Be careful when you leave home

[DaParkers]

I'm glad you're so worried about the criminals breaking into a house.

What if they come in the window and the police come through the door?

 

[heatherwillmom]

My philosophy is my house is protected by the Good Lord & a gun. break into my house & you might meet them both.

 

[Friendly Frog]

I'm glad you're so worried about the criminals breaking into a house.

I think he/she was trying to protect you. The crook can actually sue you even though they were committing a crime. Terrible law, but true.

You also might kill a fireman, or a policeman. The bullet could ricochet and kill a neighbor. You or someone else that you forgot that you gave a key to could get killed. Too many ifs.

The sad part is that lights, motion sensors, non of that stuff really works. What you want to do is to make it as hard as possible so maybe they will move along to another house.

I always like to have a family member or trusted friend to stay at my house. (Especially nice if it someone a little older to likes to stay in all the time!) Stock the fridge well, add some personal touch that they like, such as favorite wine or crafts to do, or ??? Sometimes an Aunt will use this as retreat time to take a break away from an Uncle.

You 2nd best defense is noisy neighbors!

You can also call your local police and have them do a vacation watch.

You can have the post office hold your mail, (but sometimes I wonder if that is the best idea).

Other great tips;

Reinforce the jam plates on your doors to help prevent the door being kicked in.

Use the dead bolts with the extended (longer) bolt.

Install a key only deadbolt to be used ONLY when you are on vacation.
(Unsafe while at home). You don't want them to go in a window and out a door. A moving truck loading items out a window draws much more attention!

Install a solid core door from the garage to the house. Reinforce it as you would an outside door.

Do not have a knot or handle on the emergency cord of the garage door opener. Burgulars will often slide something into the sides of the door, hook the strap and open the garage door this way.

Put locking pins on both sides of the garage door. You don't want them hiding inside the garage working on getting in the house door.

BTW- all door hinges should be on the inside of your home!

Install pins in all windows in addition to locks. (Double pane windows make more noise and are harder to cut through than single pane window).

Keep the yard well lit.

Keep tall shrubs away from windows. ( So crooks can't hide behind them.)

Put pins in sliding glass doors so that they can't be lifted out of the tracks.

Put a padlock on the yard gates, so items have to be lifted over, or they have to take the time to cut the lock.

If you can, put a fence around your driveway as well as your yard.

If you can, always keep your cars in the garage, so it is harder to tell if a car is gone.

If you fly, and your car is not normally in the garage, consider using a shuttle to take to the airport and leave the car in the driveway.

Ask a trusted neighbor to park an extra car in your driveway.

Most people have privacy fences, but actually a neighborhood with cyclone fencing allows neighbors to watch out for each other.

Organize a crime watch in your neighborhood.

Keep a large ( that can be seen from the street) "No Solicitors" sign on your door, porch or mailbox.

Don't hide valuables in the bedroom.

Buy a safe! They may be able to get into it, but it will slow them down.
Remember to secure your bank statements and other personal information in a safe so that you do not become a victim if identity fraud a year after you were burglarized!

An alarm might scare off kids or the non pro. (I have also heard that some crooks look for houses with alarms thinking they have "better stuff" and knowing the response times of police in large cities can be slow.) But IMO the best part of an alarm system is to possibly alert you earlier to a break in, giving you a clearer head and better aim.

Of course if you can afford it, nothing like camera monitors installed in the home that you or your neighbor can watch via the Internet! The best security systems are battery backed up and use wireless to transmit so that they will still call when the phone and power lines are cut.

That is what I can think of just off the top of my head. (I am lucky, in Texas you can protect your property with deadly force.)

 

[Derby4me]

My suggestion is to be careful with your Photopass shares also. Not only are you giving a stranger your exact vacation dates, but you are also forwarding your home address to mail the photopass cd after vacation. My suggestion is to use a friend or family member's address that will be in town when you are on vacation.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

My suggestion is to be careful with your Photopass shares also. Not only are you giving a stranger your exact vacation dates, but you are also forwarding your home address to mail the photopass cd after vacation. My suggestion is to use a friend or family member's address that will be in town when you are on vacation.

