Every winter people want to migrate to the warmer climate to wait out the spring thaw. The following are ways to "winterize" your home against intruders.

Leave your home with the lived-in look by having neighbors pick up your paper everyday, instead of having it stopped along with your mail.

One of the easiest tip offs for an intruder is not having the mailman, or paperboy, make deliveries. Your friend can forward the important mail to you. If it snows, make arrangements for someone to shovel the walk and driveway or have them drive a car in and out of the garage, along with making footprints to the house. It's a great giveaway to have 6 inches of snow and not have any tracks around it for days.

Have several timers in the home to turn on lights, TV, radios, and fans. Set them to come on at different times of the day and night. Don't let a schedule develop so someone will see the same light come on and off the same time. A fan blowing on drapes will give the illusion of someone inside.

Get a telephone answering machine and use it ahead of time to screen calls so, when you leave, someone will not know if you are home and just not answering the phone.

If you have someone with a dog, allow him or her to take it around the house to leave tracks if there is snow. A person looking to break in does not want to contend with a house that may have a large dog there.

When you do leave, don't publicize to a large number of people. Let only a few close people know.

Make a "vacation" check with the Police, or sheriff, to check the house and make them aware whom to contact in an emergency.

The Mount Vernon Police department checks the security of homes, on the "House check" list, randomly and at least once per shift.

Contact the Mount Vernon Police Department at 397-2222 for more information.