On August 31, some 300 teenagers allegedly broke into – and totally trashed – the upstate New York home owned by former New England Patriot Brian Holloway.

Holloway told NEWS10 ABC he was in Florida when he heard about the break-in from his son, who had seen notifications about the bash on social media.

Police called to the scene, said they found the yard full of cars and about 300 teens trying to run away. Investigators documented the damage, including broken windows, spray painted walls, and urine soaked carpets.

A break-in is right at the top of the list of homeowner’s worst nightmares. Imagine you arrive home from a vacation to find your home in utter chaos – your belongings strewn across the floors and your valuables missing. You’re scared and angry. You don’t feel safe in your home any longer – and maybe you never will feel that sense of security again.

The only way to electronically protect your home and your family and give you peace of mind is by installing a reliable, responsive home security system backed 24/7 by an experienced central station staff.

Installing a video surveillance system with cameras pointed to the most likely areas of entry, e.g., front and back doors, is also a good idea to deter the bad guys. Some cameras connect to your computer and your smartphone so you and monitor what’s happening at your home.

When you travel, it’s important to let your home security system provider know that you’ll be away and that your alarm and video surveillance system will remain on. That way, if the company gets any signals that someone is trying to get into your home, the staff will know that’s someone is trying to break-in.

You should also tell a trusted neighbor that you’re going on vacation, so they can keep a look out for any strange cars or people on your property and call the police immediately in the event of any suspicious activity.

It’s unclear from news reports if Holloway’s home in Rensselaer County, New York is his main residence or a vacation home. It’s also unclear whether he had any type of home security system in place.

The bottom line is, it’s just as important to install home security systems in vacation properties because they’re often targeted for break-ins by transients, real bad guys and, yes, even teenagers.

Even worse than arriving home from vacation and finding your home totally destroyed, is finding one – or more – of those criminals still there.

A home security system is one of the best investments you can make to protect your loved ones and your home – and provide you with peace of mind.

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