Have you ever experienced a neighbor who's main agenda is to keep his or her finger on the pulse of the neighborhood? A neighbor whom many would call "nosey" on a good day!

As irritating as nosey neighbors are, you can't underestimate their ability to detect abnormal situations in the neighborhood. I have heard many stories of break-in attempts gone bad because of inquisitive neighbors.

I remember one incident where I was consulting with a customer about his overall home security. When I checked out the front of his house, I noticed he had a wall of overgrown shrubs blocking his residence from the rest of the world.

His reason for isolating his home from the front street was a neighbor who couldn't keep his nose out of everybody's business. When I informed him that
his front shrubs should be trimmed to a maximum height of no more than 42 inches and his large trees should be trimmed so the lower branches are more than 7 feet off the ground, he was flabbergasted.

I explained to him that his full time gawker could be the least of his worries if he didn't open up the sightlines to his house. If you create high barriers between your neighbors, you could put your home at risk of a break and enter.

Burglars love natural barricades like woodlands, forest and even neatly trimmed hedges. Hedges not only give the homeowner a great deal of privacy they also provide excellent hiding spots for the bad guys.

Because most of us live a hurried lifestyle and tend to warp into a world of "tunnel vision" we need inquisitive neighbors to pick up the slack. We live for the most part programmed lives and become creatures of habit.

Burglars take advantage of our living habits and quite often know when we go to work, return home, or even venture on holidays. Once "tunnel vision living" sets in, we put ourselves in great danger because we tend not to notice more than we notice.

This is where your neighborhood sentry springs into action, safeguarding and protecting like a 24 hour watchman. Provided your neighbor isn't intrusive, nosey can be a good thing. These folks are an integral part of a safe neighborhood.

So before you run down to the nursery intent on blocking out your nosey neighbor, give some thought to the consequences. Don't be too quick to judge these locale monitors. Making it their business to know all the comings and goings of the neighborhood is not a bad thing.

Crime prevention often involves a new spin to an old problem. Keeping in that vein, the nosey neighbor should be viewed in a different light . Perhaps we need a few more nosey neighbors to help keep our communities safe and secure.

About the Author:

Frank Fourchalk is widely recognized for his sustained commitment to education in Home and Business security throughout North America as a result of his syndicated newspaper columns.  For more information visit:  http://www.yourhomesecurity.ca