Remember this little gem from my last post?
I did find a related ABC News article titled: Find Out How to Protect Your Home From an Invasion. I’ll tell you right now that good lighting is the key to prevent your home from being invaded by criminals, but that’s the next blog. So, stick around.
Well, I hope you took it with a grain of salt because I was just joking about the lighting business. However, ABCNews.com apparently wasn’t. Does this mean that good lighting is a bad thing? Of course not! Good lighting is essential so that you can see the look on an intruder’s face before you blow him to kingdom come.
Alrighty then, we need to get back to the life saving advice from ABC:
A peephole in your front door isn’t enough. It’s important to have one peephole up high for adults and another lower for kids. People, especially children, are less likely to open the door if they can see who is on the other side.
You can get a home alarm, but know that they are not that hard to bypass, especially by more experienced criminals. Still, security signs have been known to put off burglars.
The main thing in an alarm is to make sure it makes a loud noise. You need a noise that will wake everybody up. Then the burglar has no option but to run.
Secure your windows. Even if each window isn’t alarmed, there are some other common sense things you can do that really work. When home invaders break into windows, it is usually because they are unlocked, especially bathroom windows.
Also, hang chimes in the window area. You want the intruder to knock things down, make noise and alert you. Put plants that have thorns on them outside the house.
And finally, if you are not in a safe place, they can get to you in a heartbeat. So turn a closet into a safe room. You can do that by putting a deadbolt lock on the closet door, put a light source inside the closet and keep a cell phone inside. Also, write a list of emergency numbers on the back of the door, so you’ve got them in case of panic. And you should always call 911.
Okay, is everybody feeling all warm, fuzzy, and safe yet? Me neither! So, how about of dose of common sense?
Jamie Buck was jolted awake by a loud noise. According to police, an alcohol-fueled man wielding a sledgehammer shattered a window in the side door and entered the home. The suspect, whose latest release from jail was just seven weeks prior, demanded money or jewelry. Then he swung the sledgehammer at Buck, striking him in the head. In imminent peril, Buck drew a firearm and fired several shots, killing his assailant. (The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, OH, 03/24/07)
Police say a 20-year-old couple went on a weekend crime spree until their luck ran out. It started on a Saturday morning when they attacked a 92-year-old in his home and sent him to the hospital. That night, they broke into another home and assaulted the occupant before robbing her. Their rampage ended the next day, however, when they broke into the home of Jimmy Norman and his wife. Norman retrieved a handgun and shot the male intruder twice. The injured suspect was to be charged pending his release from the hospital, and his accomplice was also apprehended. (St. Petersburg Times, St. Petersburg, FL, 03/13/07)
Bob Manross said he often keeps a firearm handy because of his area’s crime problem. “I don’t take any chances,” he said. That proved good policy when a man broke into his home, called him by name and said he would shoot him unless he handed over his money. “I told him I didn’t have the money with me, but I’d get it from the other room,” said the 77-year-old Manross, who had a rifle at the ready nearby. “He wasn’t expecting me to come back through here and shoot him.” Manross shot the burglar, whom he recognized as a man living nearby. He directed police to the suspect’s home, where they found him suffering from a gunshot wound. “I am not proud of what I have done,” Manross said of the incident, “but I have to protect my wife and my house.” (Houston Chronicle, Houston, TX, 04/04/07)
Two masked men apparently thought they could pray on an elderly couple, but Alif “Betty” Feaster-Weeder’s quick thinking prevented their offensive. The 75-year-old woman was lying on a couch reading when the men entered the home. One man asked, “Where’s your money?” twice before she understood the seriousness of the situation. The woman yelled for her husband, asleep in an adjoining room, to get his gun. The mere suggestion of the firearm sent the intruders running before the husband could respond. (The Daily Item, Sunbury, PA, 04/02/07)
Is it just me, or are the testimonies above more logical than putting chimes in your windows? Just checking.
Sphere: Related Content
The scene: IT room at ABC.com HQ; an unknown website publisher is checking the stats. He notices a number of hits from some conservablogs.com domain and investigates the lead with hopes of being the next John Stossel.
Hey, he thinks to himself, this is pretty good writing from a journalist. What a great idea this gives me to pass on to the news editors! I just might get transfered to the news department with this lead!
