When your home is being invaded, there is the probability of violence and abuse happening. When this happens and you have a gun or a knife nearby, your impulse would be to use these lethal weapons to stop the intruder. But this special cut segment of Maury shows Robert Siciliano talking of how nonlethal weapons should be used instead of a gun or a knife.
Summer is ending… but break-ins and burglary crimes can still happen. As parents prepare to send their children to school and take off for work themselves, a lot of homes are left empty and unguarded.
Home security and protection is often overlooked at these times. No one is left at home and the house is left vulnerable and ripe for burglary. Ventura County Contractors Association (VCCA) offers home security and safety tips for the public. Their list of licensed contractors, at www.vccainc.com, can also help in upgrading the features of your home to help deter burglaries and break-ins.
VCCA’s 6 Home Security and Safety Tips:
1. Check Your Locks
Door and window locks in most homes today might keep out someone who just rattles the knob, but they won’t stop a determined or professional burglar. In more than 40 percent of residential burglaries, thieves came in an unlocked door or window.
Every exterior door should have a dead-bolt lock with a one-inch throw. If you have a key-in-the-knob lock, install an auxiliary lock - a vertical bolt, cylinder dead-bolt, or horizontal-bolt model. And if you just moved into a new house or apartment, re-key the locks. You never know who may still have old keys. Do not hide your keys in mailboxes, planters, or under doormats. Give a duplicate key to a trusted neighbor instead.
Secure sliding glass doors with commercially available locks, with a rigid wooden dowel in the track or with a nail inserted through a hole drilled in the sliding door frame and projecting into the fixed frame. Lock double-hung windows with window key locks or by sliding a bolt or nail through a hole drilled at a downward angle in each top corner or the inside sash and part way through the outside sash. Consider grilles for basement or street-level windows if you live in a high-crime area.
2. Check Your Doors
Locks lose their effectiveness if they are installed in flimsy or weak doors. Make sure outside doors are solid, at least 1 3/4 inch metal or hard wood. Doors should fit tightly in their frames and hinges should be on the inside. Double check the door between your house and the garage since that is a common entry spot for thieves.
Install a peephole or wide-angle viewer in all entry doors so you can see who is outside without opening the door. A short chain between the doors and the jamb is not a good substitute because it can be broken easily.
3. Look at Your Home from the Outside
To discourage burglars from selecting your home, make sure that any shrubbery around doors and windows is pruned so they will not hide anyone tampering with the entry points. Cut back tree limbs that could help a thief climb into second story windows.
Keep your yard well-maintained and store ladders and tools inside your garage or basement when you’re not using them. All entrances and porches should be well lit.
4. Consider an Alarm System
The simplest in-house alarm system sets up a small electrical circuit across door locks and from window to frame. When this current is interrupted by someone opening the door or window, the alarm sounds. More sophisticated systems include sensing devices that set off a siren when an intruder disturbs a field of continually moving sound or radar waves. Advanced alarm system can be monitored by a central station which alerts the police if a thief breaks in. These systems can include smoke/fire alarms and “help” or “panic” buttons to signal a medical or other emergency as well.
5. Have a Family Plan
Remember that your goal is to avoid any confrontations with a burglar since there is a good chance he or she is armed. If you find a door ajar, a screen slit, or a window broken when you come home — do not go inside. Call the police from a neighbor’s house.
6. Prepare When You Leave Town
Notify a trusted neighbor that has a view of your house of your vacation schedule and ask him or her to pick up your mail, deliveries and newspapers. Put lights and a radio on timers to create the illusion that someone is home. Leave shades, blinds, and curtains in normal positions and arrange to have your lawn and garden maintained if you will be gone a long time.
Hilarious video of a burglar in a liquor store who can’t do anything right!.
Securing Windows with Locks is very important to keep away burglars form invading. Since glass can be broken, it is harder to secure windows than doors. window locks would be the best option for people who want to ensure their home is more secure.
Deadbolt Locks for Windows
The most common type of window is the sash frame or double-hung window. Since these windows are easy to pry open from the outside, they should be fitted with a 4-point steel deadbolt that is snuggly secured to the top and bottom of the sash. Another option is pin locks; they can be used in a “hole bored through the bottom of the top sash window and aligned in a hole in the top of the bottom sash window, allowing both windows to be tightly joined”
Sliding Glass Door/Window Locks
Sliding windows (this applies to both windows and sliding glass doors) should be secured with a pin and jam in the slide track to prevent the window from being slid open from the outside. You’ll still want to use a lock for added security.
