Moore Police shares ways to keep your home safe when you are on vacation

With many Oklahoma families traveling out of town for summer vacation, leaving their homes empty, it can create opportunities for criminals to target their household while they are away.

Joining the News 9 team on Friday to talk more about how to keep you and your belongings safe is Moore Police Chief Todd Gibson.

SEE ALSO: Moore Police offer free home watch service for spring break travelers

Q: Can you talk about Operation House Watch and what it is?

A: We understand that when you leave town, you're thinking about what's going on at home. You don't want your things to be vandalized or criminal activity [to happen] around your home. This is just a way that the police department can come alongside our community through our volunteer program and check on your house while you're out of town.

Q: Who is eligible? Is it intended for long getaways or weekend trips?

A: It's really for whoever wants to. If it's a weekend short trip, we want to be there for you. We want to be there for our community. Our community is there for us, and this is just another way for us to serve our community. So, whether it's long or short, if you want us to check on your house, we'll do that for you through our volunteer program.

Q: Are a lot of people using this program? Are you receiving a lot of feedback?

A: We've actually received really positive feedback. Our volunteers love it. First off, because our volunteers within the Police Department and our volunteer program, they just want to serve, and this is their opportunity, so we get positive feedback from them. We also get great responses from our community. They seem to really enjoy it. They seem to really like it from what we can tell.

Q: Are these volunteers police officers, or are they trained volunteers? 

A: They are citizens within our community who have completed certain steps that allow them to participate in the volunteer program, so a background process. Our Citizens Police Academy and some other lower-scale training, so they're not police officers, they are just members of our community and city who care, and want to provide service and protection to our community. 

Q: For those who don't use this program, what would you suggest people do before they go on vacation?

A: One of the best things you can do is to know your neighbor, and good neighbors create strong neighborhoods. Those relationships, what we are doing is nothing more than being a good neighbor, and so know your neighbors and those neighbors that you can trust. Share information back and forth. Let somebody in your neighborhood know that you're out of town. That way, if there's somebody around your house or something that just looks out of place, your neighbor lives there with you in that community, and they're going to see it. They're going to recognize it, and they can let the police department know that something needs to be checked out.

Q: What about the "Don'ts?" Is there anything that typically stands out that may be inviting someone to break into your home?

A: Things that look out of place or things that look unkept. Some homes just can be unkept for a variety of different reasons, but if you have a a home and the yard's not being maintained, the newspapers are stacking up, the mail hasn't been stopped or it just clearly appears that no one is coming and going from over time, say 3 or 4 days, somebody's going to pick up on that and possibly subject that home to some criminal activity. Lighting, of course, outside lighting is important. It helps police officers when they're patrolling by to see it, it helps neighbors to be able to see things going on around the house, and people oftentimes leave a dark house, which can invite crime.