He calls up an unknown bleeding-heart news editor and agrees, a report should be done on home safety.
Of course neither the new-school journalist that initiated the spark in the IT guy’s head nor the IT guy were given any credit for the report. That might take away any prestige from the news department.
There Scott — I think I fixed your link that I screwed up when trying to add a comment. Sorry bout that!
The peephole one cracks me up. Not only should you encourage your child to open the door by himself (instead of not answering if home alone or asking an adult to do it), you should advertise to all (via two sets of peepholes) that children are home alone or that midgets reside there.
Gotta love it: your child is less likely to open the door if he can see who is on the other side. Why wouldn’t the family member in question simply call out, “Johnny! It’s Aunt Bess! I have chocolate chip cookies for you!”
Keep a cell phone in the closet? Right. Don’t keep it by your bed, where you can grab it; keep it in your closet. Or buy one for each closet at a cost of $100 plus $10/month per line. Because that is what cell phones are for: closets.
Why hang chimes? The only thing it would do is wake up a dog. I don’t see “purchase Cujo” on that list anywhere, and, being a heavy sleeper, I wouldn’t wake up unless a small bomb went off.
Notice that the list doesn’t have “Hang a ‘NRA Supporter’ Sign in Your Yard.”
I hear ya Bridget! Dang, that would be one heck of a cellphone bill, wouldn’t it? I would open the door for Aunt Bess’s chocolate chip cookies and I don’t even have an Aunt Bess.
Are you sure you need a weapon? They are pretty dangerous, and the part of your family that survives can always call 911 for justice…
(just kidding)
Yeah, pretty sure Kevin. How about you?
I hear ya.
I once left my parent’s house for work one morning, only to find a chocolate chip muffin on the trunk of my Volvo. Now, the question is: why was it there? Was it a good chocolate chip muffin (i.e. unadulterated Dunkin Donut’s tastiness), or had some person put a roofie or some poison in it?
I ate it anyway. My thought was that anyone stalking a 20-something woman would have left low-fat blueberry orange, not chocolate chip. Right?
Ya darn tootin Bridget! Excellent decision
i.e. chocolate chip would have been left by someone who knows me, not some random stranger.
True story!
Hi Tammi,
My alarm system is a pack of large vicious dogs. After that, well, let us just say that I know how to shoot
The only real question is whether to dispose of the bodies myself, or to call the police? Decisions, decisions!
the Grit
Hmmm …. Well, I guess call the police and let them do the heavy lifting?
Grit,
My dad always told me to move the bodies inside, then call the police.
And that sounds like sound fatherly advice Bridget
(Laughing) Where and when will you be on the East Coast in August? (I know I seemed to have answered my own query in the question, but, well, August is a long month and the East Coast is a big place.)
I’ll email you.
And, when you live in Wyoming, the east coast ain’t so big dahlin.
From my prior de-linked comment:
…Hey, he thinks to himself, this is pretty good writing from a journalist. What a great idea this gives me to pass on to the news editors! I just might get transfered to the news department with this lead!…
Thanks for the reply on the comment form; will give it a try later on.
Notice how I’m not commenting within your comment now Scott? I’m not sure why it acts up when I do sometimes, though I think I might have fixed your earlier link from your first comment.
Let me know how the comment form works out.
Thanks for the tech support! My contact form is live, live, live, bringing relief to my case of hives that caused me to take a dive. Sorry about the off-topic comment. I’m sure it will cause some to vomit (using such cheap rhyming on it), leading to cleaning with Comet
You’ve obviously never tried to get 5 miles in DC traffic.
You think (insert big-city locale here) traffic is bad? You ain’t driven in nothin’ until you’ve come up on a cattle drive on a major (or even minor) two-lane highway (that’s one lane each direction)
Hi guys,
I tend to mess too much stuff up.
Okay, I think I’m staying out of your comment boxes and am just going to make my own comments from now on.
Anyway, Tieki Rae says the DC traffic is more stressful than getting your comment form up and running Scott.
Good morning Bridget — I’ve gotta keep getting around for work or I won’t get there!
there is always the retractable doorknob - http://blog.scifi.com/tech/archives/2007/07/30/retractable_doo.html
True story jcrue.
With that baby and some wind chimes home protection is in the bag. 