Tips for keeping you home invasion free

Home invasion formerly known as burglary is

the type of crime that you can do something to prevent. Home

invasion falls into two categories burglary and robbery. In my

book "Crime Awareness 101" I discuss the differences of

both and what you can do. In this article I am going to address

preventative steps to protect your home from being unlawfully

entered. What is home invasion? Home invasion is where someone

enters a dwelling with the intent to commit a felony, larceny

(theft), or assault. In most cases these criminals look for easy

opportunities or in other words look for the path of least

resistance. In fact it is stated that statistically a home

invasion criminal will not at the most spend more then two

minutes attempting to break into a home. By understanding this,

your best defense is to create a path of great resistance. Here

some suggestions to securing your home.







Install deadbolt locks. The downside of deadbolt locks is

that the deadbolt goes into the wood jam which makes up the

doorway. Because most doorway jams are only about three quarters

of an inch think, and the fact that the deadbolt is not long

enough to penetrate into the stud. A good kick or two and that

door is going to fly open splitting the door jam. During my time

as a Police Officer I had to kick open a few doors and its not

all that hard to do. The alternative is to get steel jams. The

steel jams will not splinter like wood thus making it very

difficult to kick in the door. I have also had my experiences

attempting to kick in a steel jammed door, in which I was

unsuccessful. We usually had to use a battering ram, or have the

Fire Department come and pry the door open. This took some time

and caused a lot of commotion something a criminal is not going

to waste their time doing. Unfortunately installing steel jams

on all your exterior doors is a costly proposition. However in

researching this article I came across a company that does have

an excellent alternative. What they provide is a steel plate

called Strike Master II its about five feet long and easily

installs on the door jam. It is installed on the side of the

door jam that the doorknob and deadbolt secure to. By installing

their product you in a sense have just created a steel jam but

without any of the high cost, or extensive labor. For more

information about all their products you can click here.











Patio doors are another entry way that needs to be secured.

Many people do not realize that some patio doors can be lifted

up slightly and disengage from their locking mechanism. This is

especially true for door walls that are a few years old and the

jams have expanded. An easy and cheap way to secure a patio door

is to put a pole in between the patio door end and the wall.

Place the pole on the track where the patio door slides when

opening up. This will prevent the door wall from being opened

until the pole is removed. You can use an old broom stick handle

or even a board. You want to cut it to the same length as the

open track area when the door wall is closed. To keep the door

from being lifted up and removed you can install a flat headed

metal screw into the top of the patio door frame one should be

about six inches from the edge and one in the middle. Make sure

the screw is just above the door so that it will not interfere

with the door sliding open or close. You can also purchase

products which have been specially designed for patio door

security such as patio door security bars, patio door pins, and

patio door locks, etc You can find these items at your local

hardware store. The same thing goes for your windows make sure

they are locked and secured the same way.











Note: be careful when you are installing anything

which requires you to drill into your patio door frame you could

result in damaging the door, or breaking the glass. If you are

not that handy I would recommend you hire a contractor to do the

work for you.











Lighting is an excellent deterrent to criminal activity at

night. I recommend if possible installing outside lighting on

motion detectors. That way the lights will go on when motion is

detected. Many times they will detect small animals or some

other thing and go on. Just because they go on doesnt

necessarily mean there is someone there. But having them go on

is a good deterrent if someone was. Like stated above thieves

dont want to make a scene, and they surely do not want a light

shining on them. If possible, it is suggested that you install

flood lights on each of the four corners of you home. That way

you could have perimeter lighting with motion detectors watching

all sides of your home. When purchasing a motion detector spend

the extra few dollars and get one of good quality.











Home alarm systems are also becoming popular and are a good

deterrent. If you get just an audible alarm that will help, but

I recommend that if you are getting an alarm system, get one

that has a service that monitors your home and will contact the

proper authorities when the alarm goes off. If someone does

enter your home you want the police to be notified as quickly as

possible. Also make sure your alarm company knows which police

department to contact for your jurisdiction. We had numerous

calls for police service from alarm companies whose customers

residence was outside of our jurisdiction, this caused

unnecessary delays in police response. If you do get an alarm

make sure to put the notification stickers on the doors that

state This home is protected by A would be criminal might see

those stickers and look for a house that isnt alarmed.











When going on vacation I recommend you have a friend of

family member (someone trustworthy) to stay in your home while

you are gone. If that is not possible have a neighbor, friend,

or family member keep an eye on your home and come by daily to

take in the mail and any newspapers you have delivered. They

should also do a daily walk around the house and check to make

sure all windows and doors are secure. We have had people go

away for a couple weeks only to come back and find there home

broken into. Later it was determined that their home was broken

into only a couple days after they left. The rest of the time it

sat wide open to the elements of weather, and possibly another

thief.











If you do not have anyone available to check your home, and

take in your mail, you can have your mail held for you at the

post office. You can do this online at

http://dunsapp.usps.gov/HoldMail.jsp.











Remember the more difficult you make it to get into your

home the less likely you are of being a Home Invasion victim.











For more information of Home Invasion and what you can do

check out the book "Crime Awareness 101"





About the author:

Scott Shaper is a former police officer of over 14 years. He is

also the author of the popular book Crime Awareness 101. He has

written numerous articles and ebooks on crime prevention which

can be viewed at his web site www.crimeawareness101.com