Safety While at Home Alone

The fear of being attacked while at home is terrifying. A house, apartment, or dorm room should be a place of safety. However, because criminals do not respect themselves, they often fail to respect the rights, privacy, or property of others. Victims who had their residence burglarized or, worse, assaulted inside their homes feel violated and vulnerable because both their home and personal safety were compromised.

As a high percentage of crime, burglary is most often committed by criminals who steal property to sell it to satisfy their drug addiction. Sometimes burglars are transients seeking places to sleep, use drugs, or steal food. Burglars who seek the thrill and excitement of entering someone’s home or apartment usually start by entering the premises when no one is home, then progress to unlawfully entering when victims are present, generally while victims sleep. Burglars, who are also rapists, most often attack victims when they are alone, but some are undeterred and will assault even if a roommate, boyfriend, or husband is home.

There are several factors to consider for home defense against criminals who seek to break into your home or peep into windows while you are present.

Ten Home Security Tips – Burglary Prevention

1. Always keep your doors locked, even when you are home. Intruders are very bold, and many have walked through unlocked doors, even during daylight.

A large man escaped from a psychiatric hospital. He canvassed a local neighborhood to find an unlocked door. A female resident went outside to get her mail. She returned a minute later to find him attempting to open her front security gate. Fortunately, by habit, she always locked the gate. Neighbors saw the man and called the police, who detained him and subsequently readmitted him to the hospital. According to his records, “This individual has a history of violence.”

Burglars are known to walk into a house through an open side door while residents occupying their home.

At the kitchen table of her apartment, a college student worked at her laptop computer. She went to the bathroom. When she returned to the kitchen, her laptop was gone, and the sliding glass door ajar. This was an “opportunity crime” where the burglar most likely watched her or, walking by, noticing the open sliding glass door and unattended laptop, he seized upon the opportunity and stole her valuable property.

A high percentage of burglaries are opportunistic, so leaving a door unlocked makes you an easy target. You also increase the risk when you arrive home or enter a room and suddenly surprise a burglar who had easy access to your home. In numerous other cases, homeless individuals enter through side doors to garages only to ransack vehicles and steal other property in the garage, such as bicycles and tools.

A married couple was watching a movie in the living room, and afterward, when they went into their bedroom, they found it ransacked. The burglar entered through the unlocked back door of the attached garage. He then entered the house through the unlocked attached door.

Sometimes, victims were terrifyingly awoken at night by a drunk home intruder who misidentified their home or apartment and walked into their residence through an unlocked door. Other terrified residents were awoken by someone trying to open their locked doors that kept the drunkard on the porch or searching around the house, trying to get inside while they called the police.

2. Be habitual about securing all of your windows. Especially during warmer months, homes and apartments without air-conditioning make security difficult. Many beach properties do not have air conditioning, so in beach communities where ocean breeze helps cool off house or apartment interiors, residents frequently leave windows and doors open for cross ventilation, especially at night. Investing in a window air cooling unit that is correctly mounted to the window frame can help cool your residence, keeping other windows secure during warmer months. Often beach communities are densely populated, which attracts a higher percentage of Peeping Toms, burglars, and rapists who roam these areas searching for opportunities.

Close and lock second-story windows, too. Burglars and rapists climb walls and trees or stack items nearby items to climb onto roofs and balconies to gain access to open second-story doors and windows.

In a beach community, a serial rapist was entering homes through open windows. Despite publicity about the rapes and public service warnings, many residents continued to leave their windows open, especially second-story windows and balcony sliding glass doors. This rapist remained at large for several more years.

Other victims were burglarized while resting or entertaining guests in another part of the house while the criminal crawled through an open window.

After tearing down the window screen, a serial rapist entered his victim’s apartment through an open window. Because she was hosting a party in another room, he lay in wait inside the victim’s closet. After her guests left, she opened the closet to change into her pajamas. Startled to see the rapist sitting on the floor, she screamed for help. Her roommates called the police, who arrived and apprehended him.

3. Assess the condition of all of your windows and doors. Add additional security measures if necessary. Ensure all locking devices function correctly, and if required, purchase supplemental devices. This is especially necessary if you live in an older building or college dormitory. Most hardware stores stock supplemental security hardware options.

• • Secure windows with a dowel or thin block of wood. Placing it on the slide rail prevents the window from opening beyond the desired distance. Alternatively, install a screw-type locking system that enables the window to remain in a (not more than six inches) open position.
  • Don’t leave sliding glass doors or windows open. As a minimal precautionary measure, lock screens and place a dowel within the frame so windows and doors can be partially open.
  • Leaving a small window open or locking a window in an open position less than 40 inches (100 centimeters) from a door is not advisable because a criminal can reach inside the window to disengage the locking device on the nearby door.
  • To prevent a burglar from pushing the middle of the glass to bypass the lock, move the window handle to the bottom of the window’s seal.

