When it comes to crime most of us think the closer you are to a major city the more crime there is. This is not always the case especially when it comes to home security and break ins, they can occur anywhere.
It is true that in-fact people that live in the city experience more crime or live in higher crime areas but what about those that live in the country?
The location is no guarantee about how and when an actual crime can take place as misfortune does not take permission before befalling on somebody no matter what place he is in and city dwellers are the most at risk, which is given on admitonesecurity.com.
Driving through the county side many of the homes sit so far back that they cannot be seen from the road without going up the driveway. These homes are perfect for a burglar to take advantage of since when up the driveway they are completely hidden from the rest of the world. A burglar may simply disguise them self as a town representative or ask for someone that does not live there and say “I’m sorry I have the wrong house” to get a glimpse of what you have in the house of value. Another common trick is telling the home owner your car broke down and you need to use their phone to call for help. This is called casing the home as they take note of what they see inside and the layout of the house for easy access later. As I was writing another article someone knocked on the door and it turned out to be a Census representative gathering information. I thought to myself what if my wife had opened the door and it was just someone pretending to be a Census representative? How hard would it be to put on a dress shirt, dress pants and clipboard to pretend to be one for a quick glimpse inside the house. The Census representative did have a badge identifying him and handed me a piece of paper showing confidentiality on answers but how hard would it be to photo copy that paper and make a fake badge? Makes you wonder if anyone is who they say they are these days.
A common trick for burglars to do after casing a house is to walk the property after dark finding the best route of escape in-case needed. After they have plotted the layout of the yard they walk half way up the driveway, pick up a good size rock and throw it against the roof. If someone comes out they are far enough back to to slip away in the dark without being seen to try again another night. If no one responds to the large bang they throw a few more rocks at the house. When they feel relatively safe they knock on the door and when no response they break in taking all your precious things with them. This method also tells them if you have a dog guarding your house as the dog will bark to any strange loud noises.
If you think your protected with an alarm system think again. Unless you have battery back up your alarm is no good if they switch off the power. All they really have to do is walk up to the power meter, cut the lock and flip off the emergency breaker, no wire cutting needed. A burglar wont cut the phone line because if the house does have an alarm cutting the phone line will alert the security company of suspicious activity. Power going off does not effect most security systems as accidents and power failures happen everyday. How often when you lose the power do you lose the phone line too? It is very rare to lose phone functions as the phone is powered by its on power supply from the phone line and not by your house. Cordless phones and answering machines are exception since they are powered by both the phone line and house but cannot function by the phone line only.
Protecting yourself from break in can prove to be difficult if you live unseen by the road. You can join a community watch program, get a large dog and install solar powered entry lights in your yard for a couple of simple solutions. Make sure when your away your house lights are on just like you were at home. With the lights on it looks like your home and some thieves will simply not bother to take the chance. Motion lights are also a good investment as it startles a amateur thief and once startled they usually go away quickly.
You can also have an alarm installed for further protection although its not fool proof to bypass the security As mentioned cutting the phone line sets off a suspicious activity alert to the monitoring alarm company. All you have to do to bypass the system is shut off the power to the house, cut away the plastic housing to the phone line and hook up a 9volt battery to the wires before you cut the phone line then cut the other end going to the pole. This keeps power feeding into the alarm and does not set it off. It is not my intention to tell you how to bypass an alarm but to educate you how so you choose the correct alarm for maximum protection. So make sure when having an alarm installed you check to see if it monitors voltage change in both house power and phone line supplies.
Another good investment to keep thieves away is buying home protection stickers for your windows and doors. The more work it looks like for a thief to break in is a less chance they will even bother.
Criminals and thieves prey on others not properly prepared. My hope are after you read this article you can be more prepared and not be a victim in the future.
