the cover of darkness from criminals.

Check Your ADT Alarm System: Each time you leave your home, make sure that your home alarm system is armed. You can even post a note on the door to remind you.

Check Your Carbon monoxide detector: Change the batteries on your carbon monoxide detectors at least once every six months, and test to make sure they’re in proper working order.

Trim the hedges: Burglars like to hide behind high bushes and in dark areas. Keep entry points well-lit and keep the grass and shrubbery near doors and windows trimmed.

Talk to Your Children About Home Security: Home safety is probably the last thing on your children’s minds. Sit them down and have a frank talk about the importance of keeping the home secure.

These top 10 tips are the perfect way to start securing your home. Use them as a guideline, and improve your home safety from there.

Like every other part of your life, home security has undergone major technology-driven changes over the past 20 years. With the growth of inexpensive electronics and the increasing power of computer chips, ADT home security continues to offer exciting new options to improve your home security. Here are some of the most powerful devices currently on the market.

CellGuard Technology: For many homeowners, landlines are a thing of the past. Instead, people rely only on cell phones. ADT has introduced CellGuard to accommodate these customers. In the event of an emergency, a signal is transmitted via cellular technology to one of ADT’s four interconnected command centers, ensuring a rapid response.

Closed-Circuit Television Cameras: The peephole is a thing of the past. Today, sophisticated home security cameras allow you to see who is outside your door (or gated driveway) from a screen inside your house or apartment. With a broadband Internet connection, you can monitor the perimeter of your home from anywhere in the world.

2-Way Voice: Especially useful for elderly homeowners at risk of a fall, 2-Way Voice enables communication with a trained home security professional from virtually anywhere inside the home (up to 75-feet from a panel).

Carbon Monoxide Detection: Intrusion can’t be your sole focus when it comes to home security. You also need to think about carbon monoxide and fire detection, two areas in which an ADT security system excels. The affordable add-ons to a standard plan will help keep your family safe if there is ever a fire or carbon monoxide leak inside your home.

Fingerprint Locks: Keys can be lost, or duplicated by a criminal. For the easiest method of restricting entry to your home, add a fingerprint door lock. This will help ensure that only authorized persons can open your door.

Use technology to make your home more secure. With help from the experienced professionals at ADT, you can create the strongest fortress in your neighborhood.

Looking for the most accurate assessment of your home security? Put yourself into the shoes of a burglar to discover the weaknesses in your property’s defense. There’s no better way to figure out exactly what steps are necessary to make your home more secure.

Start on a macro level. Drive down your street, and compare your house to others on the block. Do the houses on either side of your home advertise their ADT home security system? If they do and you don’t, that is a cause for concern. When burglars see that a home alarm is in the mix, they’ll often move to the next house, preferring to avoid it all together.

Next, take a sweep around the property. Take careful note of landscape features that could provide a good hiding spot. In particular, high bushes and dark entry points are places burglars often look to hide.

Take a look at the entrance points. Where would an intruder be most likely to try to enter? You can more or less rule out second and third story windows, but pay special attention to doors and windows that are hidden by shrubs or other plants. Gently test the strength of each entry point, marking down any door, window or lock that might need to be replaced.

Can you see valuable items through the glass? At each window, peer inside and sweep from left to right. Which items could be concealed from easy view from the outside?

No one expects a burglar to target their home. That’s why it’s so important to think just like they do. If you can anticipate their actions, it’s easy to take precautionary measures to stop them ahead of time. Don’t wait until it’s too late: activate your ADT security system and do what’s necessary now to make sure that your home stays protected.

Do you live in an apartment or condominium? If so, you face a unique set of challenges when it comes to home security. This living situation often breeds a false sense of security, which could end poorly if not addressed. Help protect you apartment or condo and keep your family safe with the following tips.

Don’t rely on the doorman: Your doorman deals with hundreds of people coming and going each day; it’s entirely possible that an uninvited visitor could slip through in a busy moment. While a 24-hour presence in the lobby is certainly a plus, you still need to remain aware.

Change the locks: Swap each of the locks within a week of moving into a new apartment. The previous owner might not have taken this precaution, which means that there could be multiple sets of keys floating around. Many building supers will simply swap out a vacant apartment’s locks, in effect “randomizing” both doors to eliminate any chance of entry using an old key.

Install an ADT home alarm: Don’t be lulled into complacency. In both small and large apartment buildings, crime occurs regularly. By installing an ADT security system, you can vastly help improve your home’s safety.

Keep ground level windows secure: If you live on a floor that’s accessible to the street, make sure to always keep your windows and sliding glass doors locked. A cheap way to secure the sliding glass doors is with a piece of wood wedged against the edge of the door and the wall.

Report security threats to maintenance: Your rent, HOA and other fees all go to making sure that the building stays secure. When you see a threat, such as a broken light, malfunctioning lock or a door that constantly remains open, report it to someone who can do something about it.

By taking the proper precautions, you can easily and inexpensively make your apartment or condominium much more secure.