HOME SAFETY TIPS

HOME, that place where you feel safe and comfortable.  But  are you really safe once you get home and lock your door?  Your home is the only environment where you have control over who can get close to you and your family.  Protecting your home and family from criminal intrusion should be high on your list of priorities. 

By far, the most common threat to your home is burglary.  According to the FBI, a burglary occurs somewhere in the United States every 15.4 seconds.  By definition, the crime of burglary is a non-confrontational crime. However, becoming a burglary victim can leave a family feeling vulnerable and violated.  To avoid becoming a burglary victim, it is important to first gain an understanding of who commits them and why.  

The majority of home and apartment burglaries occur during the daytime when most people are away at work or school. The summer months of July and August have the most burglaries with February having the fewest crimes.  Burglaries are committed most often by young males under 25 years of age looking for items that are small, expensive, and can easily be converted to cash.  Favorite items are cash, jewelry, guns, watches, laptop computers, VCRs, video players, CDs and other small electronic devices.  Quick cash is needed for living expenses and drugs.  Statistics tell us that 70% of the burglars use some amount force to enter a dwelling but their preference is to gain easy access through an open door or window.  Ordinary household tools like screwdrivers, channel-lock pliers, small pry bars, and small hammers are most often used by burglars.  Burglars continue to flourish because police can only clear about 13% of all reported burglaries and rarely catch the thief in the act.

Although home burglaries may seem random in occurrence, they actually involve a selection process.  The burglar's selection process is simple.  Choose an unoccupied home with the easiest access, the greatest amount of cover, and with the best escape routes.  What follows is a list of suggestions to minimize your risk by making your home unattractive to potential burglars.

The first step is to make your home more difficult to enter.  Remember, the burglar will simply bypass your home if it requires too much effort or requires more skill and tools than they possess.  Most burglars enter via the front, back, or garage doors.  Experienced burglars know that the garage door is usually the weakest point of entry followed by the back door.  The garage and back doors also provide the most cover.  Burglars know to look inside your car for keys and other valuables so keep it locked, even when parked inside your garage.  Use high quality Grade-1 or Grade-2 locks on exterior doors to resist twisting, prying, and lock-picking attempts.  A quality deadbolt lock will have a beveled casing to inhibit the use of channel-lock pliers used to shear off lock cylinder pins.   A quality door knob-in-lock set will have a 'dead latch' mechanism to prevent slipping the lock with a shim or credit card.

The most common way used to force entry through a door with a wooden jamb is to kick it open.  The weakest point is almost always near the strike plate that holds the latch or lock bolt in place.  The average door strike plate is secured with only the door frame molding.  These lightweight moldings are often tacked on to the door frame and can be torn away with a firm kick.   Because of this construction flaw, it makes sense to  upgrade to a four-screw, heavy-duty, high security strike plate.  They are available in most quality hardware stores and home improvement centers and are definitely worth the extra expense.  Install this heavy-duty strike plate using 3-inch wood screws to cut deep into the door frame stud.  Use these longer screws in the knob lock strike plate as well and use at least one long screw in each door hinge.  This one step alone will deter or prevent most through-the-door forced entries. 

Sliding glass doors are vulnerable to being forced open from the outside because of inherently defective latch mechanisms. This can be easily be prevented by inserting a wooden dowel or stick into the track thus preventing or limiting the sliding movement.  Other blocking devices available are metal fold-down blocking devices called "charley bars" and various track-blockers that can be screwed down.

The blocking devices described above solve half the problem.  Older sliding glass doors can be lifted off their track thereby defeating the latch mechanism.  To prevent lifting, you need to keep the door rollers in good condition and properly adjusted.  You can also install anti-lift devices such as a pin that extends through both the sliding and fixed portion of the door.  There are also numerous locking and blocking devices available in any good quality hardware store that will prevent a sliding door from being lifted or forced horizontally.  Place highly visible decals on the glass door near the latch mechanism that indicates that an alarm system, a dog, or block watch/operation identification is in place.  Burglars dislike alarm systems and definitely barking dogs, especially big ones.

Windows are left unlocked and open at a much higher rate than doors.  An open window, visible from the street or alley, may be the sole reason for your home to be selected by a burglar.  Ground floor windows are more susceptible to break-ins for obvious reasons.  Upper floor windows become attractive if they can be accessed from a stairway, tree, fence, by climbing on balconies or if a ladder is conveniently near by.  Windows have latches, not locks and therefore should have secondary blocking devices to prevent sliding them open from the outside.   Inexpensive wooden dowels and sticks work well for horizontal sliding windows and through-the-frame pins work well for vertical sliding windows.  For ventilation, block the window open no more than six inches and make sure you can't reach in from the outside and remove the blocking device or reach through and unlock the door.  In sleeping rooms, these window blocking devices should be capable of being removed easily from the inside to comply with fire codes.

Like sliding glass doors, anti-lift devices are necessary for ground level and accessible aluminum windows that slide horizontally.  The least expensive and easiest method is to install screws half-way into the upper track of the movable glass panel to prevent it from being lifted out in the closed position.  As a deterrent, place highly visible decals on the glass door near the latch mechanism that indicates that an alarm system, a dog, or block watch/operation identification system is in place.

