I was watching the news the other night and just like every
night, they were showing criminals that had broken in to homes while the owners
were away. There was even footage of the
family dog chasing the burglar away. But
one story caught my eye. It was the
story of a homeowner who had installed a doorbell system with a camera. We’ve all seen the ad where the bad guy
approaches the home and the owner say “Get off my lawn” or something to that
effect. Then the perps run away. It was one of those types.
In this particular case, the homeowner was inside the house
with her son. When the would-be burglar approached
the door she got an image of the burglar standing by her front door. He knocked on the door and pulled a gun from
his waist band. The homeowner took her
son and hid in a closet and called 911.
Can’t say I blame her.
After all this was more than a burglary this had all of the potential of
being a kidnapping, sexual assault or worse.
I think she did the right thing in hiding. That said, however, a closet offers very
little protection from a dedicated intruder.
What she needed was a closet that had been converted into a
safe-room. A room that was impenetrable from
the outside. There are materials out
there that can be used in new construction or retrofitted to an existing closet
space for a few thousand dollars. It could even be a DIY project over a
weekend. Shouldn’t every home have one?
But the real problem here is that the homeowner had bought
the security system thinking that it would protect them. I guess it did, sort of, because she was able
to see the perps and take action. The
standard action is to tell the perps to go away. She didn’t do that, so in essence she didn’t
use the system the way it was designed to be used. Fortunately, the perps weren’t able to force
the door open and eventually gave up and left.
There are two things to remember about having a home
security system; 1) it must be used the way it was designed in order to be
truly effective, and 2) unless, there is a police or guard force’s immediate
response, it really only collects evidence.
More about turning a closet into a safe-room, here: https://drive.google.com/a/amuletbb.com/file/d/0B_EElZXso5ZmdUVZYVlXNFRscEU/view?usp=drive_web
More about how thieves target homes, here: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6466683287757733888/
More tips on what you can do so it doesn’t happen to you, here: https://reader.mediawiremobile.com/NYREJ/issues/203922/viewer?page=57
A one-day class on safe-room and shelter
design and construction will be conducted on 20 June 2019. Sign-up by calling 805 509-8655 or sending an
email to info@hainessecuritysolutions.com
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