Be Secure In Your Home

Before you begin, Home Security is a many sided subject. Even so your security can be greatly enhanced by considering the points offered below. Depending on your daily schedule, where you live, what your resources and abilities are, there are many ways to enhance your personal security. The information on this page is my own very brief take on the subject of security in the home. Personal security in your daily schedule outside the home is a related, but separate, subject.

 Your Home Is Your Castle, your refuge from the world and your place of safety. 

Unfortunately, criminals just can't get that idea through their criminal brains. They want what you have, without working for it.

Dispatch sent me to a home that had been burglarized. A Doctor's home, to be specific. He and his wife had been gone for a few hours, and when they returned they opened their door to the worst mess you can imagine. Clothes strung all over the floor, dresser drawers flung about, shelves empty of their prior contents, and broken items so thick it was difficult to place one foot in front of the other without stepping on a pile of "stuff". I asked Doc to stay seated in a chair while I took photos of everything including the rear door that had been bashed in. Thugs had splintered the entire door frame where the door set bolt had been inserted into the frame. No footprints on the door, no visible fabric threads left, just the damage close to the lock, made by a large rock that had obviously been used as a sledge hammer.

After photographing all the many shoe prints around the property, tire tracks in the roadway, and snapping another roll of the damage inside, I had Doc go thru to see what he could find missing. Anything that could be evidence was very scarce. The few neighbors had seen nothing. Somewhat typical, of course.

Doc was visibly shaken by the invasion of his home. After it was all sorted out, there was cash missing, some items that could either be used or pawned so we made a list and description of those. Doc's invaders were never identified, and his stolen items never recovered.

Doc asked;  What if we had been here sleeping when they broke in, would we still be alive? 

 Sorry, Doc, just can't say. Kind of depends on who they were, what they were after, and how desperate they were. 

The bottom line here is that every day, every night, homes of innocent citizens are being invaded, burglarized, robbed. Yes, everywhere, even in your supposedly  safe  community. Citizen victims are always severely traumatized by these invasions. The most common expression from the ones who are lucky, is that they feel as though they "have been violated". If they are still alive after their home has been invaded by criminals.

A few days ago I had been working in my shop for a couple hours and was walking back to the house when I heard someone running in my back yard. The runner was coming my way so I waited for him to come past the edge of the shop. He was headed straight for the back door of my home. I grabbed him by the neck as he went past me and sat him down in a chair by the side of the yard. Away from the house, although the house door had been locked ever since I had gone to work in the shop. (Locked doors are  SOP  in my daily regimen if I'm going to be gone for more than a couple minutes).

I had the runner firmly in grasp and was just getting my cell phone out to hold down the "9" button (which is the hot key for dialing "9-1-1"), when I saw a city P.D. car coming down the road. I waved him over while holding onto the runner. The officer had been looking for this perp ever since he noticed him diving out of the side window of a house a couple blocks away. The short version is that this perp (and three others that I saw wandering down the block and rounded up by other officers.) had been in an argument about drugs and police, when my runner dived out the window while the P.D. Officer happened to be driving up the road.

But the remainder of that story belongs to the City Police.

It did remind me, however, of why I keep house doors locked, even in the daytime. It takes maybe two seconds to lock or unlock a door if you are going to be away from that entrance for any time at all, so why not be safe instead of sorry?

So let's get on to the purpose of this particular musing, regarding "Security In The Home".

Home Security is most effective in "Layers".

So what do I mean by  security in layers ?

 Layers of security  are multiple deterrents to criminals. More than just good lights, locks, alarms, secure glass. A combination of deterrants.

Let's look at a sample of what layers might consist of.

• The home does not appear to be an easy mark.

  Doors are not left open even while you are home, unless your screen door is locked. Windows and glass appear secure.

• Home has open view from the street, exterior not blocked by shrubbery.

  Notice some homes have bushes that would conceal trespassing criminals from public view, while other home exteriors are open to view. Perps don't like that.

• Home has modern lock sets, doors and windows that do not invite easy access.

  Criminals will often masquerade as delivery agents, just to get a close look at your home. Good lock sets that are bump and pick-resistant are easily identified by criminals and make your home much less attractive as a target. Be aware of stout door frames with deep screws holding the bolt brackets.

• Home has motion-activated night lights.

  Motion-activated night lights are visible from the roadway. Night time creeps don't like motion-activated lights.

• Home may have an alarm system.

  Monitored home alarm systems are a definite deterrent to most criminals. Just isn't worth their trouble in most cases. One of the most simple alarms, while you are home, is the keys to your vehicle. Remember that "panic button"? Check which rooms it works from, so you will know.

• Home and property may be fitted with infrared motion-activated cameras.

  Modern IR Digital cameras are effective, efficient, and not too expensive. They record images or short videos on hi-capacity chips or on a computer hard drive. They can be mounted in obvious locations or hidden from casual view, your choice. Check them out.

• Home does not reek of riches inside for "easy taking".

  Although the house may obviously be expensive, it does not need to be an "easy mark". Follow the other suggestions.

• Homeowner and occupants are aware of their environment.

  Put the proven concepts of Neighborhood Watch Programs to work for your own home also; observation and awareness are key to foiling criminals. How many times have I photographed strange cars parked close by, appearing to have no valid purpose? Several times. Two of the cars were stolen. Good catches.

