I have noticed in the news as of late, an increase in home invasions across the country. If you go to google news and search home invasion you will get back thousands of recent news stories of home invasions, many of which ended in death.

The worse our economy gets, the worse crime will get; any third world nation can show you that. Eventually our economy should recover, we are pretty good at that but in the meantime, we need to take steps to try and avoid becoming a target.

This may sound silly but things like not placing electronics boxes out in front of your home, can help keep from drawing unwanted attention. Too may times we get the urge to, well frankly, show off what we have. Bear in mind that doing that just ups your odds of becoming a target.

I am not saying build fake walls and hide your stuff. Just be smart and not draw a lot of attention your way. Take electronic boxes (after breaking them down) to be recycled and then no worries about them sitting out for people to see and you help the environment so it is win win

Get some solar powered lights for your walkway and get motion activated lights for the all 4 sides of the house. If you can’t afford to do it all at once do it in phases. Something is better than nothing.

I have before and will again, recommend getting a door brace for both front and back doors and secure sliding glass doors (as much as glass can be secured). It may sound paranoid but better safe than sorry. Inside your house you have better control of your situation so keep it secure.

This includes not being lured out of your house at night or into opening the door for a stranger. Also, be sure to talk to the kids, they should not be opening the doors even in daylight. These crimes happen as often in daylight these days as they do at night. If only adults are in control of who enters your “safe zone” you will be much better off. More than one crime has started but some little child opening the door for the wrong guy.

As far as your own self defense, some may choose a gun next to their bed, I prefer they never get in by following the steps above. But if they do you need to be prepared. For those of you with kids, determine a hiding place where they should go should you tell them to. If they are safe then you can concentrate on getting help and protecting you and your family.

I like the steel baton approach. I keep one next to my bed, in close reach should I need to get to it. I also have pepper spray in various spots around the house so no matter where I may encounter an intruder, I can get something in my hands to help protect myself.

In my truck, I keep one of the new double trouble stun guns in my center console and have both a heartattack key-chain weapon and a pepper spray on the key-chain as well. I would make a good boy scout cause I am a firm believer in being prepared for any situation.

A while back I told you story about a deaf woman attacked while walking her dog along a busy street and no one stopped. A lot of my preparation goes into not just protecting myself but in being able, should the need ever arise, to intervene and protect someone else as well.

The Judge
Stun Guns, Pepper Sprays
Nanny Cams with DVR

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 16th, 2008 at 1:16 am and is filed under Crime, Home Security, Self Defense | . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.