Don't wait for the break-in. Sort out your home security now, advises Wendy Jack

It IS one of the most common crimes and millions of people find their security shattered after their home is burgled. Yet, it's often only once the crime has been committed that people decide to instal a burglar alarm.

It would be much better to accept that burglary is something which can affect any of us, and take measures to make life as hard as possible for thieves before they strike. Most of thieves are opportunists and, if they meet too many difficulties and delaying tactics which increase their risk of being caught, they will often go in search of easier targets.

Good security lighting front and rear, is invaluable - being caught in the glare of lights is the last thing any thief wants. Noisy, crunchy gravel is another useful early warning ploy - and be aware that planting shrubs around the house may provide useful hiding places for thieves.

Finding a security alarm engineer or company is best done through recommendations of relatives or friends who have experience of the firm's workmanship, professionalism and reliability. Try two or three for their recommendations and estimates.

Simplicity has much to commend it. There's not much point in installing an alarm system you can't work easily, or which drives you, neighbours and the police crazy with false alarms. If you've trouble in the past, or there are no neighbours close by, you may want to link up to a central monitoring station which ''listens'' 24-hours a day.

Your alarm engineer will be able to give you details - check the costs as they vary enormously. You need a separate phone line which services the alarm. If it goes off, the monitoring station's number is automatically dialled, and they alert the local police, with a 999 call to your address.

It's worth talking to your contents insurance company before you install an alarm. They may have specific requirements, and most people will get a discount on their premium when these are met.

More attention is being paid by builders to the security aspects of their housing developments. Builders with the Security by Design certificate are those which successfully comply with police recommendations.

It means that the local police have looked at an estate from the community safety point of view, and made recommendations such as window locks; laminated glass in certain sections of a door, to prevent access to handles; external lighting.

The initiative goes beyond home security, to look at all the circulation areas within the development. It will ensure that the playpark is located in an open situation, where children can play in safety, seen and overseen by the community; and, if it opens on to a road, that traffic calming measures are in place.

Inspector John O'Neil, Force Architectural Liaison Officer with Strathclyde Police, explains that his department offers architectural liaison with developers - preferably before the architect has the builder's brief.

''This enables the police to say where we feel the nuisance generators and disorder and crime are going to occur, before building gets underway. Our comments are made based on our crime database and experience of policing an area: the types of crime; the nature of crime; what will affect it and where it is likely to originate.''

What has to be balanced in the exercise, is fulfilling the public's desire for secure houses and communities, while not building up a fear of crime in the area.

''We alleviate that problem by saying to developers that what they are doing is making the area safer for people to live in because the problem has been examined by the police,'' explains O'Neil.

''You're never going to get a crime-free area, but you will get a reduced nuisance factor, because the experience of the past has indicated that the location is a primary factor in what is going to produce crime and disorder.''