Over the next few weeks, we are going to be talking about securing your home from criminal intruders.  I am glad that the picture on my last post gave some people a chuckle, it was not meant to be indicative of what you need to do to secure your home (yet).  Of course, if we got to a situation of complete anarchy and widespread starvation/looting then even this would not be enough because the criminals would probably just set our house on fire.

I am looking to protect myself, and help you protect yourself, from the common criminal who wants what you have in your home. 

With so many people without jobs, and so many people feeling that they deserve whatever they can take, it has led to an increase in home burglaries and car break-ins in many areas… 

Criminals are not all stupid, they will tend to go after less defended homes and neighborhoods before they go after well-defended ones.  So, if you don’t already have one in place you should help your neighborhood set up a Neighborhood Watch program.  The one in our area is called C.O.P.S. and we are sent emails whenever there is a break-in that occurs in our general area.  This is also the place where suspicious vehicles and door-knockers are reported and tracked.   Many break-ins are begun with a person dressed as a contractor in work clothes knocking on the front door of a residence.  If the party is home, he says he is mistaken and moves on.

If the homeowner does not answer they know that the home is vacant, and they can case the house and look for a vulnerable point to break-in. (we will discuss how to minimize these vulnerable points in the days ahead).’

Having a Neighborhood watch program gets the entire community aware of the crime in their midst so that they can have the proper awareness.  It also gives a place to report suspicious activity for patterns and so that the police can be alerted.  If a contractor knocks on the “wrong door” in our neighborhood, there is a good chance this would be immediately reported and the police could intervene.

For help starting a Neighborhood program, check out www.nnwi.org or www.usaonwatch.org

Three more things-

1. Talk with your neighbors when you will be gone for more than a day and let them know your plans… They can be alert for people that might pose as movers stealing all your stuff.

2. Don’t let your kids post on Facebook, etc. that you are going on a Cruise tomorrow and will be gone for a week.  This has led to numerous break-ins.  Keep these details to yourself till after your trip.

3. Leave some lights on (with timers if possible to turn them on and off simulating activity).  Maybe leave a radio playing quietly.  Leave external floodlights on as well…

And make sure that you lock your house (DEADBOLTS, not just the pass locks) when you leave.  And lock your cars in your driveway.  Seems obvious, but many people don’t do it…

Part Two will continue this discussion…

A great question from regular reader and all-around good guy Lynn Lane:

Where is the best place to stash extra cash, gold or silver coins? In house in a safe or safety deposit box at the bank?

Lynn, first of all let’s talk about safe deposit boxes…

Although these are good for some things, they are not very useful for emergency cash or survival gold and silver.

Why?  

In the event of a financial crisis, it is conceivable that banks could be closed and you might have no access to your assets.  And it might be a while before you can get back at them…

So, these emergency items needs to be stored in your home. But they need to be secure in your home. So, your home needs to be secure and protected and the valuables need to be stored intelligently. We will talk in future posts about home security which encompasses at least four major topics for discussion:

In the next week or so, we will talk about each of these topics in greater detail… as we continue to discuss the other items for our 72 Hour Emergency Kit…

Thanks for the great question, Lynn!  (and I look forward to discussing personal protection and self defense with you in greater detail with my readers)

PS: The picture is not intended as my recommendation for your home defense!  As one astute reader pointed out, this is not likely to pass most Homeowners Associations Bylaws because of the lack of coordinated colors.