The Number 1 Burglary Prevention Advice From Security Experts
The Lock-it Block-it is a burglar deterrent security bar. This home security burglar bar sits in the window track and blocks windows from being forced open. Now people can keep their windows open and feel safer.
Below is an abundance of information regarding household burglaries and break-ins. It's important, interesting, and alarming. What's more important is that homeowners and renters need to make a decision today to better protect their families, their homes, and themselves.
To prevent burglaries, the number one and the most common piece of advice offered by all security experts and law enforcement is to physically make your home harder to break into. All experts agree that homeowners and renters need to always lock their windows and doors. They need to invest in better locking devices. Doors should have at least two locks – dead bolts are best. A simple Yale lock will not do.
One of the biggest home security mistakes is not properly securing windows with good locks. Put locks on windows. Most windows have latches not locks. Adding an additional locking and blocking device increases the security of the weakest part of a home. Use more than one locking device for your windows and patio doors. Make sure that window locks are large and easily visible from outside. This can prove to be a major deterrent for potential burglars. Make sure you can adjust your windows to open no more than 6 inches. Use a device for your upright windows that won't fall out when you lower the window.
Making your home physically harder for criminals to break into makes them work harder, costs them time and deters them. They will look for an easier target other than your home.
Read the information below. Become acquainted with the types of crime that surround us every day so that you can make wise decisions to protect your home, family and yourself.
Home Burglaries and Invasions
The thought of a stranger breaking into your home, going through your personal belongings, and being in your safety zone is disturbing. It's an experience that terrifies its victims for the rest of their lives. Who wants to live like that?
When most people think of crime, they don't rate burglary amongst the serious contenders. Murders, rapes, car thefts, etc, first come to mind. In fact, burglary ranks second as the most common serious crime in the U.S. By far, the most common threat to our homes is burglary.
What is burglary?
It's the unlawful or forcible entry of a residence. The crime usually involves theft – stealing everything from money, computers, to your personal identity. Entry may be by force, such as kicking open a door or breaking in through a locked window.
Often no force is used as criminals enter through an open window or unlocked door. When a person enters a residence and has no legal right to be there, a burglary has occurred.
Burglary is usually a crime of opportunity and necessity. The crime is committed throughout the year, in all types of weather and in all types of neighborhoods. It's important for people not to get lulled into a false sense of security and think that the crime won't happen to them.
Having a dog, living in a nice neighborhood, and having good neighbors may act as a deterrent to some burglars, but it won't necessarily stop a determined criminal from finding a way to break into a home. This false sense of security prompts people to leave their windows and doors open during the warmer seasons. This provides easy access.
In the U.S., July and August are typically the months accounting for the majority of burglaries. During the warmer months, residents leave their windows open. In addition, they often leave the homes for longer periods to enjoy activities outside of the home. A home that is unprotected is an easy target. Criminals only need 5 minutes to break into a house and steal what they want. The month of February accounts for the lowest burglary incidents.
Summer months allow entry through open windows or doors. Winter months bring an increase in forced entry.
About 60% of residential burglaries occur in the daytime and during the weekdays when homes are unoccupied. Burglaries during the daytime have increased over the past decades generally due to the increase in women working outside the home. This leaves houses vacant for much of the day. Some research suggests that burglars most often strike on weekdays, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. These are the times when even routinely occupied homes may be empty because people are running errands and driving their children to and from school.
What is an invasion?
Home break-ins involve more than burglary, they also include home invasions, which is often a much more serious and threatening crime. A home invasion occurs when criminals enter a home with the purpose to commit a crime against those living in the home. These criminals are prepared to attack those inside no matter if they are women, the elderly or children. It is common for invaders to suddenly pull a weapon and burglarize you on the spot after impersonating a repairman, a delivery boy, salesman, policeman or an individual in the need of Good Samaritan.
These criminals not only gain entry by breaking into a house, but also by tricking the occupant. Sometimes they'll act as workers offering to do work for you, delivery people, or someone in need of help. They may say that their car broke down and they need to make a call.
Once they are in your home, tragedy results. These criminals are violent. They yell, scream, threaten and use physical harm. Often victims are gagged and tied, held hostage and are tortured. A startling fact is that 60% of all reported rapes occur within the home of the victim. And 38% of all physical assaults are the result of a home break-in. Murder is also sometimes committed.
Women, the elderly, people with handicaps, children and teenagers are the main targets because they are perceived to be the weakest. People who are perceived to have large amounts of cash are targets.
Most home invasions occur during mid afternoon when children, mothers and the elderly often nap. Criminals know that they won't be interrupted because those who work won't be home soon. Home invasions happen throughout the day, but during the day, people aren't nearly as suspicious of people approaching their homes. And it's rare that people suspect people in uniforms. People also unwittingly walk into a home while the criminals are there.
It's reported that home Invasions / burglaries / break-ins happen once every 12 seconds and it happens to 1 in 5 homes in all types of neighborhoods.
Don't live in a world of false security. Always be alert. Secure your home as much as possible.
Crime Facts and Figures
Below is a list of common figures that illustrate the extent of crimes as a result of break-ins. Some of these figures are gathered from various resources such as the FBI, the Justice Department, and insurance company data. Some of these figures are gathered from other loosely related sources. The figures are meant to illustrate the extent of the crime and not all should be used as absolute fact.
