A home security system with two unique components that can scan outside before people even get near your home. It can alert you in your own voice as to the location of an intruder. It can be used right along your regular security system that detects intruders as they’re breaking into your home.
Introducing a Ferocious Guard Duck! This is more for fun than actual home security.
“No one ever suspects the duck. Would be thieves and trespassers might not even notice the mallard on your porch until its motion sensor is triggered and it quacks out a loud alarm. Each 8″ tall, hard plastic water foul requires two AA batteries”.
Look out burglars: there’s a new duck in town.
Is it safe to use a wireless security camera in your house? Is it possible a burglar can use the signal to spy on you?
Have you ever tried thinking about putting up an Internet Security Camera at home? It would be the best idea for your home’s safety. Technology today, is getting easier and easier to set up.
Here are some great things they can do:
• Let you monitor your home from work or even an internet cafe on the other side of the world.
• View your home’s interior or exterior from an internet-enabled cell phone.
• Use one as a nanny cam to keep an eye on the babysitter caring for your children while you’re away.
• Capture a video recording of anyone entering your home without authorization(i.e.catch thieves in the act!)
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.
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.
