Why Would Anyone NOT Lock Their Doors?

[bbangel]

Wow, so much fear. Not only are my doors usually unlocked when I am home, but sometimes I forget the keys in them when I come home. Sometimes I forget to lock the door when I leave too.
My dad was of the philosophy that if people want to get in they will, and will do less damage if there isn't a lock in their way, so maybe I picked up on that. I just don't let fear rule my life.

 

[MI mom of 3]

I think one of the questions you need to ask is 'do you run your ac all the time?' I hate, hate, hate having the ac on. The house has to be closed up in the winter because it is so cold. As soon as it gets warm enough all the windows are opened in my house. So it doesn't make sense for me to lock my doors, which are always open, when the window right next to it is wide open.

I do close the windows on the main floor when we go to bed. that is usually the only time the doors are locked too. I don't even lock them when I am at work. Maybe I am too trusting but I would rather be like that than always worried about what could happen.

 

[va32h]

To me, the benefit of not locking the door is that I don't have to find my keys, spend the time locking the door, lug the keys around with me, etc. Then when I get back from the store with the groceries, I've don't have to set the groceries down, dig out the keys, unlock the door, etc.

Sure all that "work" is pretty minor. But avoiding it isn't "absolutely no benefit". Not to mention that I can't lock myself out of the house if the door's not locked

And, what's the risk? Worst case scenario, somebody steals my crappy stuff and I get to by new stuff. (Actually, the real risk is some idiot breaks into the house, gets mauled by my dogs and sues me. But I've got insurance.)

Worst case scenario is that someone breaks into your house and kills you and your family.

People are putting a lot of faith in their big dogs. Having a dog is not a guarantee of safety. Dogs can be drugged, bludgeoned, shot. Some maniac who is breaking into your house to kill you isn't going to have much compunction about killing your dog, too.

So the benefits of having unlocked doors is not having to get up and open the door, and not having to keep track of housekeys.

Those seem to be truly miniscule benefits to me. Although statistically, the chances of a home invasion are probably equally miniscule. However, I see no burden in erring on the side of caution.

Speaking of cars, the doors in my minivan automatically lock when the engine is on for more than a few minutes.

 

[becka]

Wow, so much fear. Not only are my doors usually unlocked when I am home, but sometimes I forget the keys in them when I come home. Sometimes I forget to lock the door when I leave too.
My dad was of the philosophy that if people want to get in they will, and will do less damage if there isn't a lock in their way, so maybe I picked up on that. I just don't let fear rule my life.

Well I can't speak for others but I don't let fear rule my life either. To me it is just an issue of common sense. I wear my seatbelt in the car even though I hope I never am in an accident where it is needed. I lock my house even thought I hope no one ever tries to break in. I don't see the difference....

 

[JVL1018]

I

I have a question about the people saying no need to worry b/c they have big mean dogs. We have a 110 pound lab, he's not mean but I'm sure would scare some people before he had a chance to lick 'em to death . But if these people are the type to break into a home, chances are they may be carrying a weapon of some sort, what's to stop them from shooting or harming your dog? Then they could walk into your unlocked house. I know some people would say that this wouldn't/couldn't happen in broad daylight but stranger things have happened. Better safe than sorry is the way I think.

If someone's going to shoot a dog to get in, I really don't think a locked door would stop them. They could just shoot the lock out, or break a window. Sounds like someone doing that would be coming SPECIFICALLY for you, and if that's the case, you're pretty mcuh screwed no matter what.

I do lock everything up at night and when I'm out.
I lock my car(actually my van does it automatically) when I get in, I take precautions, but I won't imprison myself.

 

[DisneyPhD]

To me, the benefit of not locking the door is that I don't have to find my keys, spend the time locking the door, lug the keys around with me, etc. Then when I get back from the store with the groceries, I've don't have to set the groceries down, dig out the keys, unlock the door, etc.

