Moving into a new home is exciting.  It’s also a time of transition, however, and it’s important to take a few minutes to pay attention to home security.

Prior to selling, many property owners will remodel, paint, clean or have other maintenance done to a home.  This gives access to a large number of workers to the home.  Most of these workers are honest, but it only takes one bad hire by a contractor or service company to set you up for theft.  These workers are able to see the types of locks on doors and windows, the interior layout of the home and what type of alarm, if any, the home has.  Sometimes, they’re loaned keys that can be copied or given the code to an alarm system.  If one of these individuals happens to be dishonest, they may just be casing the joint for criminal friends.

As you prepare to move into a new home, there are a number of steps you should take, and preferably before you spend your first night in the home.  Have locks to exterior doors or garages rekeyed or, better yet, replace them with new, high quality deadbolt locks.  Some locks are available with key control, which means keys can’t be copied at any old hardware store or key kiosk, but only at an authorized dealerership.  If the home has exterior gate or shed locks, replace those has well.

If the home has a security system, have an alarm company representative come out and review the system with you and make recommendations for improving the system.  Fully reset the alarm to clean out any old entry codes that might still be in the system, and set your own, new codes.

If there is a garage with a remote opener, have the code changed or, better yet, spend the $50 or so it costs to change to a rolling-code model.  These systems change the code at random and are much harder to crack than models with fixed codes.

These steps take very little time and effort, and will give you much greater peace of mind as you enjoy your first nights in your new home.

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Surprising Truths About Home Security

With unemployment as high as it’s been in decades, it’s no surprise that burglary rates are rising fast.  What is surprising are some of the facts about home security.  As people make efforts to make their homes and families safe, they often overlook these critical points.

1) Over 30% of illegal entries are unforced.  That’s right, almost a third.  An “unforced” entry means that the thief needed to do little or nothing to walk in the house.  Unforced entries occur mainly because people simply don’t lock their doors or windows.
This is not only a sure fire way to feel stupid when you discover a lot of valuable property missing, but it endangers you and your family as well.  Another way thieves make an unforced entry is by discovering those cleverly “hidden” keys over the door, under the doormat, in plastic rocks or other places that thieves know to look.  Extra keys are best kept with a trusted neighbor or friend.

2) Laziness is often a factor in break-ins.  Some studies show that over 40% of homes that have alarm systems almost never bother to set them.  An alarm may not stop a thief from breaking in, but it is likely to cut a theft short as thieves aren’t eager to get caught.  An alarm that isn’t turned on is no help at all.  There is no point in spending hard earned money on a decent alarm system (and spending even more to have it monitored) if it’s not even going to be turned on at night or when you’re out of the house.  Fortunately, this problem is easy to correct.  Use your security system!

3) Many folks have a false sense of security.  The truth is that most people don’t think much about home security until they become a victim of crime.  The longer “nothing happens” in the area where they live, the more likely they are to let their guards down, or to put off installing those window locks or anti-theft devices for a sliding glass door.  Once they are victims, in hindsight, they often realize that simple steps might have saved them from crime.  This is bad when valuable property is lost, but it’s absolutely heartbreaking if someone is hurt because folks believed “nothing like that ever happens around here.”

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A solid strategy for home security uses three tactics:

The first tactic is what most people think of when talking about home security, simply make it harder for a thief to break in. Thieves don’t want to work any harder than they have to for a payoff, and they will often look for the easiest targets in a given neighborhood. You make it harder to break into your home by having strong exterior doors (metal or solid hardwood, not hollow), good deadbolt locks on every door. In addition, every window in the house should have a keyed lock. These steps alone go a long way towards preventing burglary.

The second tactic is to make it riskier to break in. Just as thieves will avoid a target that’s too much work, they’ll avoid a target that they think might land them (back) in jail. Alarm systems are one of the best methods to keep the average thief away. The problem with alarms is that most people forget or simply stop setting them after awhile. One of the best things you can do for the security of your home is to 1) have a monitored alarm system and 2) set it every time you leave the house and at night.

Finally, the third way to improve your odds against crime is to make it less rewarding for thieves to break in. The trick here is that you don’t need to throw out everything of value in your home – you only have to make thieves think it’s not a very rewarding place to break in. If you have an expensive car, keep it hidden in the garage. Laptops, flat-screen tv’s and other highly target items for theft shouldn’t be left around where they can be seen through a window when you’re not home. If you have valuables in your home, be careful about who sees them. Most contract help, service workers and such probably aren’t tied in with criminal elements, but it only takes one to wipe you out.

Again, the three most important tactics you can take to secure your home are to make it harder, riskier and less rewarding to break in.

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In one of my previous articles, I discussed the fact that one of my coworkers had his house broken into several times within a 24hour period. I also mentioned that this same coworker had a monitored alarm system. I believe I am not exaggerating when I say that his alarm went off five times. Each time it went off, the police came. Finally the police told him that if the alarm went off again, he would have to pay for them coming out. What am I saying? I’m saying that there are pros and cons to having your home security system monitored by a security company. And the cons just might outweigh the pros!

