Improving Your Residential Safety: Insider Advice on Enhanced Apartment Security
Enhancing Apartment Security: A Comprehensive Approach
Apartment security is a critical concern for residents, and understanding the key measures to boost safety is essential. The Crime Statistics Agency recorded a combined 9,947 thefts and burglaries at apartments, units, and flats across Victoria for the year ending March 2025, underscoring the need for enhanced security.
To effectively deter burglars and create a safer environment, a combination of physical deterrents, technology, and thoughtful practices is essential.
Access Control Systems
Using keyless entry methods, such as key fobs, access cards, or mobile apps, reduces risks from lost or duplicated keys. Advanced options include biometric access controls like fingerprint or retina scanners to ensure only authorized persons enter.
Surveillance Cameras
Installing strategically placed, high-resolution cameras covering all entry points, common areas, parking lots, and recreational spaces is crucial. Cameras with night vision capabilities enhance security around the clock.
Visitor Management
Implementing systems allowing residents to pre-register guests helps monitor and control visitor access to the complex.
Door and Window Security
Always keep apartment doors and windows locked—even when home. Pay special attention to balcony doors as burglars may try to enter from outside. Adding peel-and-stick window and sliding door sensors that send instant alerts to your smartphone can significantly boost security for vulnerable points without damaging property.
Lighting
Ensure balconies, windows, and common outdoor spaces are well lit, using motion-activated lights where possible as an effective burglary deterrent.
Anti-Tailgating Practices
Prevent unauthorized entry by not allowing others to follow through secure entrances or parking barriers behind you. Be cautious with strangers requesting access by buzzers or lifts; instead, encourage them to use designated visitor procedures.
Security Systems
Consider installing CCTV cameras or smart video doorbells that provide remote monitoring on your smartphone. Features like two-way communication and motion detection improve real-time response to suspicious activity. Tenants should seek landlord approval before installation.
Alarm Systems
Use motion detectors inside apartments near vulnerable points like balconies or windows, preferably with pet-rejection technology to reduce false alarms. Loud alarms (e.g., 105dB) can scare off intruders and alert neighbours quickly.
24/7 Monitoring and Advanced Tech
For apartment complexes, continuous monitoring combined with AI-supported cameras and facial recognition can detect suspicious behavior early, providing instant alerts to security staff or residents.
Additional Practical Tips
- Never prop open external entry doors.
- Meet delivery personnel at the building entrance rather than granting remote access.
- Regularly review and update security systems and protocols in coordination with property management.
- Befriending neighbours, whether in an apartment or detached house, can serve as a security measure and help deter burglars.
- All entrances and common areas in an apartment building should have good lighting for safety.
- Having the locks changed on your home's entrance doors can increase apartment security.
- Being aware of 'tailgaters' is important for apartment security. Avoid letting strangers follow you through entrances or into lifts.
- Entrances, including gates and car parks, should ideally be monitored by surveillance cameras or on-site security staff.
- Strong communities are safe communities, according to Neighbourhood Watch Victoria CEO Bambi Gordon.
- Renters are allowed to have the locks changed on their apartment doors, but they should get the rental provider's permission first.
- Protecting storage cages can include lining the cage with plastic sheeting, using a heavy-duty padlock or disc lock, and avoiding leaving keys in the mailbox.
- Before moving into an apartment, it's recommended to book an inspection to assess the apartment building's security measures.
- Neighbourhood Watch Victoria CEO Bambi Gordon emphasizes the importance of getting to know neighbours, reporting suspicious activity, and respecting shared spaces in apartment buildings.
- All doors and windows in an apartment should be able to close securely with locks.
By layering these physical, technological, and behavioural security measures, apartment residents and managers can create a significantly safer environment, deterring burglars and ensuring peace of mind.
Adopting practices that improve home security can have a positive impact on one's lifestyle. For instance, having secure access control methods, such as keyless entry or biometric access, and installing surveillance cameras can safeguard one's home-and-garden environment. In valuing home-improvement, one should also consider incorporating technologies like smart security systems and alarm systems to further enhance their home's safety.