Sure all that "work" is pretty minor. But avoiding it isn't "absolutely no benefit". Not to mention that I can't lock myself out of the house if the door's not locked

And, what's the risk? Worst case scenario, somebody steals my crappy stuff and I get to by new stuff. (Actually, the real risk is some idiot breaks into the house, gets mauled by my dogs and sues me. But I've got insurance.)

I am with you on this. I have never understood people who lock themselves in their house during the day (who live in "safe areas".) It seems paranoid and strange to me honestly. In fall spring and summer (even winter sometimes) we are constantly going in and out of the house. I have 3 doors, right now all are unlocked. I do not feel unsafe at all. I wouldn't dream of locking them when home during the day. I also leave my car running in the drive way right next to the house for short peroids of time and unlocked during the day (locked in the garage at night.) I lock the doors after dark. I try not to leave my keys in the door, but then again when you don't lock it, that is less likely to happen.

We had a block party last weekend and we were all joking about how we never lock the doors around here.

For those who lock the doors, what do you do when you go in the yard? Carry your keys with you? Do you feel safe in your back yard, or front?

Many times we leave the house from the side door and have to go back and shut the front before we drive off.

Honestly if someone really wants to brake into a house, a locked door isn't going to stop them for long.

 

[jodifla]

Man, some folks are just over the top! Always having the AC on because you won't open a window? People need some therapy around here.

We lock the doors at night, and that's about it. Sometimes we realize we've left the sliding glass doors open all night, too!

 

[pigletz]

My parents never used to lock their doors. It took me years to convince them to do it. I remember I was home from college once and must have been out late the night before because I remember waking up around noon. Well, when i woke up there was some stranger in my room. I completelty freaked out. My brother's girlfriend came upstairs to calm me down. Apparently, my brother and his friends frequently cut school and hung out at my parents house. Since my parents didn't lock the door, they just let themselves in whether my brother was with them or not. My parents started locking the doors after that one.
I always keep my doors locked. I'm a single woman and I live by myself so I just feel safer that way. Most of my neighbors though keep their front doors wide open in the summer.

 

[salmoneous]

If somebody is so determined to rob me that they are willing to break into my home and shoot my dog, do you really think they are going to be stopped by a locked door?

You mention that you have big windows. Why don't you have bars on them? As somebody pointed out, I think a thief would much rather break a window than deal with a dog.

We all take chances. Don't let a locked door give you a false sense of security.

 

[Chattyaholic]

If I locked my door then people couldn't ring the bell and "walk in"
(I'm the one who started the thread about people just "walking in")

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

I think the thing with saying "I have a dog" is not so much that the dog would save you from the bad guy but more along the lines of the dog acts like an alarm, hopefully deterring the bad guy from entering.

I would think that most burglars/robbers/etc like to have the element of surprise or secrecy on their side and if you have a dog barking to the top of it's lungs, then the criminal has lost that. If you were a burglar who could break into one of 2 houses - one with a 20 pound dog that starts barking and calling attention to your presence the minute you set foot on their lawn or one with no noise and a locked door - which would you go for? Besides, what good is a lock when you have all these big old openings in your house protected with merely a piece or two/three of glass?

 

[bbangel]

Well I can't speak for others but I don't let fear rule my life either. To me it is just an issue of common sense. I wear my seatbelt in the car even though I hope I never am in an accident where it is needed. I lock my house even thought I hope no one ever tries to break in. I don't see the difference....

I'm not saying it doesn't make sense to lock your doors or that locking your doors isn't a good thing. I'm saying you shouldn't be paranoid about it and let it worry you.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

If somebody is so determined to rob me that they are willing to break into my home and shoot my dog, do you really think they are going to be stopped by a locked door?

You mention that you have big windows. Why don't you have bars on them? As somebody pointed out, I think a thief would much rather break a window than deal with a dog.

We all take chances. Don't let a locked door give you a false sense of security.