I have heard three different people tell me that when the monitored home security system went off in their homes and they were away from the house that they were notified on their cell phones by the alarm company. In each situation, as soon as they heard the news, they left what they were doing and went home. In each situation the home owners took some time to get home (I believe one individual took 20 minutes to get home, and of course he was closely following all the traffic laws ). The other individual, who lived on a farm raised llamas. Yeah! Llamas! He took 35 minutes to get home. I forgot how long it took the other one. Oh well. Guess what? They all beat the police to their homes. What if the intruders were still there? Now before you get all frustrated at another person bashing the police, just realize that that’s not what I’m doing. I have the utmost respect for our boys in blue, who have a thankless job, and do it to the best of their abilities. My complaint is with the “system”. In the situation I mentioned earlier, the homeowner determined that although very little if any, was taken, the intruders did come into his house. If it happened four or five times in a 24hour period, I’d venture a guess that it was the same individual(s), and they were timing the response of the police. Why would they do that? Because they wanted the big flat screen television he had just purchased and wanted to know they had enough time to get it even with an alarm going off (Keep in mind that most burglars go after small items they can carry easily).

I was supposed to be getting to the pros and the cons of the monitored home security system. We’ll go with the pros first:
1. For the regular, run-of-the-mill burglar, it will keep them away. Especially when you have a sign in your yard.
2. If your home when the alarm goes off, the company can call you and make sure you’re not in any duress by a simple pre-designated code.
3. You can push a “panic alarm” and the police will automatically respond at the behest of the alarm company (although it might take more than 20 minutes for them to get there…Oh, I forgot. We’re still on the “pros”).
4. Most are backed up by battery, so if the power goes out you still have a warning device.
5. Of course, like in our aforementioned situations, if the alarm goes off and you’re not at home, the company will call the appropriate authorities for you.
6. When the alarm goes off, the burglar usually runs off. Usually.
7. The insurance company will usually give you a discount for having a monitored system.

I know there are many more, and if you’d like to, you can let me know what they are! Before I get to the cons, Let me just say that having a security system is a means to an end. The “end” being, you want to deter a would-be burglar from stopping at your door. No system is perfect, but we’ll get to that. The companies that service your system are there for security reasons and to make a profit. Most are good companies that are really concerned about your safety and that of your household. Having said that, there are certain things you can do to minimize the likelihood of a break in. That is, you can make your house less appealing. We’ll cover those methods in a subsequent article. For now we’ll just cover the cons:
1. It’s predictable. After a while a pattern is set, and can be undermined by the intelligent thief (so can any other, if the thief is patient).
2. After a few false alarms, local law enforcement may think the system is crying wolf and may take longer to respond, or may begin to charge you for each visit!
3. Don’t forget how much it costs to have the system installed and monitored monthly.
4. For this to work you have to give someone working for the company, the password for the alarm and the duress code. There may even be dishonest people working for the alarm company (this is unlikely, I’m just sayin’).
5. When the alarm goes off, the burglar usually runs off. Usually (How can this be a pro and a con? You want the burglars to get caught by the police).
6. You could forget to set the alarm, thus rendering it ineffective (I’ve got to have one more so that the cons can outweigh the pros).
7. It must be monitored. If the system goes off and you’re out of town, unless you’ve designated a neighbor (whom you trust implicitly) or a relative to deactivate it, it’ll blare until you get home, unless the alarm company can cancel the alarm remotely.
8. You have to set it. For the alarm system to do what it’s supposed to do, you can’t forget to set it when you leave the house or it will be ineffective. Of course! (Whew! That was close. I had to pull that one out of a hat).

All joking aside, home security is a serious matter. You can chose to depend on the companies that furnish the service, which is perfectly fine, or you can be responsible for providing your own, if you’re resourceful. You can do this for pennies on the dollar compared to hiring a company to monitor your alarms for you. You could even provide earlier warning when your DIY system is linked to your cell phone.

In my last article, I discussed the differences between a burglary and the home invasion. Differences aside, both are pretty devastating for the victims. Although these crimes are perpetrated by individuals who at the moment care nothing about anything or anyone outside their circle of acquaintances (they probably don’t even care about them either), there are measures you can take to protect yourself from them. No system is completely fool proof. However, since most burglars and home invaders look for the victim whom they feel will provide the least amount of resistance, you can apply these techniques to make yourself and your home less appealing.

Prevention

1. Whether you have an alarm system or not, place an alarm company sign in your yard. Most burglars will go to the next house.
2. Ensure you have lights around the house with motion sensors. Home invasions tend to happen at night. Keep your house well lit.
3. Reinforce the front and back door frames, the strike plate and the locks with heavy-duty materials. This will make it less likely for an individual to kick the door in.
4. Install a wide-angle peephole in the front door. None of the other measures will be worth it if you just let the intruder in through the front door.
5. Place video cameras in strategic locations outside the home to alert you to the presence of anyone approaching your home (this is surprisingly inexpensive to do).
6. Place a lock on the locking mechanism of the garage door to prevent anyone from placing a bar underneath and prying the garage door open.
7. Be a good neighbor and look out for any suspicious characters attempting to gain entrance to their home. This good deed will always be reciprocated.
8. Replace existing locks with “bump” resistant locks (lock bumping is another article altogether).
9. If you get a bad feeling about the individual who has just rang the doorbell, DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR!
10. If you have a screen door, make sure the lock on it works and keep it locked while you’re home. It may slow the intruder enough for you to call for help or move to a safe (panic) room.
11. Oh, and let us not forget about the dog. Even if you don’t have a dog, you can place a “Beware of Dog” sign out. It really doesn’t matter what size the dog is (if you have one), as long as he/she can be an early warning “device” by barking!

We’ll discuss measures to take if the intruder gains entrance, in Part II.