That is a great suggestion, having never done one I never gave it thought but boy your are right. A few times here on DIS nice people have offered up things, a coupon or even once a eautiful Halloween dress, and even though I hoped and believed they had the best of intentions, I had everything sent to my DH's work address...just in case! We don't have a landline so no phone book, but better safe then sorry.

 

[Friendly Frog]

I think that most of the time you are giving your address to someone out of state, so probably not too big a risk, and if I didn't have a vacation planned I would not worry either.

 

[SamSam]

I have a trusted neighbor/friend get our mail and our newspaper delivery while we're away, so that I don't need to stop delivery for these services....I figure the fewer people that know we are gone the better. They also put our trash containers out by the curb on 'trash day'.

I like the idea of having him park one of his vehicles in our drive, I think I will ask him to do do this on our next trip.

 

[disneym2m]

It's sad but true that criminals actually have rights if they get hurt breaking into your house.

That is why my uncle, who is a policeman, always told me if you shoot and hit the criminal, drag the body into the house, so it looks like self defense. Not sure if he was serious or joking.

Thanks for other safety suggestions. I have been cutting down the bushes just for this reason. Oh yeah, I forgot, we have a fake security box. It is a real box but all the stuff inside is fake, so that if a criminal looks inside he thinks he is looking a real stuff and then overlook the real security box. Of course the real one weighs 100 pounds and is bolted to the floor and good luck trying to move that box....

I have also wondered about the mailman. He seems nice when delivering my mail, but people at the post office would know we would be gone for a while.....interesting.

I used to have nails in the windows in my first house, that is a great idea and completely forgot about that one. Now what to do with a huge, glass, sliding door (which I hate).

I miss the days when you didn't have to worry about this stuff.

 

[kaligal]

The sad part is that lights, motion sensors, non of that stuff really works. What you want to do is to make it as hard as possible so maybe they will move along to another house.

The work well enough here. If someone forgets to put the code in the box outside the bedroom when they get up, the house starts shrieking and unless you answer and give them the code when they call, the cops show up...and sometimes they request to come in. Take it from me. I forgot the code twice.

If we trip the motion sensors or open a window/door before the alarm is shut off, it all starts. That noise is horrible. And the cops really do come.

I'm sure all your tips are good ones, but the idea that the alarm systems don't work is hogwash.

 

[gw8721]

Nice plan to cool down for a bit, a LITTLE of the old attraction left

I like it

 

[Gigi22]

One of our neighbour's houses was robbed by some men with a truck a few years ago. Our next door neighbour confronted the guys alone (not a good idea, IMHO) and they just brazened it out to her! Ever since then, we have just quietly informed our next door neighbours when we will be away, and if someone comes with a truck and starts removing our stuff, call the police!

 

[Nutty4Disney]

I just want to say when we are on vacation my Mom and adult daughter are at the house. Just saying...

 

[tink576]

My dad called the cops because of somthing similar once. The family asked him to watch the house while they were away, well the grown children decided to throw a big party while Mom and Dad were away (the kids all lived elsewhere at that point, shouldn't have been in the house). Well there was action at the house so the cops were called...Kids wern't happy about it, but they shouldn't have been there either...

Solid neighbors who pay attention, can be a help sometimes...

 

[dmccarty]

...
That is why my uncle, who is a policeman, always told me if you shoot and hit the criminal, drag the body into the house, so it looks like self defense. Not sure if he was serious or joking.

I hope he was joking.

It is not likely one can move a body and have the movement go unnoticed. If one moves the body then you have tampered with evidence which could easily lead to criminal charges. At a minimum the DA trying to decide if the shooting was legal will now have to strongly wonder WHY the body was moved. The person who moved the body will have a hard to making anyone believe their story when they have tampered with a major piece of evidence.

Later,
Dan

 

[heatherwillmom]

I've been taken WAY too literal here. I was making a joke about what I would post to deter burgulars. I have never wired a shotgun to my windows. I also don't have an alarm system that shocks someone like a taser if they touch it. Yet, I got responses telling how I was going to shoot innocent people. The only way someone is going to get shot in my house is from the gun in my hand.