- 5 Things to Do That Will Keep You Safe
Securing your home
Home security
I’ve spent over 30 years in the field of professional security. I’ve seen many things in my career and heard a great deal of complaining from victims of theft and other crimes regarding the police and fire departments and the time it takes for them to arrive in an emergency. This, unfortunately, is because there aren’t usually enough of these wonderful public servants to go around. I’ve called for assistance many times in my career, only to be told that officers are tied up on another call. And quite often, what caused the need for police or fire department response was avoidable.
Emergency services, by definition, are reactive — they come when called for in an emergency. They can’t follow people around, watching over them 24 hours a day. Security is, primarily, a proactive service. Part of being proactive in my profession is educating people in how to keep themselves safer. I’d like to share a few simple things that can make your home a little more secure.
1 Lock your doors
Sure, you lock your doors when you go to bed, or when you’re all alone and feel a little nervous about the noises outside. But making a habit of locking your front and back doors is a simple habit that will keep out unwanted neighbors, pushy salespeople, nosey kids in the neighborhood who will look for a way in after they don’t get an answer at your door.
And yes, burglars try the doorknob first before they force it open it, because if it isn’t locked it’s much easier and virtually silent. If you’re at the back of the house, you won’t know someone is inside until it’s too late.
This brings us to:
2 Install an alarm
It doesn’t have to be elaborate; it doesn’t need to be a subscription to an alarm monitoring service — although some are quite good and cheap. You can buy a cheap door chime that has a “screech” setting for when you’re alone and occupied. There are quite a few wireless alarms that you can buy and install yourself that include sensors for windows. There is, of course, Amazon’s Blink and Ring cameras that will allow you to check in on the house when you’re away, as well as let you know when an intruder has entered your home, which I can personally attest are great buys.
There are some who say, “An alarm isn’t going to stop anybody from breaking in”. But that isn’t the function of an alarm. An alarm alerts those around — and/or the police — that an unauthorized entry has occurred. An alarm is there to bring attention to the break-in, and that alone makes it a valuable tool.
3 Make sure your entry doors are sturdy
The strength of a good security system is only as good as the quality the of materials of which it's made. You can’t seriously consider yourself safer by locking your door when that door is a light, hollow core item that you wouldn’t use as a work surface, much less your home’s primary barrier between you and the outside world.
Have a good, solid-wood or at least a steel-clad door, which can be purchased for as little as $150 at your local home improvement store, pre-framed for easy installation. And make sure that the hinges are inside your house, not outside, so the pins cannot be removed.
4 Install good locks
This doesn’t have to be expensive either. A strong, name-brand doorknob set with a good deadbolt lock on a sturdy door will make a burglar who wants to enter quickly and silently or nor at all, skip your place for another. Make sure the bolt on your lock is at least two inches long and it fits entirely in the mortise (the hole in the doorframe that the bolt slides into). If you’re unsure of the strength of your door or frame, you can add wraparound security plates around the lockset (doorknob), or if the gap between the door and the frame is too large, you can add a shield that will cover the gap, preventing someone from prying open your door with a flat instrument.
5 Secure your windows
There are several products that will make windows more difficult to breach, and a few things you can do with items around your house. The old broomstick-in-the-track-of-the-sliding-door-trick is handy when keeping people from opening your patio door is all you’re worried about. It works on sliding windows, too, of course.
But when it comes to the thief who isn’t concerned about breaking glass, a good steel-woven screen is a good start. They slow the burglar down a bit, especially when they are screwed into the frame. And when you’re at home, having something to slow down an intruder can make all the difference in getting to safety and calling for help.
In a neighborhood with a particularly bad record of burglaries and home invasions, installing a metal grid over your windows is a tried-and-true deterrent. And it doesn’t have to be unattractive bars. There are a number of these security grids on the market that are very decorative, don’t make your house look like you live in a jail, and allow you to open them from the inside in case of an emergency.
There is also a great option in the form of a transparent laminate that is attached to your window glass, which will withstand hammer strikes, medium-caliber bullets, etc. This isn’t an inexpensive choice, but if you want to harden your windows without changing your home’s appearance, it is a good one.
In closing, let me say that these are mostly simple, common-sense improvements, several of which a homeowner with average skills can complete by themselves. There are many products that are on the market that can be highly effective, which I haven’t mentioned here for reasons of brevity. Do your research, ask a good locksmith for their advice, and don’t settle for anything less than the best you can afford.
