YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE FAMOUS: Make Home Security A Priority
Dolphins linebacker Zach Thomas said the NFL talks to players about firearm safety and identity theft each season, “but they haven’t really gotten into the household (security). I’m sure they’ll add that.” Security experts told The Wall Street Journal last month that with businesses beefing up security, criminals have shifted focus to private homes of the more-often, security-deficient homes of the rich. Read the entire article: http://www.miamiherald.com/615/story/346697.html
Recent events at the homes of athletes and multi-millionaires have really pointed out the fact that we are all vulnerable to home invasion. It’s not only the rich and famous who are in peril–their tragedies simply get more attention because of their notoriety. Regular people all across the country are experiencing home invasions, theft, or physical violence from intruders.
The important thing to understand is that you don’t want your home or family to be “soft targets,” meaning easily-accessed for criminal activity. The paparazzi may not be hiding out in your bushes, but that doesn’t mean your family or home isn’t being watched. Everybody needs to feel safe in their home, and it is not difficult to secure the safety of your possessions and family. Below are some tips:
RESIDENCE SECURITY (While at Home or Away)
• Keep doors and windows locked at all times
• If you are storing larger items such as bikes in the garden shed, ensure the door is locked
• Make a note of the frame numbers of new cycles and the serial numbers of new electrical equipment for future reference. Also, mark valuables with your address
• Don’t leave purses, wallets or laptop computers any place that could be seen from outside your windows
• Do not include your last name on your mailbox, as a criminal could then call information (if your phone is listed) dial your number and figure out when nobody answers, that you are not home
• Don’t allow mail to pile up in your box or outside your door
• Dispose of packaging of new goods in such a way so they can’t be seen–don’t leave them sitting in view of anyone passing by, as this is an indication of what new valuables are in your home
• A quality deadbolt lock on all perimeter doors is always your first line of defense
• If you have an electric garage door opener, cut the pull-cord. A burglar can push the top of your garage door in enough to put a wire hanger in and hook the release handle, which will override the screw or chain drive and allow for manual access (just pushing the door up)
• Leave a light on a timer if you’re going away for an extended amount of time, even if you’re out for the evening
• Replace outside perimeter lighting with motion activated lamps. These are not expensive, and are available at most electronic and hardware stores
• Place timers on a few of your inside lights so it appears someone is home. Vary the time every few days so there is not a pattern which will indicate to a keen observer that you are not home, and using timers
• Turn down the volume on your answering machine so that burglars cannot hear that nobody is home when the phone rings and your machine picks up
• Leave spare keys with a trusted neighbor–never hidden outside your home
• Don’t leave ladders or tools outside your home as this will only make a criminal’s job easier!
• Don’t leave notes on the door telling someone that you are not home and what time you will be back
• Don’t ever tell a stranger that you are home alone
• Always look out the window or through a peephole before opening your door to anyone
• When traveling, luggage tags should have your office address and cell phone, so that a baggage handler doesn’t have your home address with the knowledge that you are not home
• Remove all address information from your parked car at the airport. Anyone who breaks into your vehicle would know you are not home and have your address and garage door opener
Harlan (Hucky) Austin