Other Options for Window Security
Locks aren’t the only means of securing your windows. You can replace the glass in your windows with polycarbonate or tempered glass. Both options are expensive, but they make windows more difficult to break. Some people use security bars to further secure downstairs windows, but this can work against your family in the event of a fire. If you want to feel more secure, you should install a home security alarm system for your home and make sure the windows are hooked up to it via sensors.
Tip: When you’re securing your windows, don’t overlook the air conditioning unit if you have one mounted in a window. Air conditioners should be bolted to the house in a way that ensures the window cannot be raised and the air conditioner cannot be removed by someone on the outside.
The following are some most common Home Security Mistakes we should be aware of that could make our home an easy mark for thieves. For your own safety and for your homes’ security.
Hide-a-key
Many homeowners, afraid they will lose their keys and lock themselves out, choose to hide a key somewhere on the property. They think they are being sneaky by placing the key under a rock, under a doormat, in a potted plant, or above the door. Burglars absolutely know about all these commonly used hiding places. Under no circumstances should you leave the key to your house where it can be found. If you frequently lose your keys or lock yourself out of the house, consider getting a fingerprint or keypad door lock for your front door.
Broken Locks
Some homeowners neglect to fix broken locks right away, putting the job off for tomorrow (or whenever they feel like it). It is important, however, to make sure all your doors and windows have strong modern locks that are in good repair. Don’t think that just because a window is on a second or third story that a burglar can’t figure out a way to get to it.
Burglar Alarms That Aren’t Turned on
A home security system is only useful when updated and activated. Test your alarm on a regular basis and check for any upgrades to the software. And don’t forget to turn it on when you leave the house, even if you’re just planning to run an errand. A single thief can utterly ransack your house in just a few minutes.
Untamed Landscaping
Though you may like the idea of privacy, ultimately your home will be more secure if neighbors can see into your front and back yard. Burglars love to hide behind bushes and shrubbery; don’t give them that opportunity. Keep the foliage trimmed, especially around the house, and make sure all the outdoor lights are in good working order (even better, install motion or body heat-sensing outdoor lights).
Unlocked Storage Sheds
If you have a storage shed, make sure you keep it locked at all times, because otherwise you’re offering thieves free use of all your tools which can certainly help them figure out a way into your home. Also, make sure you don’t leave a ladder laying out in your yard anywhere. Someone could use this to gain access to the second-story windows.
Keys in the Car
It’s bad enough if you leave your car unlocked (you shouldn’t, even in the garage), but never leave a set of house keys in the car. If you do, a burglar who gains access to your car will also have access to your house.
A house of the future designed to be classy and simple, this house was designed to help you save energy.
Japan has made a modern house of their own, designed to be eco-friendly and automated to help you live a modern and simple lifestyle: Japan’s Panasonic House.
Majority of the citizens live in cities and towns, but what is the ideal home for each one of us? A survey in UK found out that majority of the people want a home in the countryside despite living in the city or in a town. America is more into the urban lifestyle, but a home in the countryside does sound like the ideal home even for city people.
From Mortgage Introducer UK: The key findings of a research by Halifax…
* People prefer detached houses - Half of people (50%) would prefer their ideal home to be a detached house.
* New builds are the most popular type of housing - Almost a quarter of respondents (22%) prefer new build properties.
* The countryside is the nation’s preferred location - When it comes to the location of their ideal home, almost one third (30%) of people would choose the countryside.
* Room for three – The typical house would have three bedrooms, with a lounge/ diner, study, kitchen/ diner, conservatory, playroom, family bathroom and toilet. Other key features would include central heating, double glazing, a fitted kitchen, modern bathroom, an enclosed garden, off-street parking, a garage and a home security system. Two thirds (66%) of people said a conservatory was desirable.
* Environmentally friendly features desirable – When considering their ideal home Brits don’t just want their surroundings to be green, they are also thinking about the impact of their home on the environment. Almost two-thirds (63%) cited environmentally friendly features as desirable whilst over half (56%) cited energy and fuel saving measures.
* The sitting room/ lounge and kitchen are the most important rooms in the ideal detached home – People in the ideal detached home would find the sitting room/ lounge (38%) and kitchen (37%) the most important room to them in terms of it being designed or decorated in a way they found appealing.
* Open plan living on the rise – People are spending more time in either lounge/diners or kitchen/diners than a kitchen or dining room which indicates a trend towards open plan living, especially when it comes to eating areas.
* Home is your office away from the office - The high proportion of people spending a lot of time in their study in the evening not only reflects the nation’s dependency on home computers, but also the tendency to work from home on a regular basis.
Do you think the US holds the same preferences for their ideal home?
