Taking your Home Security Seriously

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Living in such troubling times as today, during the onset of a recession, brings out the worst in society. Statistics show that during an economic downturn when people are struggling to make ends meet, crime rises, with burglaries being one of the biggest problems. Homeowners must take into consideration the security issues that blight the country during uncertain times and make a concerted effort to protect themselves against unforeseen issues.

Lock it up Tight

Homeowners must think about securing their properties immediately to deter potential intruders. The common sense solution is making sure every door and window is locked whether you are out or inside your home. Most external doors have three locks, so take an extra twenty seconds out of your life to ensure they are all locked.

58% of all burglaries are perpetrated at night, so having timers for your lights could be the difference. The timers will turn different lights on and off in your house if you go out in the evening. This will ensure potential burglars believe someone is in the house and they will look for easier prey instead.

If you do go out in the evening, make sure you draw all the curtains and place valuable possessions out of sight, because we do not want to encourage a potential thief to choose your house over others in your community. Always hide the keys to your garage, and do not leave them on display to an opportunist, who will take advantage of the situation.

External Factors

Good exterior lighting and visible burglar alarms are an efficient deterrent, because most burglars are opportunists who will aim at an easy target.

High fences and perimeter walls around your garden are a much better option than trees and bushes, because foliage could provide suitable hiding places for intruders. Do not leave tools or ladders out in your garden, or anything that could be used to aid an intruder looking to break into your property.

Neighbourhood Watch

Starting or joining an existing Neighbourhood watch program is not only a good way to cut crime, but also a great way to make your community safer, together with likeminded individuals. These schemes provide the perfect opportunity to meet people in the same boat as you, and keeping an eye on the property of each other will give you peace of mind, especially if you go away for a couple of days.

Comments

underpass909's picture
Wed, 04/28/2010 - 23:00
by underpass909

What a really interesting article on Home Security.

I have two doors to my property with two different locks and they are both locked when I go out even if working down the garden for which is a long way.

Urn I have timers on such as the dishwasher, dryer, washer and immersion heater so as they only come on when it is cheap electric but not thought of putting them on for lights. So I will now be getting two or three more and putting them on some lights so that when I do go out I and am back late they will come on to make it look like I am in. What a great idea.

Hope Mr Burgular with his swag bag will go else where.

William

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  • Do you agree that people who don't believe in heaven tend to take life more seriously?

    I know of many people religious people who don't seem to care at all.

    For example my friend’s dad was born poor and up to this day he is still poor. He never attempted to go to college, start a company, save money...etc. This guy is just happy being poor, collecting unemployment and being unsuccessful. I was over at my friend's house last week and I decided to ask his dad why he didnt make any effort in become successful. I didnt want to come off as disrespectful so I just so I started up a topic about college (since me and his son met there) and I asked him "Hey Mr Davis, did you get your BA as well?"
    I thought he was going to get angry but he didnt show any anger at all. He simply said that he was poor and couldn't afford it. Then he quoted a verse form the bible that goes something like "the poor gets into heaven first, god blesses the poor, a camel has better chances of going through the eye of a needle" (or something like that, you Christians might know). So he said he is contended with being unsuccessful because its God's plan and he is guaranteed a spot in heaven. He went on to explain that life is just a test and only temporary so he doesn't take it that seriously and strive to be successful. He said that once God accepts him then he is a winner.

    Now I kinda understand where he was coming from but I still disagree with him. I was agnostic but now I am just an atheist; I think my life is important since I don't believe I will be going to an afterlife. I too was poor and still am, but I just use financial aid and work two security jobs to put myself through school. Sure I could have just sat down at home eating ramen noodles and tell myself "God wants me to be poor because he loves the poor"; but I think thats just absurd.
    I dont mean to offend someone but I think people just sue that bible verse to convince themselves that being lazy and unsuccessful is OK. Now I have no problem with someone who has a mental illness and really cant go to college or become something in life. But my friend's dad is a perfectly normal, smart, muscular man that could be out there doing construction or going to school part-time. Instead he just does side jobs and collect unemployment or make up fake disability claims. I just dont see the logic in that.

    And just to be clear, when I say successful or rich I dont mean it in the way I think you mean it. I mean
    successful- achieving or having achieved success.
    Rich- of great value or worth; valuable

    So don’t think I am talking about a Ferrari and mansions, because I could care less about those things. My main focus in life is to teach someone something or become a leader one day. I love helping people and I want people to remember me for something (even if it’s for volunteering at the animal shelter). I just cant see myself at home thinking its ok to be unsuccessful because God wants it to be that way. How useful is a Christian man in society who makes up false disability claims and sits at home?
    I'd have to agree, although I do note there is a difference between Christians who treat life as a waiting line and Christians who regard it as an audition. Still, it's not quite as honest as treating life as the final performance.

  • Could you correct my essay?


    Writing an informal latter
    Write to the managment of the shopping center describing the incident and requesting them to take precautions to avoid the incident from recurring and make suggestions for security advancement and preventative measures to be taken by the management.

    Address the latter to " The Manager, Security Division" and your letter must not exceed 200 words.

    You were shopping in a crowded shopping center a thief suddenly snatched the purse of an old woman in front of you.......

