The home invasion scenario is a perilous proposition. It involves criminals who are willing to forcibly enter a residence and threaten your family’s safety. They place themselves at higher risk for arrest, injury, or even death than in more anonymous, stealthy crimes.
This being the case, it makes sense to establish if one’s residence or habits advertise “weak spots,” or vulnerabilities that home invaders typically exploit. By determing methods to prevent anyone gaining forcible entry into your home, you can stop an intruder before he gets in! Today, we identify precautions that can be taken to minimize your risk for home invasion.
Safety Vulnerabilities
- Lighting – Poor outdoor lighting can effectively obscure the activities of individuals “casing” a property or initiating a break-in. At least one floodlight on a motion sensor that is triggered when people approach the property is a great idea.
- Door chains and bars – Experts advise that these can be easily broken. Don’t depend on them.
- Open windows – A few years ago in Colorado, a serial rapist gained access to several victims who had left their windows open at night due to the summer heat. Need we say more?
- Unlocked doors – It may seem like a no-brainer, but some people in single-family residences still don’t lock the front door when they’re at home, believing they live in a safe neighborhood.
- Overgrown vegetation – This provides similar “cover” for criminals as poor outdoor lighting. Make sure that bushes and trees – particularly near windows and doors – are regularly trimmed.
- General visibility – If neighbors can see what’s going on in your home when they stroll by in the evening, so can criminals. Shades, drapes, and blinds are inexpensive methods of risk mitigation.
- Broadcasting status – Do family members typically yell their goodbyes on their way out the front door, thereby announcing who is and is not home to the entire neighborhood? If this habit has been acquired, now is the time to break it.
Prevention
- Craft a plan for your family or roommates to follow in the event of a home invasion.
- Get a security alarm with sensors on the doors and windows. Activate these while you are home in case a perpetrator attempts entry somewhere other than the front door.
- Consider purchasing a closed circuit video security system. This can provide the means toward identifying perpetrators whether they get in or not.
- Keep the alarm on your vehicle armed, even when it’s in the garage. Keep your car keys easily accessible while sleeping so you can activate the car alarm remotely if a break-in occurs.
- Change the code on your garage door opener and entry codes on your home alarm system periodically.
Precautions
- Never discuss your home security strategies with anyone outside those who live with you.
- Never presume that the party at the door is who they say they are. The identity of salesmen and repairmen can be verified by phone, and your stranded motorist or drunk sorority sister can wait for you to call the police to aid them.
- Never enter your home if, upon arriving, there are any signs of doors, locks, or windows having been tampered with.
- Never let people know when you’re away from your residence; some home invaders break into empty homes, then lay in wait for residents to return.
- Never give information regarding who is at home or who lives with you to a telephone caller whom you don’t know.
These are just some of the key areas that are often neglected when residents consider home security. Incorporating what we’ve covered here can go a long way toward minimizing the risk of your residence being the target of a home invasion.
