If requested, ETPD officers will check on a resident’s home while they are away on vacation.
In a continued effort to better serve Evesham Township’s more than 50,000 residents, officials with the Evesham Township Police Department are reminding residents of the department’s “Vacation Checks” program.
For those planning a vacation during the upcoming winter holidays, the ETPD can have officers check on a resident’s home while they are away.
Through the program, police say an officer will randomly check a resident’s house several times a day, either visually as they drive by or physically by walking around the perimeter and checking doors and windows.
The ETPD will conduct periodic checks of a residence for a period of up to 21 days.
According to officials, in the first three quarters of 2018, Evesham officers have conducted approximately 1,100 vacation checks.
To begin this service, residents simply need fill out and submit a Vacation Check form on the department’s website at www.eveshampd.org.
In addition, police recommend the following steps to residents planning a vacation in order to better safeguard their home while they are away:
- Have good locks on all doors and windows and use them
- Make sure the residence looks lived in, not empty
- Leave shades and blinds in a normal position
- Ask a neighbor to watch the residence
- Test smoke and burglar alarms
- Stop all deliveries, arrange for a neighbor to pick up mail, newspaper and packages.
- Have a neighbor place garbage cans at the curb on normal pickup day(s) and return them after the garbage pickup is made
- Plug in timers to turn lights and a radio or television on and off at appropriate times
- Don’t announce an absence on answering machines or social media site
- Close and lock garage doors and windows. Park a car in a driveway or ask a neighbor to occasionally park in a driveway.
- Consider taking valuables to a bank safety deposit box.
