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When buying or building a home, try to have bedrooms on one end of home.
I am surprised at how many people are willing to place privacy above the safety of their family. If bedrooms are on opposite ends of the house you may not hear a break-in at the other end, this would leave your family members on that end alone against burgulars, kidnappers or anyone else who may break-in and harm them. Even if you hear the break-in it would take you longer to respond. Bedrooms on the same end of the house are easier to secure, get to, check and defend. It is also much harder for teenagers to sneak out with out being discovered or heard. Always have bedrooms on one end of the house and grouped together whenever possible.
When room clearing or searching homes clear only necassary rooms.
If you are not law enforcement and your home is envaded, your primary goal is survival and protection of your family. Property is not worth your life or your families lives. Clear and search only the rooms required to reach every family member, barracade yourselves in one room and contact law enforcement.
Be vigilant and never become complacent.
The people who are at most risk of any crime are those that believe it can never happen to them. Always secure your home. If you are awakened by a noise never assume it was nothing (nothing does not make noise) stay alert and be prepared to respond until you are absolutely sure it is not a threat.
Do not open door to strangers without first verifying purpose of visit.
One of the oldest tricks used by criminals to gain access to a residence is to pretend to be a service employee including but not limited to: Delivery person, telephone repairman, home inspector, electric company repairman, gas company repairman, and even law enforcement officers or agents. Even though this is an old trick and many people are aware of it, it still works. Never open the door to a stranger until you have determined their purpose and verified who they claim to be. Verification of an individual can be very simple, call the company they claim to work for and ask if they sent them out and ask for a description. Never get the phone number from the stranger in question, always find it yourself either in the phone book or through telphone information services. Also always ask the stranger for photo identification. Use common sense and do not let greed get the better of you, if someone claims to be pizza delivery and you did not order pizza, then send them on their way.
Place atleast two locks on all exterior doors with atleast one being a deadbolt.
You can never make your home completely break-in proof, but you can make it harder to break-in to, increasing the chance that criminals will move on to find an easier target. Normal locks are very easy to bypass, deadbolts are a bit more secure, and when you increase the number you increase the difficulty. Make sure that the shank of the deadbolt extends past the frame or latch atleast 1 inch or more (perferrably more), also it is a good idea to have the frame of the door reinforced.
Close blinds and curtains at night to hinder inlookers.
It is very easy to see into a house at night when enterior lights are on, this makes it easy for criminals to see how many people are inside, what you are doing and where you are at. Installing blinds and keeping them closed at night can prevent someone from seeing derectly into your home. Criminals are less likely to enter "blind" without knowing what or who is in the home.
Keep tree limbs trimmed away from house, to deny easy access to second floors.
Tree's that have limbs that extend close to your home can be used by criminals to gain entrance to your home through a second story window or other entrance. This gives criminals more options to enter your home. Minimize the options crimiminals have, keep branches and limbs cut away from your home.
Check and lock all doors and windows before leaving or going to bed.
It takes very little effort and time to check and make sure doors and windows are closed and locked. If someone wants to break-in to your home don't make it easy on them by allowing them to enter through an unlocked door or window.
Do not hide extra keys in convenient, easy to discover locations.
As a fugitive recovery person (bounty hunter), one of the first things I do when I have decided to enter a residence, is to check under the mat and over the door sill, alot of criminals do the same. If you have to hide a key put it in a place that is not easy to find or get to. If it's hard for you to get to it will be hard for a criminal to get to and atleast you will know where it's at.
Incorporate flower beds and shrubbery into your home security measures.
Flowers and shrubbery are not only decorative, but can also be utilized to prevent and/or detect break-in attempts or used as an early warning signal. Sand and wet mud leave foot prints, Thorny bushes make it diffilcult and hopefully painful to get through, gravel and chimes make noise when stepped on or bumped into. There are multiple ways flower beds and shrubbery can be utilized for security, use your imagination and try different things.
Utilize security or flood lights aimed outwards above doors and windows.
Security lights and flood lights are very effective crime deterents they are also very effective early warning signals when combined with motion and/or heat sensors. These lights can allow residence to view out, while at the same time prevent outsiders from being able to see in. Aiming lights outward allows for farther viewing and can also reduce glare coming into windows.
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