  Question:Why might a strange car be parked close to your home?

  1. They are stealing your wireless bandwidth or hacking your computer system.
  2. They are "casing" the homes for later burglary, or preparing to scam residents.
  3. They are using their cell phone, mindful of traffic safety.
  4. They are trying to figure out where they are supposed to be going.
  5. They are not feeling well.

  Answer: Could be "all the above". "Relaxed Awareness" is the homeowner's friend. Don't allow "paranoia" make you think everyone is a crook", or the "butterfly" syndrome make you think everyone is honest and helpful. Your children will pick up your attitudes over time. Make sure they don't someday have a bad experience because they were afraid to ask someone for help. Along that line of thought, a short story may be in order:

  Unthinking Parents Can Put Their Child In Serious Danger.

  Some years ago we got a call that a child had been missing from their campground for a whole day. Several departments responded to the mountainous area, where we spent the next five days looking everywhere for the missing child. Finally, and most fortunately, one of the Game Wardens spotted a flash of cloth deep within a thicket. Upon investigation, he found the little girl hiding. She was dehydrated, starved, scared, and very near total collapse. As he dug into the bushes she tried feebly to scoot farther away but had no strength left. He carried her back to camp and we all gladly met there to finish the search and celebrate with the parents. They had spent five days thinking of all sorts of terrible things that had happened to their little girl.

  When it all shook out, the little girl had went trekking and had become lost several hundred yards away from her camp. Without the knowledge of how to return where she needed to be, she simply wandered farther and farther away from camp.

  Every time she saw one of us in uniform, she quietly hid, until her lack of strength and near collapse kept her from hiding as well as she had been, and allowed the Game Warden to notice a piece of her coat.

  So, why did she hide from us until she was nearly dead?

  We found out that "mommy and daddy" had always disciplined her by threatening that if she did not do what they told her to, that they would call the police and the "cops would put her in jail".

  In her mind, every searcher in uniform was that "cop" that was going to "put her in jail".

  I won't bother to explain what we would have all liked to do to those stupid parents.

  Some time after that, one of my nieces told her young boy; "If you don't behave I'll have Uncle Kenny come put you in jail...". When I found out about that, it took me at least ten minutes to finish explaining to her, in language not approved by any preacher, why she was being world-class stupid for filling the boy's head with such dangerous lies.

  This story might have been a tad off the basic subject, but is still related to personal security. Besides, reading about all those locks and layered security might have made you sleepy. Or maybe bored.

  Unless you wake up some night to the sound of some criminal in your house, because you didn't pay attention to any of that "Layered Security".

  If you follow that link to CBS News, please read the entire story because it describes how and why two related vicious attacks were able to take place on people who thought they were safe in their own homes.

Bump and pick-resistant lock sets are a must.

Old style lock sets are defeated within seconds.

"Hint": Unless you are into locks and lock smithing, stay away from the "easy to re-key" models. They are easy to really get messed up and lock yourself out. "JMHO"

Just be sure to see the words "Bump-Proof" and "Pick-resistant" on the box. Replacing an old style lock set with a new improved one is very inexpensive, and so simple even a novice could do it.

And, you do remember to actually lock your doors, don't you?

In the hot summertime you may want to have a window slightly open for fresh air. Be sure to limit the opening with either a vertical bar, side pin or slide-lock. Something that cannot be easily removed from the outside.

Interior deadbolts and good exterior lock sets are your second layer of security.

Deadbolts are always "keyed" on the exterior side, and either have a key or turn-knob on the inside. If you have glass in your door that would be easy to break and reach in to unlatch a knob lock set, then use the keyed type then hang the key higher, out of sight from outside, at night or when you are away.

This particular glass door has an exterior sheet of tempered, shatter-resistant, glass which protects the colored glass from outside damage.

When you are asleep, the second layer of security includes your doors, windows, and locks.

Many home invasions are accomplished with a certain amount of violence, such as kicking in the door. While others are accomplished with stealth and little noise.

A "Door Bar" slows down such an attack, giving you another layer of security (reaction time) to wake up and deal with the situation.

Your workshops and outbuildings hold valuable tools, equipment and other things you want to keep safe against theft.

A hefty hasp, secured with a good lock, tells the thief it's too much trouble, go somewhere else.

If a thief can get a knife blade into the space between the door and the door frame, the doorknob striker can often be coaxed out of it's slot and allow access to the building. Not good.

This photo is an example of a piece of metal securely fastened to the door, preventing access to that space where the striker is.

Your telephones are one layer of your security.

Cell Phones cannot have their wires cut, but they also do not usually automatically tell the Police Dispatcher where you are at. Your hardwired phone does. As long as the phone line is not cut, and if your city is doing its job.

Flashlights are your friend in the dark. Especially very bright ones that can blind an intruder.

Various types of "pepper spray" are usually effective, especially against a surprised intruder.

Just please make sure the pepper canisters emit the solid-stream colored gel-spray. Avoid the ones that lay up a foggy mist that fills the room and gets blown around by air currents. You don't want to be choking and temporarily blinded by your own spray.

Paired with a good flashlight to identify the threat, personal weapons are included in the top layer of my security system. Just in case all the other layers of security are breached.

Your preferences, of course, may vary.

Thanks for visiting The Old Mans Hideout.