    To The Manager, Security Division
    It was a beautiful day for going shopping in the town. I expected to have a good time with my grandmother who came from the outskirts. I was so pleased at this reunion, as I have not seen her for a while.
    I took her the shoopimg center, had lunch at a casual Itarian restaurant which is famous for authentic ice creams. After that we hang around in this shopping center to buy something what she wanted.
    What happened to one customer who is my grandmother. you know? The moment she had paid, a thief snatched the purse of hers.
    We were astonish with it, and also disappointed with it. She could not enjoy it any more, we went back to our home right away.
    If there had been some remarkable precautions which makes people mind in the building, we could have paid attention, and she would not have lost her purse.
    I give you one proposition that you had better put up some warnings on the wall, announces it several times all day. It would prevent them from being taken thire possessions.
    To my opinion, If you act these things what I suggested, this shopping center will have a reputation to look after all the people who visit there. And it would be well-know among people.
    I would like you to take it seriously,otherwise,I will never go shopping your place.

    Faithfully.


    To The Manager,
    Security Division

    Last saturday was a beautiful day for shopping in the town. I expected to have a good time with my grandmother who came from the outskirts. I was so pleased at this reunion, as I had not seen her for a while.

    I took her to the shopping center and we had lunch at a casual Italian restaurant which was famous for authentic ice creams. After that we hung around to buy things that she wanted.

    Do you know what happened to one customer, my grandmother? The moment she had paid for an item, a thief snatched her purse.

    It was so quick that we did not had time to react. We were astonished, angry and disappointed at the same time. This unfortunate event turned our bright day sour. She was so upset that we could not enjoy it any more so we went back home right away.

    If there were more security guards alI around it would have frightened away thieves. People would feel more at ease and in security if they see well-trained guards walking around whole day.

    You can also install more camera so that thieves can be identified easily and police will be able to catch them.


    Faithfully.


    Thats it honey. Your english is horrible n unintelligible.

  • Can someone please help me with my 5 year old's behaviour?

    Hi,

    I'd love some advice please, because I've come to the end of the road with my 5 year old daughter. She can be the most loving helpful girl, but she has the most defiant streak I've ever known, and I honestly don't know how to handle her anymore. This is a list of her behaviour problems:

    1. She answers 'no' to absolutely everything, eg, could you get dressed please? No. Could you put your coat on please? No. Let me brush your hair. No. This continues until we end up having to physically force her, which isn't pleasant, she will scream, kick, pinch, whatever, and I can't see any reason for her not wanting to do any of the above. It doesn't matter where we're going, could be school, a park, out for lunch, she just always says no.

    2. She is constantly opening upstairs windows. I've told her how dangerous this is (she has a 3 year old sister too), and that she could die. A bit harsh I know but nothing else is getting into her head. Whilst I have these conversations with her she totally ignores me and starts talking about her toys. She's opening windows at other people's houses too so putting a lock on ours won't solve the problem, although I am of course going to do that for security reasons at home. But how do I get her to listen and stop doing it?

    3. No punishment bothers her. No sweets for a week - not bothered. No biscuit in your lunch box - I don't like them anyway. Put her in a corner - she plays with the wall/door/whatever is next to her, or she blatently laughs at me or runs off.

    I am absolutely at the end of my tether. She does occasionally get smacks, but again, they don't work, and it's not something I want to do anyway. She is a constant drain on me, everything is an issue with her. I praise her to the hills when she's good, she has rewards if she's good, stuff taken off her if she's naughty. I've tried reward charts, they don't work. I've now taken EVERYTHING off of her, she can't even choose what TV programs to watch. Her response? I don't care. And she truly doesn't. She'll just take herself off and find something else to do.

    Short of shutting her in the flipping garage I am totally out of ideas. I love her to the end of the world and back but it's getting very hard to actually like her anymore. I don't know why she behaves like this. I've looked up aspergers, ADHD etc, she doesn't have the symptoms. She's just incredibly defiant. And her back chat is unbelievable!! She seriously thinks she runs the roost, she is in control. Even her daddy can't make her shut up and behave, and he's quite scary!

    I'm so very sad because of this, drained and totally out of ideas. Please I'd love anyones ideas. And if you think I'm doing something wrong then feel free to tell me, I'm up for any criticism if it is going to help the relationship between me and my daughter.

    Thanks so much
    Ok Faith, I appreciate your response but I think you're being a bit harsh! When I say her daddy is scary it was a joke, I meant he...
    While you obviously can't make the diagnosis yourself, and having ruled out ADHD and Asperger's - I agree with you - have you considered looking into "Oppositional Defiant Disorder" (ODD). ODD can sometimes be comorbid with ADHD (predominantly hyperactive type) but is extremely rare amongst Aspergers.

    I don't want to scare you here, but, depending on the which study you look at, between 5% and 35% of all adults diagnosed with AsPD (Antisocial Personality Disorder i.e. psychopathy/sociopathy) were diagnosed or met the criteria for ODD as children. Given that AsPD represents just 1% of the general population, this is a massive increase.

    While it's impossible to know whether your child has ODD, or to diagnosed it online, even the remote chance my child may have a condition which makes her [at least] five times more likely to become a psychopath would have me asking questions quick smart. Either way, you really must attempt to nip this in the bud as soon as possible...whatever the cause. You need answers, and whether those answers are positive or negative, the sooner you get them the sooner you'll be able to help your daughter.

    While I'd look over all the links below, the bottom one may give you a few ways to better control your daughter even if she doesn't meet the criteria for ODD. Good Luck!!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppositional_defiant_disorder
    http://www.klis.com/chandler/pamphlet/oddcd/oddcdpamphlet.htm
    http://www.racgp.org.au/afp/200806/200806fraser.pdf
    http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Oppositional_defiant_disorder
    http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/06/20/4-ways-to-manage-oppositional-defiant-disorder-in-children/