Single-family houses are attractive targets for burglars. They have multiple points of access. The average home has 16+ windows, many of which are left open or unlocked during warm weather. They also offer criminals a great view into a home from different angles. This allows them to learn about families, what they have, and how to enter. Attached garages which are left open give criminals easy access to the main house. Once they're in the garage, they have greater privacy to force their way into the home.
In addition, single-family homes offer greater rewards. As families build up their possessions and have more space to store them, these homes become greater targets. Possessions that are easily seen through windows like computers, wide screen televisions, and music equipment are eye candy for burglars.
Once in your home, a burglar may often look for a more lucrative item to target – your personal identity. They will look for important papers, credit card statements and other forms including your SS#. With more than nine million people falling victim each year, identity theft has become one of the fastest growing crimes in the U.S. according to the Federal Trade Commission. The average amount of charges placed on a stolen credit card is about $7,000. This is a fraction of the cost and misery victims face. Victims could spend thousands more and many frustrating years restoring their name and repairing the damage to their credit. Some victims are denied education, housing and car loans because of the negative information on their credit reports.
Apartments fare no better. Some reports reveal that renters are 79% - 85% percent more likely to be robbed than other types of homes. Many of these burglaries are not random. Burglar's have a greater opportunity to observe potential victims without being suspected because apartments by nature house many people coming and going. In addition, it's much more difficult to recognize who is a neighbor and who is a criminal on the prowl. It's much easier for burglars to observe the routines of people without being suspected.
What items are often stolen and how are they disposed?
Burglars are most likely to steal cash and goods they can easily carry and sell, including jewelry, weapons, televisions, stereo equipment, guns and computers. They need transportation to move larger items, such as electronic equipment. Smaller items allow them to make off with cash and jewelry on foot. With the rise of foreclosed homes, criminals are stealing large appliance such as washer and dryers and copper pipes. These homes have been carefully scouted.
$2,000 - $5,000 is the average dollar loss of items stolen when a home is burglarized. This doesn't include the cost of property damage and repairs. This doesn't include the cost to replace the stolen items. This also doesn't include the emotional trauma a family has to live with. In some cases, children are traumatized and additional therapy costs are needed to help them come to terms with the fears they now face.
Few burglars keep the goods they steal, typically disposing of stolen property within 24 hours. Burglars sell the stolen to strangers, pawnbrokers, taxi drivers, small-store owners and even staff members in local bars.
How do criminals enter a home?
The majority of break-ins are forced entry. It doesn't take much for a burglar to gain entry into a house or an apartment. They use ordinary household tools like screwdrivers, crow bars, channel-lock pliers, small pry bars, and hammers to pry open weak locks, windows and doors.
Criminals will simply kick in the front or back door which they can see won't be much of a challenge. The weakest point of a door is almost always the strike plate that holds the lock bolt in place. The average door strike plate is secured with only half inch screws set into the molding which is often tacked on to the door frame. These can be easily broken through with a solid kick.
Sky lights are a choice entry point because criminals have the cover of the roof top and can take their time without fear of being spotted.
An open window, visible from the street or alley, is an intoxicating allure for a burglar. Windows are left unlocked and open at a much higher rate than doors. Ground floor windows are more susceptible to break-ins. Upper floor windows become attractive if they can be accessed easily from a stairway, fire escape, tree, fence, or by climbing on balconies.
Windows have latches, not locks, and therefore should have secondary locking and blocking devices to prevent them from being opened. Windows with old latches are easily pried open. Criminals will also break the glass of a window to reach in and unlock the latch, open the window and climb in.
A secondary locking and blocking device that makes it harder for a burglar to reach and pull out is an ideal security measure.
According to security experts, the widow locking and blocking device should meet the following criteria:
About one-third of home break-ins don't involve forced entry. Criminals walk into homes through unlocked or open windows and doors, especially basement windows and exterior and interior garage doors. Criminals are well aware that warm weather means windows are left open. They take full advantage of this opportunity.
Sliding glass doors are usually installed at the rear of an apartment or the rear or side of a house making them good candidates for entry by a burglar because of the cover they provide. All criminals know that during warm weather sliding glass doors are often left open for ventilation or for pet access. It's recommended by security experts that a secondary blocking device be placed in the track of these doors to prevent sliding the door from being fully open from the outside. This can be accomplished by inserting an adjustable device that allows you to choose different openings and which can be adjusted to serve as second locking device.
How do criminals target a home?
Burglars select targets based on a number of key factors. Below is summary of some of the key factors that govern a burglar's selection process.
The following is a more detailed list of information that makes a home more vulnerable to burglary. Much of this information is supplied by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. They produce as series of Problem-Oriented Guides for Police. For more information covering the topics below review the guide "Burglary of Single-Family Houses" at www.cops.usdoj.gov
Burglars often target houses which are on the routes they travel most frequently. This includes the streets they take to and from work, to stores, to recreational lactations, etc. This makes the following houses more vulnerable to burglary:
Houses near large public play grounds, drug addicts, shopping centers, sports arenas, transit stations, and urban areas subject to high-crime.
There are number of contributing reasons for this:
Most burglars target unoccupied homes or homes routinely vacant during the day. This is why most burglaries occur during the morning and early afternoon periods when people have gone to work or are on errands.
Houses that appear to be occupied are less likely to be burglarized. Lights and noise from within and vehicles parked in the driveway or in front of the house are at a lower risk of being burglarized. Having active neighbors is an additional plus.
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