In an average year, about 55 million people will travel over the Thanksgiving holiday. This year, we might not see as many people traveling far, but loved ones will likely still gather for the day or the weekend.
Criminals take advantage of these times when people are obviously not home.
Mostly simple things. Keep your house looking like it normally does. Normally we always leave a light or two on at night. When we are gone we have those lights on timers, We stop all mail and deliveries. If we’re gone on ‘trash’ day we have a neighbor roll the can out to the street and return it that afternoon. of course we use outside and inside security cam’s with audio at doors. Look Occupied,
Much of our preparation begins when we are at home. Our outside lights are on timers and we always keep both cars in the garage. When we are out of town, our home looks no different than when we are here.
Crappy pick-up truck no tires up on blocks, hood open, old washing machine in bed of truck, old fridge in yard with door door laying against side, tin foil curtains in windows and some old tires as planters, works for me haven’t had a visitor in years.
ALEXA ANSWER DOOR, INTRUDER ALERT
OR WE COULD TAKE A MORE TRADITIONAL ROUTE!
Instructions on how to negotiate the field are attached to back of sign, which is located about 50 yards from your current position, maybe it was 5 yards, I forget!
If you choose not to believe the sign step forward!
Unless these steps are taken, this is 2020, bad guy doesn’t give a crap what you do to try to prevent an imbecile from breaking in when you’re not home. You can’t stop stupidity even with the sign above, a moron will chance it!
The only way to stop them, is to stop them. Fear slows them down, immediate grave bodily harm stops them. Prove me wrong
THIS STOPS THEM!
THIS TEMPTS THEM, THIS IS A CHALLENGE
If you want serious true answers try the following book. CPTED traditional Security Countermeasures (150 Things You Should Know) : Lawrence J. Fennelly and Marianna A. Perry available from CRC Press.
CPTED=Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design.
Beware the fruit of the poisoned tree. 
First of all - DO NOT ADVERTISE over social media that you are leaving for few days… 
And like @William220 mentioned - keep your home look occupied (outside lights ON overnight, inside lights ON / OFF few times between 5pm - 2 am) .
or
Go with @Scott52’s version… 
Enter at your own risk.
I’ve always been fond of “If you can read this, your in range” signs as well as “Live fire range at any time” signs while out at the farm. In the city we have layered defenses and that’s all I’ll say about that.
Cheers,
Craig6
You don’t have to outrun the bear, you just can’t be the slowest person running away.
The fact of the matter is you can’t stop criminals from doing what they do! Since the beginning of time humans have tried every trick in the book. From public humiliation to the death penalty.
The one trick that could possibly work, I don’t particularly care for, yep, you guessed it, PRE-CRIME, Minority Report! Stop it before it happens. The prelude to that is Red Flag laws or ERPO’s, these are totally unconstitutional and yet, here we are. Laws like this can have unintended consequences! Don’t know what those are and I don’t want to know. We live with biological diseases just the same we have to live with diseased humans.
Maybe if we made them more afraid of us than we are of them we could “deter” more crime. However the phenomenon does work, in cities where guns are available to law abiding citizens and licenses are readily available for those that wish to defend life, crime is less prevalent. This is not a scientific statement, but the states with the strictest laws have the most shootings, gangs and just all around fear as opposed to a state that shall issue. That means in a state that shall issue also has a community of people who shall stand their ground and will protect life and liberty. I wholeheartedly believe in, “you loot, we shoot!” I can tell you I’m not looting in that neighborhood! Neither will the moron. My neighborhood is not a gun free zone it is not a pro crime zone it is not a drug zone, 9 out of 10 homes owns a gun or two, let’s make a deal, will it be door number 1, door number 2 you pick. Play stupid games win extraordinary life altering prizes.
I use a time tested approach of giving the convincing appearance of there being nothing worth stealing here. Don’t bother, nothing here worth the effort, move along.
Come to think of it, it’s been well over ten years since the last time our house was unoccupied by at least one adult for more than a couple hours of in town errands.
I leave a car in the driveway instead of inside the garage.
Christmas tree lights are on.
Here’s some of the things.
deterrent:
Vehicle in front of the house.
Security system signs.
Dogs and beware of dog signs.
Doorbell camera (I want more cameras, but cost)
Actual security if someone picked my home:
I lock the house down before bed every night.
Security system (there’s some really affordable options out there).
Their choice of .45 or .40 
, I try to be hospitable.
One thing I read online (couldn’t find the article.) they interviewed a lot of thieves in prison. they were not scared of:
NRA and gun stickers on the back of trucks. They said it just proved you had something worth stealing at home.
ADT is very affordable and watches the house 24/7.
I pay about 53.00 a month for the high end of the service. I also received a discount with my home owners insurance policy.
The system connects to the internet or has its own cell phone card to connect to a cellular tower if the power goes out. The alarm is loud when triggered,” I’ve set it multiple occassions stumbling around in the morning forgetting to disarm the system when I let the dog out” the police, fire and paramedics are called and dispatched automatically.
I have battery operated window/glass sensors and door sensors with a carbon monoxide reader. It all sounds like I’m advocating for the company but its a shield around my house.
We use Guardian, have the same services, and pay about the same. Guardian also uses an independent cell connection instead of the house phone line (which we don’t have, anyway). We also get a discount on our homeowners’ policy.
Not many of our neighbors have security system signs, so our sign also makes us a little less attractive to thieves.
For my family and I, we live in a small town. 300 people to be exact. So when something happens, it don’t take but a few seconds for everybody to know about it. We have several people in the town are more willing to do what it takes to “take care of the situation”.
So when we take off, we know that everything will be under control.
Motion activated floods to blanket the house. No shrubbery blocking the windows. Drapes closed. Arlo door cams. Dobermans. 3 inch construction screws replacing all the door hardware. Peepholes in the door. ‘We back the badge’ sign in the yard. Beware of Dog signs on fence . Cars in the driveway (ambivalent about that–a string of thefts recently).
USCCA has a great checklist on this.
Well, in my case my apartment, but… I try to be as uninteresting as possible whenever I leave or comeback, especially when moving stuff in and out of the apartment. I’m on the third floor and a night owl anyways, so it’s not a huge issue, but yeah be as uninteresting and discreet as my life style allows. One thing I take care to do, is use non tactical looking bags to carry stuff to and from my car, and usually only at night. I also try not to look to tactical even when I’m heading to the range… maybe put my final top layer on once I’m in the car. My car is also uninteresting. Even when I get a truck, no stickers will be on it. Grey men are invisible.
Extra large dog bowl on front porch. I love German Shepard sign on front door. Sign that says " Due to shortage of ammo, no warning shots will be fired "