Good neighbors should look out for each other.  Get to know your neighbors on each side of your home and the three directly across the street.  Invite them into your home, communicate often, and establish trust.  Good neighbors will, if you ask them, watch out for your home or apartment when you are away.  They can report suspicious activity to the police or to you while you are away.  Between them, good neighbors can see to it that normal services continue in your absence by allowing vendors to mow your lawn or remove snow.  Good neighbors can pick up your mail, newspapers, handbills, and can inspect the outside or inside of your home periodically to see that all is well.  Good neighbors will occasionally park in your driveway to give the appearance of occupancy while you are on vacation.  Allowing a neighbor to have a key solves the problem of hiding a key outside the door.   Experienced burglars know to look for hidden keys in planter boxes, under doormats, and above the ledge.  Requiring a service vendor to see your neighbor to retrieve and return your house key will send the message that someone is watching.  This practice helps deter burglaries and other crimes in a big way.  Of course for this to work, you must reciprocate and offer the same services.

Interior lighting is necessary to show signs of life and activity inside a residence.  A darkened home night after night sends the message to burglars that you are away on a trip.  Light timers are inexpensive and can be found everywhere.  They should be used on a daily basis, not just when you are away.  In this way you set up a routine that your neighbors can observe and will allow them to become suspicious when your normally lighted home becomes dark.  Typically, you want to use light-timers near the front and back windows with the curtains drawn.  The pattern of them clicking on and off simulates actual occupancy.  It is also comforting not to have to enter a dark residence.  The same light timers can be used to turn on radios or television sets to further enhance the illusion of occupancy.

Exterior lighting is also very important.  It becomes critical if you must park in a common area parking lot or on the street and need to walk to your front door.   The purpose of good lighting is to allow you to see if a threat or suspicious person is lurking in your path.  If you can see a potential threat in advance then you at least have the choice and chance to avoid it.  Exterior lighting needs to be bright enough for you to see 100 feet and it helps you to identify colors.  Good lighting is definitely a deterrent to criminals because they don't want to be seen or identified. 

Another important area to be well-lighted is the perimeter of your home or apartment especially at the entryway.  Exterior lighting on the front of a property should always be on a timer to establish a routine and appearance of occupancy at all times.   Common area lighting on apartment properties should also be on a timer or photo-cell to turn on at dusk and turn off at dawn.  Garage or porch lights left on all day on a single family home is a dead giveaway that you are out of town.   Exterior lighting at the rear of a home or apartment are usually on a switch because of the proximity to the sleeping rooms.  The resident can choose to leave these lights on or off.   Security lights with infra-red motion sensors are relatively inexpensive and can easily replace an exterior porch light or side door light on single family homes.  The heat-motion sensor can be adjusted to detect body heat and can be programmed to reset after one minute.  These security lights are highly recommended for single family homes. These lights should be placed on all sides of the house where entry can be made and concealment because of darkness is a strong factor.  Along with the lighting, bushes and other shrubbery should be kept trimmed down so as not to offer concealment either.

Alarm systems definitely have a place in a home security plan and are effective, if used properly.  The reason why alarm systems deter burglaries is because they increase the potential and fear of being caught and arrested by the police.  The deterrent value comes from the alarm company lawn sign and from the alarm decals on the windows.  Home and apartment burglars will usually bypass a property with visible alarm signs and will go to another property without such a sign.  Some people, with alarm systems,  feel that these signs and decals are unsightly and will not display them.  The risk here is that an uninformed burglar might break a window or door and grab a few quick items before the police can respond.  Also, don't write your alarm passcode on or near the alarm keypad.

Alarm systems need to be properly installed and maintained.  Alarms systems can monitor for fire as well as burglary for the same price.  All systems should have an audible horn or bell to be effective in case someone does break in.  However, these audible alarms should be programmed to reset automatically after one or two minutes.   The criminal got the message and will be long gone but your neighbors will have to listen to the alarm bell, sometimes for hours, until it is shut off.  If you use a central station to monitor your alarm, make sure your response call list is up to date.   Home alarms, like car alarms, are generally ignored except for a brief glance.   However, if you have established and nurtured your neighborhood watch system, you will experience a genuine concern by your neighbor.  It is not unusual to have a neighbor wait for the police, allow them inside for an inspection, and secure the residence.  A good neighbor can also call the glass company or locksmith to repair any damage, if pre-authorized by you. 

Since the prices of good home safes are falling, having a safe in your home is a wise investment.  Home safes are designed to keep the smash and grab burglar, nosey kids, dishonest babysitters or housekeepers from gaining access to important documents and personal property. Home safes need to be anchored into the floor or permanent shelving.

This is a program supported by most police agencies.  They recommend that you engrave your drivers license on televisions, stereos, computers, and small electronic appliances.  They suggest this so they can identify and locate you if your stolen items are recovered.  I suggest that you go way beyond this step.

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