How Secure are Your Doors? A Quick Self-Test

Exterior doors are one of the most common entry methods for burglars.  It’s important that these doors are hard enough to break-in to cause would-be thieves to consider moving on to easier targets.

Exterior doors should be solid hardwood or metal.  Never use a hollow door, such as those used for interiors, as an exterior entry. Door locks should be high quality deadbolt locks with bolts that are at least 1-inch long.  Strike plates are the metal plate attached to the doorframe that receives the bolt.  These are often a weak point.  Unfasten one of the screws in your strike plate and check the length.  The standard 3/4” screws are woefully insufficient as they only fasten into the doorframe and not the wall studs.  Replace these with 3-4” screws.  The best lock in the world won’t help you if the strike plate breaks away from the doorframe.

The door should fit tightly in the doorframe and there should be very little space for insertion of a pry bar or other tool.  Check for wood rot or decay in the door and surrounding frame.

Consider, too, the proximity of windows.  If there are windows in the door, or within about 30 inches of the door, the deadbolt lock will not provide much security.  A thief can simple break one of the windows, reach in and unlock the deadbolt.  You may have to replace your door with a windowless model, or replace door or window glass with shatter and break resistant Plexiglas.

Although exterior door hinges are commonly located inside the home, in some areas (such as hurricane prone regions), exterior door hinges are common.  Exterior hinges make it possible for thieves to remove the hinge pins and gain entry by lifting the door off the hinges.  If you have such hinges, contact a locksmith or a hardware store as there are a number of simple solutions that require only a few hand tools.

Finally, exterior doors should have a peep-hole so that you can see anyone outside without opening the door.  These are inexpensive, and should have a wide field of view so you can see people standing to the side of the door.  Mount these approximately 5’ high, and have a step-stool handy if anyone in your household can’t easily peek through the peephole at that height.

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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.

As we go through life enjoying the things that we are blessed with, we must also plan and prepare for circumstances that may be uncomfortable to talk about. There is a seedy element that wants to deprive us of that which we have worked so hard for. This criminal element will stop at nothing to come into our homes and take that for which they have not worked. They conduct their “business” in a number of ways. The most common way is to burglarize your home. There is however, a technique that is becoming increasingly prevalent as the time goes by. The home invasion.

Now, you may ask how is a home invasion different from a burglary? Well. I’m glad you asked. Before answering, let me say that many municipalities group these two “techniques” together so that there is very little statistical data on home invasions as compared to that of burglaries alone. That being said, as time progresses, authorities are now starting to pay more attention to this trend in criminal behavior. Burglars tend to work in the daytime when no one is home. They tend to be mostly non-violent (unless they are surprised by a homeowner who is actually at home). If given the opportunity, the burglar will run if confronted by the homeowner (most of the time). Burglars will gain entrance in any number of ways if given the opportunity. The most common way, believe it or not is through the front or rear door. They’ll only climb through a window about 20 percent of the time. The most common reason for a person to be relegated to burglarizing homes is to support a drug habit. They could be male or female (mostly male).

The home invader is a different beast altogether. He tends to be more violent. Think about it. He is attempting to enter a house he knows is occupied in order to overpower the occupants! He tends to work at night and will target the victim least likely (in his mind) to give him any resistance upon entry. The victim will tend to be the elderly, single women or even drug dealers. And as you can see by my use of the pronoun, he tends to be a male. He may target an individual who by virtue of the expensive vehicle they’re driving looks to have money. The would-be intruder may follow his target home in the day and wait until nightfall to commence his nocturnal escapades. Another thing. Obviously, money is not the only reason for home invasions. The attacker may have found a “mark” he feels he can dominate and control (I know I don’t have to go any further with this scenario. You get the picture).

They can gain entrance by kicking in the door, climbing through a window or faking a delivery to gain trust. Upon entry, the first few minutes tend to be the most violent, while the assailant establishes control of his victims. The intruder will more than likely tie up his victims and incapacitate the phone lines (not necessarily in that order). Once in control and assured the threat of discovery (by any means) is minimized, they can now take their time to carry out their purpose for entering the home in the first place (to burglarize or molest). Of course, there are measures you can take to greatly minimize your chances of being a victim. Most of these measures are simple and inexpensive. They only involve making minor adjustments to your everyday habits. We’ll discuss these in a subsequent article.