Paloma Creek Neighborhood Crime Watch

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Lowering Your Risk Of Being A Crime Victim - Part Three

Today we will continue our series.

What do burglars look for in a home? In no particular order, these are the things that are trends and what you can do to mitigate your risk:

  1. Crime Watch - You can join right now! You don’t need to worry since it will open a new window and then you can come back right here. You can pickup where we left off.

  2. You Don’t Use The Alarm - Studies have shown that only 10% of you use it properly. You need to arm it and disarm it. You should also setup the “armed and away” and “armed and home” options, so you can freely move about your home while it is armed. Please be cautious with motion sensors and large pets. Motion detectors will tell you how large a pet you can have and whether they are pet friendly. Your alarm doesn’t work unless you use it.

  3. Ignoring Alarms - We have all been conditioned to kind of drown out car and home alarms as white noise. You could stop a crime or save a life. You never know. When you know your neighbors, you can send a quick text or call them ensuring they are safe. They might not even be aware that their alarm is going off.

  4. Safety Words - They have a myriad of uses. Please set up a safe word with your neighbors prior to an incident and be clear on its usage (e.g., we are okay or we are in distress, so in the event of a home invasion, hostage situation, domestic violence, or similar incident, they can use the safe word if needed).

    1. For instance, my former roommate’s safety word was “Jesus”. If I, her parents, or the alarm monitoring called to check in on her, she would say, “Praise Jesus! I am just fine!” Then, we knew she was in danger and were able to call 911 for her.

    2. Another way to apply safe words is with your children. Please contact your child’s school to have a few authorized individuals that you trust on file with the school. Then, when they arrive in the carpool lane, they can give your child’s name, their name, and show their identification to verify their identity with school staff. Then in the event of emergency, if the designated pickup person is unable to make it to school on time for drop off, the child can be reassured by the person with the use of the safety word.

  5. Long Alarm Delays - Even with an alarm, once a burglar is in, time is of the essence. The clock is literally ticking if your alarm is set. What is your delay at? Fifteen, thirty, or sixty seconds? I bet it is a full minute. They can be in and out of your home before the siren even goes off in a minute. While it sounds like a short amount of time, you should try it. Set a timer and see if you can run through every room of your house in under a minute. Remember, they don’t really care if they break anything. They don’t have any respect for your home, personal space, or belongings. I suggest setting your system’s siren delay for ten seconds. That should give you ample time to disarm it in the event that you forget.

  6. Improperly Mounted Strike Plates - Doors and windows are the primary means criminals get into your home, so the most common way the amateur burglar attempts entry is to kick open one of your doors. The weakest point on a door is the lock strike plate (remember it from earlier?) that holds the latch, latch bolt, and/or deadbolt in place. Usually, this strike plate is secured only by a soft-wood door jamb molding and can be torn with a firm kick or strong shoulder. To make it extremely difficult for a criminal to force their way into your home consider using a solid core wood or metal door for all entrance points with a quality, heavy-duty deadbolt that has a one-inch throw bolt that securely engages into the strike plate. Use a heavy-duty, four-screw, strike plate with 3-inch screws that penetrate into the wood door frame. If you are using a metal door and frame, you can secure the frame to your home at multiple points prior to installing the strike plate. I recommend pre-drilling the holes first. Please make sure you have the correct bit size and type prior to making any holes.

  7. Sliding Glass Doors - This is one of their favorites. As a former security professional, I firmly believe there is a special place in Hell for all glass doors, anything that slides vertically, revolving doors, and double doors that “lock” in the center. Please install a wooden dowel or old broomstick into the bottom of the door track. You should also invest in a “Charlie bar” that is visible. They are a metal folding device that go down, blocking entry, while holding the doors in place and prevent sliding. When I was a child, we had two Charlie bars and two locks on the sliding glass doors for a total of four locks. It was great childproofing as well. Our home wasn’t ever broken into; however, I stopped counting when the new neighbors had been robbed four times while the mother was at carpool pickup. The third lock was an anti-lift device which will prevent a criminal from lifting a sliding glass door or forcing it open horizontally which should be placed high, so small children can’t access it. Of course, Amazon sells all sorts of intimidating stickers that you can apply as well to augment your sign on the glass indicating that you have an alarm system installed. Check EVERY time you leave the house and before you go to bed that your sliding glass doors are secured. Kids love to run in and out during the summer and a door that appears shut may have been left unlocked.

  8. Full Glass Door, Partial Glass Door, and/or a Window Beside Your Door - If you have glass door, consider installing decorative or “privacy” glass to prevent the would-be robber from peering inside your home to see if anyone may be home and sizing up what items you have that are ripe for stealing. If you must have glass, ask for reinforced glass that makes it challenging to break. If you need to reinforce something inexpensively, you can do what I did to a rental home I lived in. I purchased a sheet of clear acetate (think thick plastic sheeting) at a local home improvement store. I had the dimensions and they were nice enough to cut it to size for me. Then, I pre-dilled holes in it so that it would make the perfect overlay for the glass in the door. I am a measure twice, cut once type, so I recommend making a template first with the back of lined wrapping paper (check with your Property Manager to make sure you are allowed to make the change to the property). It is clear and impact-resistant. It will prevent someone from easily breaking out a window pane in your door, sticking their arm in, and letting themselves in within seconds. If you don’t want to look at the edges that lay over the sides of the glass approximately an inch, you can hide them with curtains. The other option that is security film, but I decided against it in the rental because the door was weak and there were nine panes and two panels that could have easily been removed. The film would have been less effective and a pain to install on so many small panes! It is the perfect option for modern doors in good condition with one piece of glass. I prefer clear, but it comes in one-way mirror, tints, and stained glass prints. Just check with the HOA first if you deviate from clear.

  9. Unlocked Doors & Windows - Maybe, you didn’t lock your door or window when you were away because you were “only going to (insert location here) for a moment”. It takes seconds for a burglar to strike. You certainly don’t want to come home to one in the commission of a crime either. Many burglars will observe a homeowner’s patterns. For example, if they know you walk across the street every Wednesday morning to have coffee with a friend and your home is unlocked, when do you think they will arrive? Are you going to get the mail at the end of the block and walk the dog? Lock everything up.

  10. Unlocked Car - Please lock your car to deter crime, keep stolen guns off of the streets, and prevent deaths of curious children. There isn’t an excuse. I see all of your posts on social media that you have been robbed, but your cars are rarely broken into. Please do not allow yourself to be lulled into a false sense of security. When crime goes down, it is easy to become comfortable, complacent, and lackadaisical in our responsibilities, but that is what they are waiting for. They can also take your keys and/or garage remote without you possibly knowing and return later with potentially catastrophic consequences. Re-keying cars is expensive. It can also be deadly if a child crawls in.

Try walking around your home inside and outside tomorrow, but I want you to be the burglar. What do you see that needs to be addressed? Safety and security are skills and habits that we can freely share and build upon together. They do not happen overnight. With some small changes, we can make a large impact.