What do you do for home security?

[calmloki]

Odd, but I don't stress too much over home invasion. Mostly an odds n' karma thing, as I'm an old skinny guy with no wild fighting skills. Well armed and all, but there are only a couple times at home I've felt it was appropriate to have a loaded .45 nearby. Didn't care for that feeling at all and try to live my life in such a way that others do not bear me enmity. Have done the really stupid soundless sneak out of bed to do a naked house patrol, heart pounding, hoping my eyes are more used to the dark than the phantom bad guy my ears told me was there. Have reached a personal balance and now lock the front door when we go to bed - it's a sop to the fear I do have. Not pleased by having fear, but have decided that locking the front door is a reasonable thing to do and not just cowardice.

All of which does nothing for a place we leave vacant for 6 months at a time.

[Lsbcal]

My guess is most of the home invasion robberies involve people you've known. There was one guy locally that shot and killed the intruder after a tussle. It turned out the intruder had worked with the homeowner some year's before and was trying to get revenge for some reason -- he got something else instead. No charges were pressed but I'm sure the homeowner didn't enjoy the experience.

[meierlde]

I agree that the USPS did everyone a favor when it went to the cluster mailbox idea in newer developments. First the boxes are locked, so the mail can't be stolen for ID theft purposes, and second you can't tell from the mail box if anyone is there. (For the old style rural mailbox, one could even see if someone is still at work depending on when the mail was delivered.

[sheehs1]

Lived in my neighborhood for 17 years without an alarm system. My 2 dogs seemed to be the best deterrent. Never had a problem. However, when the financial crisis hit, our entire small city started having a lot of break ins. Still...I did not get a monitored security system until my neighbors up the street were broken into. Someone rang their doorbell at night and my neighbors answered the door. Two men pushed their way in. One had a rifle. One of my neighbors managed to hit the emergency panic alarm...cracked the guy over the head with his cane...and they ran off. BTW, the police did catch them based on descriptions.

My house was unattended that week-end as we were in Las Vegas. So why their house and not ours? Came to the conclusion theirs is on a dark corner...and they did not have sidelight windows around their front door. They had to answer it to see who it was.
I immediately got a monitored security system that is wired into the doors (not wireless), and glass breaks in all downstairs rooms...as well as a sign at each door. Also have the side light windows, my 2 dogs and my husband has a rifle.

The monitored security system costs me about $34.00 a month. Contract was for 3 years. It was Brinks...now ADT. Don't know what I will do when the contract comes up for review.

I am more afraid that someone will try to break in while we are home...than I am if we are away. The security system, signs, motion sensors.....etc. are a deterrent. If someone does break in, I have my cell phone by my bed and will run to a closet, call 911 and hope the police get there shortly.

I should add that my brother...went thru a horrible home invasion. He lives in the country about 15 minutes from me. Late one night two guys with guns broke his door down. He was upstairs, came around his bedroom corner only to see these 2 big guys. They started shooting at him. He raced back to the bedroom, went into his closet, found a gun, came back out and shot at them. He nicked one of them in the hand. My brother called the police who monitored Emergency rooms in the surrounding area and sure enough...a guy with a hand wound came in. They got him. He is in jail. My brother now has a full fledged security systems with all the cameras....and monitoring.
It only takes one bad guy....

[Lsbcal]

Hi Sheesh1, I got a kick out of that 1st paragraph. Sounds like a cane is the best defense .

Regarding your brother, it's amazing how people get the security religion after a nasty event.

I guess some security is like insurance. You hope you never need it. It's unlike insurance in one way, it may have saved you a lot but you might not know it helped.

[sheehs1]

Hi Lsbcal...I know! Maybe we all should buy canes!

[JOHNNIE36]

Two barking Chihuahua's. Anyone in their right mind wouldn't want to enter this house.

[sheehs1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JOHNNIE36 Two barking Chihuahua's. Anyone in their right mind wouldn't want to enter this house.

Two barking schnauzers ...both about 23 pounds....JOHNNIE36 and you are right. They were the main reason I felt I never needed a security system. Already had one with them. They have chased men working in my yard....up the pear trees !! LOL ! I still laugh about that. But when we are away...they are boarded...so the deterrent isn't there. I make sure that anyone who comes and works in my yard or on my house...knows I have a security system. I will set it off ....on purpose.....while they are here. LOL !

Back to my brothers home invasion. The fact that the two bad guys....went to an Emergency Room within 30 miles for treatment speaks directly to what someone else posted. They are not the smartest.
It was a very close call for my brother as there were bullet holes in his walls.
Very traumatic for him.
BTW....HIS dog.....made a beeline for under the bed.

[73ss454]

This morning I was leaving the house about 10 AM and there was a Police car parked in front of my house. There was no one in it so I stood in my driveway for a few minutes and another police car came around the corner. It stopped at the other police car and one office got into the parked one and they both drove away. I got in my car to leave and about 4 house from my house the street turns. As I went around the turn I was amazed to see a street full of police cars.

Turns out that 4 guys drove up to one house and broke in the front doors at aound 9:30AM and after doing a burglary there they went to a house about 3 house away, pulled into the driveway and 2 of the men got out and with crow bars started to break in the front doors. The woman inside started to scream and the 2 guys jumped back into the car and the 4 of them drove away. The Police didn't catch anyone but now I have to decide what to do about security.

I'll have to spend some time reading this thread as I haven't read it as of yet. Amazing how these guys get away with this crap.