Guess I could have waited a minute or two to post and just said "What they said"

 

[kydisneyfans]

No locked doors here much of the time, and our garage door is often open at night. It helps when a city cop lives 2 doors down and parks in front of the house at night though. Our garage has been locked 3 times in nearly 3 years, all for vacation. I would have a better chance of being killed in a car accident or a bank robbery than asleep in my bedroom. Nearly 90% of home invasions are drug related and are done by someone connected to the occupant of the home in some way.

Our front door lock has been busted for a good 6 months and maybe some day I'll fix it.

 

[soccerfreak_08]

We live in a small town and very few people here lock there doors. Most of them will leave there car running and unlocked while all of them are in the store. We saw a convertable like this once and it was tempting just to move it across the parking lot...

 

[mickeyboat]

We keep our doors unlocked when we are home during the day, and locked when we are not home and at night. But we do not usually lock our first floor windows, and they are often open at night. Our back door lock can be opened with a credit card.

We live in a VERY low crime area of the country. I can't remember ever hearing of someone breaking into someone else's house around here when they were home. I know it can happen, but I agree with the other posters, your run of the mill burglar will not break into a house when people are home. If someone really wants to get in, a locked door will not stop them.

Denae

 

[SC Minnie]

We keep the front and back door locked all the time. We mainly use the door from the garage and it is only locked if we are not home. The garage door is down at night and during the day when we are not there. Plus we set the alarm when we are away. We live in a 'safe' neighborhood too. There has only been 1 break in in the 8 years we have lived here and they think it was the teenage son's friends that broke in.

My family's business was broken in to while I worked there about 15 years ago by people we knew. It really freaked me out. Until that point I rarely worried about locking doors. I grew up in the country where everyone knew each other.

We don't have valuables so to speak but I do have some family heirlooms that are priceless.

 

[Becky2005]

You know I've done it both ways but honestly between the two I'm more paranoid about having the door locked when we ARE home than when we aren't.

The worse thing that will happen if someone breaks in while we aren't home is they will trip on all the crud we have in front of the door & toys. (Hey, it's my cheap alarm -- the person will trip & kill themselves first before getting to us!).

HOWEVER, if I'm home -- I can think of lots of horrible things that can happen if someone walked in unexpectedly with horrible intent. DH DID have some stranger walk in unexpectedly once (just PROVED MY POINT! since he can't understand why I lock the door when I'm home.) There was no malicious intent but there was a party going on across the street and the person basically had the wrong address & walked into the wrong house.

Now if the kids are out, then I will leave it unlocked because I know they will need to get back in. Also, if I'm expecting company, then it's unlocked.

We do lock our car doors -- My car automatically locks when I'm driving once you past 15 miles/hour. We have been having a rash of people stealing things out of the cars, especially if they see change, etc... It's more a crime of opportunity becuase they don't break the windows or anything, it's in cars that are unlocked sitting in the driveway. We have had this in the past too -- it's fine for a long time & then it comes in waves.

We live in a fairly safe neighborhood but about a year ago there was an assault here. I've lived in the neighborhood for about 14 years and it was the first one ever (the person was caught and was not a local person). Now a locked door or not would not have prevented the particular incident but still no use in making it any easier for someone than necessary.

 

[Dislifer]

I think it depends on where you grew up. I grew up in the inner city and you better believe you locked up (and had a dog)!!!
Now I live in the suburbs but old habits never die...I keep my doors locked and I have an alarm system.
When I first moved here, one of my neighbors was offended that I had an alarm system. She said "There's is no crime here!!!" I felt like asking, hey Honey...when's the last time you picked up a newspaper? AND...I don't want to be the first one in the neighborhood to have anything happen...I mean why make it easy for someone???
Before I go to sleep at night I lock up and set the alarm!!!

 

[cardaway]

Personally I only lock the doors to improve the chances I'll hear somebody trying to get in. As others have already posted, it doesn't do much good in the long run.