Annika Cline/KJZZ

Surprise police say a locked door is not enough to deter burglars from trying to get in. They suggest making a home look lived-in, even while the owners are away.

When Valley snowbirds fly north for the summer, their houses stay here, sometimes along with valuables, electronics, maybe even a car. The trick to keeping that stuff safe? Make the house look like it’s occupied.

Debra and Jerry Gauthier enter other people’s houses, turning on faucets, opening the fridge and the freezer. So, where are the homeowners?

"We have several Canadian, a lot of Oregon, Minnesota, Wisconsin, you know," Debra Gauthier said.

The Gauthiers run a home-watch service called Home Check One. Many of their clients are snowbirds who flock back north during the summer months. So they check that everything is working and inspect for bugs and leaks.

They also handle curb appeal, sweep the leaves, pick up flyers. Not just to keep up appearances, but also to discourage potential burglars looking for an opportunity. 

"They want that easy quick grab where there’s very low likelihood of them getting apprehended or observed even," said Sergeant Tim Klarkowski with Surprise Police Department’s Community Relations Unit.

Klarkowski said curb appeal can affect whether a home is burglarized. That’s why his unit sends officers out to recently burglarized homes to see whether the home itself is inviting burglars inside.

"Any sort of debris or weeds give the impression that a home is not cared for and that it’s not being maintained and potentially that it’s either vacant or the residents have been gone for a while," he said. 

Klarkowski and his fellow officers give the homeowner recommendations based on an approach known as Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. It’s a tactic used by other Valley departments, too. And it’s based on the idea that environmental cues can influence criminal behavior. A cue can be as simple as old newspapers in the driveway. 

"You know if somebody sees three or four newspapers stacked up in the driveway, they’re gonna start to think 'hey, maybe somebody’s not home,'" he said.   

So clearing those newspapers can make a difference. 

The data on home burglaries in the Valley doesn’t give specifics, so it’s hard to know whether the appearance of the house really affects its risk of being burglarized. But another program in the West Valley has seen success firsthand. The Surprise Citizen’s Patrol offers a vacation watch program that maintains home exteriors for residents while they’re away. They say in the 18 years of the program’s efforts, only one home has been burglarized while using the services. 

As for the Gauthiers, there are endless little cues that make a big difference. Some of their clients have lights and even radios on timers, so that they turn on and off as if someone’s home. Then there’s drawing the drapes, trimming the trees, even picking up the golf balls that get hit into the yards of homes.

Then it’s time to leave, but not without a trace. You can tell someone has been here. And that’s what might keep this home safe.