[sheehs1]

That's about how I felt 73ss454 when my neighbors up the street were broken into. Good luck with your decision.

[Beryl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JOHNNIE36 Two barking Chihuahua's. Anyone in their right mind wouldn't want to enter this house.

Pretty scary looking critters in my home. . Also have ATD monitoring and a Lady Remington if bad guys aren't frightened by my furkids.

Fortunately, I live in the city with the lowest crime rate in my state.

[harley]

The only home invasion I've ever known about personally was the police kicking in the doors of the wrong house in the middle of the night, and knocking around and scaring the crap out of the occupants before figuring it out. They left without an apology, and never paid for the damage. It wasn't even a bad neighborhood. My acquaintance never found out where the police were really supposed to be. So I can see why Leonidas might have a little karmic paranoia going on. I don't really worry about home invasions, but I guess there's always that little chance.

Leonidas, I have a question for you or any of the other police or ex-police, regarding hardening the exterior doors. I'll make sure to do the long screw things and other suggestions you made, especially to our rear garage door, which is the weakest link in our security. But do the door jammer bars help? Amazon.com: Buddybar Door Jammer: Home Improvement

We have a couple of them and put them in place when we go on a trip. How does that measure up compared to the other hardening techniques? They look like they'd work pretty well to me, but I've always been curious.

[Lsbcal]

Just found out the city has turned off two street lights right in front of our house and we're on the edge of the city with a dark state park behind us. It's now very dark here at night. They claim that some study has shown the street light doesn't fight crime and it's easier to see the bad guys when they have to use flashlights. Of course, it's all about saving the city money. I approve of that but not at the expense of helping the bad guys.

Will have to burn more power myself lighting the place up. Another indirect tax.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harley Leonidas, I have a question for you or any of the other police or ex-police, regarding hardening the exterior doors. I'll make sure to do the long screw things and other suggestions you made, especially to our rear garage door, which is the weakest link in our security. But do the door jammer bars help? Amazon.com: Buddybar Door Jammer: Home Improvement

It won't hurt, but it is held in place by friction and vibration like pounding on the door might shake it loose. And you have to remember to put it in place. I wouldn't bother with it myself.

My experience is that target hardening is the most efficient way to go. Make your house harder to get into than your neighbor's, put some lights outside (you don't have to light it up like Stalag 13, just some 10-watt CFLs, one on every side of the house) keep the bushes trimmed, and that will take care of most of it.

[Leonidas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harley They left without an apology, and never paid for the damage. It wasn't even a bad neighborhood. My acquaintance never found out where the police were really supposed to be. So I can see why Leonidas might have a little karmic paranoia going on.

Oh, no, no and no. The only karma I was referring to was kicking in the doors of straight-up bad guys. I never kicked in the wrong door and only had a handful of dry warrants out of hundreds and hundreds. Kicking in the wrong door is the equivalent of a surgeon amputating the wrong limb.

As for your acquaintance claiming his door was kicked in mistakenly....well, I would take that with a grain of salt. People say all kinds of things to explain why the police were at their house.

Quote:

Originally Posted by harley But do the door jammer bars help? Amazon.com: Buddybar Door Jammer: Home Improvement We have a couple of them and put them in place when we go on a trip. How does that measure up compared to the other hardening techniques? They look like they'd work pretty well to me, but I've always been curious.

I don't guess it would hurt, but I've never seen one in use and I'm not in a position to really say much about it.

[calmloki]

Just got a couple of these in the mail to install down south:

Amazon.com: Outdoor Fake / Dummy Security Camera w/ Blinking Light (Silver): Home Improvement

They look quite plausible - don't think i will use the blinking light function - don't recall any real security cameras that use that. Plan to mount them on the top corners of the house where they are very obvious from the road and point them at entrance areas for the driveway and front door area - may get another for the back yard, but evil doers would have to go through neighbor's yards and scale a fence to access that area. Also ordering a double sided deadbolt for the front gate so it's tougher to cart away goodies:

Amazon.com: Kwikset 985 15 SMT CP Double Cylinder Deadbolt Featuring SmartKey, Satin Nickel: Home Improvement

Super easy re-key without even pulling the lock from the door - video of the re-key process in one of the additional Amazon pics.

[devans0]

The blinking light is easy to duplicate. It is a blinking LED hooked to a battery. I had better luck with a real cctv camera. It gave me a nice resolution of the crook robbing my mother. Of course when the crook was finally caught, restitution was less than the damages, less than the cctv camera, and much less than the amount taken but I had a video of him doing it. lol at myself.

I don't care for the Kwikset quality. I have had better luck with Schlage. The re-key feature is nice, but I and DW love the push button combination style door locks. I am really waiting for the smart-key that opens when my fob is in range, like my DW's car. No key needed!

[devans0]

I did try something unusual that deters. I used some silver foil tape and 'pinstriped' the perimeter of the windows of a house. It had the appearance of a professionally installed alarm system. That is where also where I installed the blinking led boxes. A little sticker advertising the services of a local security company on the corners of the windows may have helped a little, too. I haven't had any trouble since on that property.

IMO, the stickers that are sold for keeping criminals out are mass produced and only are an advertisement to real criminals that there is a frightened individual living there. Likewise the fake security camera, but that is only because I saw how well a real camera worked. My goal is to emulate Mel Gibson in "Conspiracy Theory".