Home & Business Security Tips

Most break-ins in Greater Vancouver are opportunistic. The intruder walks the lane, checks for an unlocked side gate, jiggles a slider, looks for a deadbolt that turns too easily. The fix is rarely exotic — it's hardening the basics so the easy targets stop looking easy.

This guide is what we tell our customers when they ask what to upgrade first. None of it requires ripping out doors or installing a $4,000 alarm system. Most of it is hardware that costs under $200 a door, installed in an hour, and pays back the first time someone tries the handle and walks past.

Start with your front and back deadbolts. If they're builder-grade Kwikset or Schlage with a 5/8" bolt and short strike screws, that is the lowest-hanging fruit in your house. Move to ground-floor windows next, then sliding patio doors, then garage entry doors.

VPD's residential break-and-enter numbers in 2025 still skew toward weekday daytime entries through unlocked doors and ground-floor windows. The pattern hasn't shifted much in 20 years — what shifted is the type of items taken. Crews are after key fobs, watches, jewellery, and laptops. They're in and out in under four minutes. Force-entry against a Grade 1 deadbolt with proper strike reinforcement adds enough time that most walk past.

For commercial properties, the trend is rear-door and rooftop entry on standalone retail. Deadlatches with no secondary locking, propped-open back doors during shift change, and lever handles without a deadbolt are the openings. Mul-T-Lock or Medeco deadbolts on rear and side commercial doors fix the door-pry problem on their own.