A major part of family preparedness is the maintenance of comfort, control, and preservation in a time of crisis. Regardless of the source of the crisis, we as humans need to protect the homestead and our loved ones at any cost.
The reason I bring this subject to the forefront is that recently, at a community meeting, I learned that home burglaries in my area ar on the increase. In a community where several still don’t lock their doors, was no surprise to me given the dire straits numerous ar in financially. And this isn’t localized. Because the financial crunch continues with no end in sight, you’ll expect to see property crimes on the rise.
The meeting was a warning call reminding me that i would like to try and do a list of the house security and crime prevention measures currently in place so I will make sure that both my family and my preps are secure. In doing so, I came up with these twenty tested crime prevention secrets for preppers.
There are a lot of things we will do to create our homes appear uninviting to criminals. The harder your property appearance to breach, the more possible it’s that would-be thieves will choose an easier target.
- Secure your doors with multiple lockup mechanisms. Yes, it’s an annoyance to hold multiple keys but why create it easy for the dangerous guys? A deadbolt is important and even 2 wouldn’t be excessive. make certain the locks are troublesome to choose.
- Reinforce your door frame. Keep in mind that a lock is just nearly as good because the strength of the door frame. It doesn’t matter how many locks you’ve got if they’re only supported by a flimsy interior frame. A robust person will usually break those down with a well-placed hit from a shoulder. Invest in a high-quality metal frame. These are terribly difficult to breach.
- Don’t leave keys out. Even if you think you’re being clever, don’t leave keys below mats, below flower pots, on top or door frames or in one of those $3 magnetic key carriers that work below the frame of your car. Thieves understand these places and are more inventive than you may think when it comes to locating a spare. Here at my place we’ve secured a spare key in a coded key vault, like the kind real estate agents use.
- Don’t place your name and address on your key ring. If you lose your keys, and who hasn’t, why advertise your home location and provide simple entrance? you may as well put an indication on your exterior door that says “GRAB ME”.
- Keep your outside areas well lit. This doesn’t have to be costly. Even shaded areas will have the benefit of cheap solar lighting. Put porch lights on a dawn to twilight timer and ensure your garage entrance isn’t shrouded in darkness. Motion lights around doorways can be startling since they come on when someone walks up to the door.
- Think about an alarm system. I’m not talking regarding an expensive monitored alarm system and, as a matter of truth, i believe advertising that you just have a monitored system, whether it’s true or not, simply tells the world that you just have a lot of goodies that require protection.When I say alarm system, i’m referring to a loud horn or blast that burst when somebody invades your territory. This can be particularly effective if you’ve got neighbors who also will hear the alarm but even in a more remote area, the alarm will annoy and dissuade the burglars from sticking around. These wireless motion sensors may be put in on doors to scare away someone attempting to break in. best of all, they’re battery operated and can still work during a grid-down event.
- Add internal locks to essential storage areas. This includes your emergency food storage area, crawl spaces, and your freezer. Many of us keep their freezers in the garage, which may be one of the most vulnerable areas of your home since it’s generally dark and remote sound-wise from the rest of the house.
- Secure your mail. additionally to minimizing identity theft, an overflowing mail box is an open invite to thieves who will assume you’re not at home or traveling. Invest in a PO box – they’re low cost.
- Keep your out of doors areas tidy. Trim shrubs that are near the house so strangers cannot skulk behind them, waiting and watching for the most effective time to attack. make sure that the perimeter of your house is away from hiding places. Open areas create it easier for the neighbors to see if somebody is up to mischief too.
- Inform the police or sheriff that you are going to be gone. This could not work in all situations but here in my rural community, we are encouraged to let the authorities know when we are getting to be off-island for an extended period.
- Be wary of individuals who come to the door. Whether they are strangers, delivery people, or perhaps officers of the law, if they’re surprising, you need to be alert. These are all common ruses that precede home invasions. Have your pepper spray handy and ask for ID. If in doubt, don’t open the door. ask for a badge or ID number and call it in. Remember, uniforms may be promptly purchased on-line and in these days of Photoshop, fake IDs is simply created on a computer.
- Add locks to your gates. If you lock your gate, then you don’t have to worry regarding people showing up right at your door. Plus, you’ll make certain to be on high alert if there’s a knock at the door.
- Know your neighbors. I have said this before and will say it again: neighbors and community members who know you by name and by face will be the ones that will watch your back in a crisis. You do not have to become best friends with these people – however you are doing need to say hi once in awhile and maybe become involved in some community activities so they’ll get to know you and you, them.
- Get a dog. A dog could be a nice, extremely nice, early warning system. Nero, my fifty five pound German Shepherd makes a lot of racket if a stranger is walking around outside at night. He scare an intruder once he’s in the house, however he certainly would give the would-be thief reason to appear elsewhere. Plus, we would know that somebody who shouldn’t be here is close by if not inside our home.
- Landscape with inhospitable plants. Inhospitable doesn’t mean the plants aren’t lovely. Thorny plants like rugosa rosebushes, vine or blackberry vines create it much more difficult to sneak around outside of windows or to climb fences.
- Create arrangements to own your property looked after when you go away. Have somebody mow the grass when you are gone for a week or longer and if you still have the newspaper delivered, for goodness sake, stop delivery whereas you’re gone. You can also put a light and a tv on a timer so that it’s like somebody is home.
- Secure sliding glass doors. Before bed every night, block the track of sliding doors with a block of metal or a bit of wood. Those locks are very simple to force.
- Secure sidelights or doors with large windows. It’s a really easy thing for a thief to break out a small window, then reach in and unlock your door from the inside. Invest in some ornamental metal grid work to create this more difficult.
- Create a secure space to which you’ll retreat. In a worst case situation, if somebody breaks into your home while you’re there, it’s vital to own an area that you will run to until help arrives. Reinforce a bedroom door with a good quality frame, and replace the flimsy interior door with an exterior one. Have the simplest way to call for help inside the room, and a way of self-protection like a gun.
- Zip those lips. This is my weakness and something i’ll commit to stopping RIGHT NOW! In my effort to spread the word about family preparedness, I talk about my own efforts, what I actually have, how i’m storing it, and worst of all, wherever I have located my stuff. Shame on me. What I have effectively done is advertise the fact that if the SHTF, you’ll come back to my place because I have food, water and stuff. This is going to be difficult because I do want to teach and help others. But i’m going to really try to be a little additional non-public going forward.
Walk around your house, and, pretending you’re a bad guy, think about points of entry. Take a look at your home from the road. are you advertising all of the goodies inside? Or does your home appear as if a modest, well-kept abode with sensible lighting and well trimmed landscaping? If you were a thief, which home on your street would you hit?
As you know, a crisis can come from a natural disaster, a medical pandemic, an economic collapse, civil unrest, or a man-made activity like a terrorist attack. By practicing crime prevention currently, and creating home security a part of lifestyle, you’ll be one step closer to conserving the homestead when the SHTF.
