A Minnesota Sheriff has offered up a few tips for those vacationing or leaving their home this holiday season. While the tips seem like common sense, the tips do offer a look into what would-be criminals are looking for when it comes to picking the homes to break into.

Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher recently shared some tips on how to make your home less desirable to thieves this holiday season. One of those tips he gave was to simply leave your lights on.

Sheriff Bob Fletcher around the 1:10:00 mark talks about things you can do as a homeowner to reduce the risk of being broken into. One of those things that you can do is leave some lights on. This time of year it gets pretty dark early, and people aren't alseep. Theives are looking for dark homes, according to Sheriff Fletcher, they generally "look for three homes in a row" with their lights off.

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So by leaving some lights on, especially if you are out at an event or activity and will be back later than normal might be enough to deter theft.

Another thing you can do is put your TV on a timer, which it kicks the TV on at say 4:30 and shuts it off at 9pm when it looks like someone is home, with the TV flickering.

You can also put your lights on a timer, or remote to deter people from coming along and noticing that someone isn't home.

ADT also suggests a way to curb potential crime would be to deploy a smart camera/doorbell to catch people lingering outside or around your home, where if a crime does happen you might have a good photo or video of the suspect.

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