Homestead Happiness

We live in buildings for highly specific reasons. Safety. Security. Health. All these are top of the pile. Humans will enter buildings that are not theirs for specific reasons also. Benignly it may be to shop, or perhaps to visit friends or relatives. In both shops and homes there will be possessions. Owned by the shop or the householder.

Out of the two, it is houses that generally has the most precious items. Precious not necessarily by monetary value. By the effort it took to have the items in the first place. Men, women & siblings accumulating material over many years. Often heirlooms being handed down, one generation to another.

As far as criminals are concerned, in the pecking order of things house-burglars are not really looked at with distaste. More like in-difference. As crimes go, it’s a generally accepted pastime within the criminal fraternity. There are exceptions to this of course. Burgling a mansion will be somewhat different to stealing an old ladies fuel money.

It may be useful to take a brief look at what kind of person would break into someones house. A working-class persons home. It wont be a criminal who is working class. Yet it will be a person who seems to fit into that environment. We’re not looking at the type of criminal who receives some measure of success financially either. And, likely not one that is in any form of competently organised group. After all, if they were in any way organised wouldn’t they have bigger, more lucrative targets?

This person will often be unemployed. Though not exclusively. In either the person will likely have a drug or alcohol habit. Leading them to commit such petty crimes in the first place. They may form part of a ‘crew’. Though this would tend to be more akin to an immature wannabe band of idiots. With delusions gleaned from watching too many gangster movies.

Sound like someone you know? That’s part of the problem. In every town. Every city. We find such people. Sometimes in every street. So many potential criminals. And, with our burgeoning population homes are springing up everywhere. Do you really think it won’t happen to you? That you wont’ wake up to hear your car screeching away at 4am. Running down the stairs to see your 40 inch LCD TV, games consoles, sounds system, etc – drive off into the darkness. Peeking out the crammed boot of your latest model car. Which you are still paying off. Perhaps you’ll glance into the kitchen. See the cheeky buggers have nabbed your beers. Ate the wifes Chocolate. Left teeth marks in the apple tart. Such a scenario is common. To one degree or another. Skid-marks that they are.

Are your possessions important though? Personally, and for my family, we’d say no. Though that is for us. It’s important to realize that someone who enters your home may or may not know it is now occupied. And they may not care. If they cross the Rubicon of entering someones home, take it from me these next two points:

If the criminal doesn’t find enough items to satisfy themselves downstairs invariably they will search the rest of the house.
If the criminal encounters the house occupants immediately the burglary can become a robbery. The definitive cause in the change being violence of some form is introduced.
This goes ways beyond your television. Or your sons Xbox. It goes right to the heart of your family’s safety. And why a home exists in the first place. Per the first paragraph.
So what can be done? Plenty, though my examples are not the definitive list. Some of this will seem obvious. So before you read on and begin rolling your eyes I’ll write one word. COMPLACENCY. This word has been known to be the downfall of many. Be it people working in security/law enforcement/military, even criminals themselves. I’ve known, and still know, many people who should know better than to drop the ball with their own security. Yet the longer there seems to be no immediate threat, perceived or real, the more likely someone will begin taking risks. Not only with their own life. With the lives of every member of their house.

The first factor. Primary defence. Is a perceived expectation of the possibility. And to keep that in mind. Always. It’s not about being paranoid. It’s about being aware. There is a difference. Someone who has their eyes blind to the potential criminal intent that may be directed toward them will always label it as paranoid. As if that’s ultimately a bad thing. The goal is to keep your home safe & secure. Providing you do that within the law, everything else serves it’s purpose. Label it whatever way one chooses. I’m going to bed safely.

Always lock your doors. It doesn’t matter if it’s day or night. Get into the habit of using all the locks you have. Else why are they there? Windows. Useful for seeing out. Also for seeing in. To create an intelligence profile of not only what is in your house, but who is there. Without being alarmist. It has been known for an intruder to gain entry into a house to sexually assault an occupant. Such people are of course deviants. Getting their rocks off initially by what they can see through windows. We have curtains/blinds for a reason. It makes sense to use them.

The fire brigade will tell you to close doors at night. To help prevent the spread of fire. They know best with this advice. For this reason. And I wont try to dissuade you into ignoring it. I know criminals however. In particular i know about house entry crimes. Including terrorist attacks . Leaving your doors closed greatly impedes your awareness of people trying to enter your home. In particular by stealth. We keep all our internal doors open. We have many strategically placed smoke detectors, and the like for fire safety.

Answering the phone. Cold callers. Wrong numbers. Whatever. Never answer the phone with your name or indeed your number. Never give out any identifying details. When someone comes to your door take a pause before answering. Look out your window to see who it is. Or your door spy-hole. Asking who it is only really useful if the person answering back is already well-known to you. Even something such as, “It’s the Police!“, means nothing. I recall such an incident around eight years ago with me. I was out walking with my wife. It was late at night. From under a bridge a few men wearing sports clothes came running toward us, just as we reached our front door. They shouted for me to stop. I saw they had handguns. We quickly ran inside and I barricaded the door. Shinning torches in through the letter box they said, “Wayne it’s the police, open up!”. “How do I know it’s the damn police!”, i shouted back. It is us, we’ve got torches sure!”. I looked out the window and say a crowd of men. I shouted back, “I got a baseball bat here, and I’m standing at the top of the stairs. If you come in I’m starting to swing!”. Hardly a fair fight when they had guns i know. Still it was enough for them to pause. I had to ring 999 to make sure it was the police. Which it was. Though why they were there you’ll have to read in my book, haha! Point is, always make sure before you open the door. your door is a main security barrier in your home after all.

It’s useful taking a mental image of what way you leave your home. This will include all the rooms. Their items. The way the doors are left ajar. Even things you’d notice from outside the front of the house. curtains/blinds are an example. It’s know that burglars upon seeing the house occupants coming home, will hide themselves from view. Until the householders are inside their home. Then escalate it to a robbery. In such cases trust your instincts. Look at the way you left home. Most skid-mark criminals will not bother about leaving things exactly in place when they rummage. And even if they do place things back often it isn’t the exact way you left it. Does that ornament usually face the door or wall? For example. Walk relatively quietly into your home. Not creeping in though. It is important to strike a balance between making noise to alert the intruders (in-case it makes them flee) and being quiet enough to hear any potential noise they may make should they be lieing in wait.

Next Blog entry I’ll look at some things that could be done should the worst happen – Intruders in your home.

Stay Safe

Wayne