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We've had a lot of information in the newspaper lately about home break-ins. In a story we ran Wednesday on the recent spat of break-ins hitting north Greensboro we ran a short list of some things you can do to protect your home. Due to space, some of the information had to be shortened.

Here's the full list that I came up with riding around with Sgt. Bud Blaylock with the police department's central division Community Resource Team. If you have any other suggestions of things you've done to protect your residence, feel free to share.

What can I do to protect my home?

• Get to know your neighbors. Sgt. Blaylock says looking out for one another is one of the best crime deterrents residents can have. Get to know your neighbors, know when they are usually home, what they drive, when they will be out of town and more to get a sense of what is and isn’t out of place. Police also suggest being active in Community Watch and e-mail groups with neighbors if available.

• Invest in a burglar alarm. Police say having an alarm on an audible mode is likely to deter a burglar, causing them to leave if they break-in draws attention. Officers also suggest to have the alarm company call 911 first, and then the homeowner so police can be one step ahead if there is an actual problem.

• Check the screws on the strike plates on your doors. Blaylock said having longer screws on the strike plate of your doors make it more difficult for burglars to break-in. The more they have to work to get inside a home, the more likely they are to give up or be noticed.

• Inventory your home and keep records. Blaylock suggests engraving your driver’s license or name on your possessions to make them easier to track, keeping records of all serial numbers and making a video of the inside of your home and valuables with audio descriptions of items.

• Make your presence known. Many residents will not answer the door or pretend to not be home when the doorbell rings. Blaylock suggests residents to make their presence known by asking the person what they want through a locked door or from a safe distance. Many burglars will knock on the door first to see if someone is home before trying to kick in the back door.

• Report suspicious activity and make note of suspicious vehicles. Blaylock said residents need to be vigilant in reporting things out of place in the neighborhood to police. Such calls are logged in police database and can be great investigative tools when developing leads should a burglary happen around the same time.