  Where possible, trim bushes and replace old, ineffective locks and doors. Install motion detection lights or heat sensors to detect movement. Even if it appears to be a lucrative target, burglars are more likely to bypass a home with obvious security measures in place.

  4. Develop a systematic method of securing your home at night and before you leave. Systematic means following the same steps or routine each time so that if you get distracted, you don’t forget to lock a door or window. Doing this should take only a couple of minutes. These few minutes might save you from being burglarized or coming face-to-face with violent intentions. If you have a dog, keep the dog inside while securing your house for the night because dogs will likely alert you to an intruder before you would.

5. Develop an emergency exit plan or safe hiding place in case an intruder enters while you are home. Even if it is just a prowling cat, it is better to initiate a preplanned escape than to wait in bed with boiling anxiety. Being awakened by an intruder breaking into your home can be paralyzing. Ahead of time, identify safe rooms that have a landline telephone or consistent places where your cell phone has reception with an electrical outlet to plug in your phone. However, when calling 9-1-1 emergency systems, cellular telephone numbers do not match the location from which you are calling, especially when reporting a crime in progress.

Consider installing security alarms and activating surveillance systems that provide electronic early warning notifications that your residence is targeted or your security measures are being breached. Some security systems feature a wireless duress button connected to your alarm system, which can be attached to a wrist or necklace. You can download an application to your cell phone to transmit your location when in situations of danger and duress. However, you need it close at hand, which is not always the case when at home or the threat turns out to suddenly be someone you know.

Emergency exit plans also double as rapid-fire evacuation plans. Walk through your plan to ensure it is feasible to escape under the stress of an emergency. If you have small children, it complicates emergency planning. By being prepared and having the proper mindset, you’ll be able to apply one of the escape plans you have deliberately developed. Go to a neighbor’s home or apartment and call the police. The Model Mugging Basic Course provides adrenalized practice to overcome the freeze reaction in threatening situations.

6. Recognize that showering, vacuuming, or playing loud music causes sensory deprivation. Avoid continuous loud sounds when you’re home alone, as they can prevent you from hearing noises outside or within the house. Ear buds and head phones drown external noise potentially allowing intruders to easily surprise you.

7. Deter Peeping Toms or voyeurs from looking into your windows or entering your residence. Keep window treatments closed in bedrooms and bathrooms day and night whenever dressing, showering, using the bathroom, or engaging in sexual activity. If bathroom glass is not obscure, install window coverings to prevent visual access into the room. The majority of Peeping Toms search at night and early mornings; some hunt during daylight. Watching women shower or change clothing is their primary objective.

To prevent Peeping Toms and thieves from “window-shopping,” rotate window blinds up and toward the top of the window. This position allows outward visual access while preventing outsiders from invading your privacy. Blinds that are turned down toward the interior enable people to see in but prevent you from seeing out. You should be able to view the ground outside your window. Blinds on second-story windows should be reversed so peepers cannot look up into the room (unless someone can stand on a landing outside the window).

8. Case your house as if you were a criminal seeking to commit a crime. Inspect it from the exterior during both daytime and nighttime hours. Assess your residence for areas where criminals might conceal themselves or locations that would be easier to break into from their perspective. Ask a male relative or friend also to assess your residence, who may offer a different perspective on your capability assessment. What would a Peeping Tom, rapist, or burglar see when looking into your house? Turn on your interior lights. Determine if someone can see inside. Be aware of the view from other apartments, especially in multi-story buildings. Note the positioning of fences, walls, trees, and rooftops for bedroom(s) and bathroom(s). These are areas from which Peeping Toms often watch their prey. Most likely, these are conditions that you cannot alter, but you can purchase window coverings that obstruct their view.

In addition to looking into ground-floor windows, a Peeping Tom lurked around a large apartment complex. He climbed walls of carport rooftops and waited in tree branches to stare into second-story windows at women.

9. Keep firearms secured in locked containers that you can reach quickly. Firearms are an excellent equalizer against a larger, stronger assailant or multiple assailants. If you rely on guns for home defense, quick-access combination safes are a good option. Trigger guards or locking devices are cumbersome, especially when one is frightened and stressed in an emergency. Using weapons, especially firearms for defense, requires realistic training and physical skills, as well as a mindset to deploy the weapon for self-defense willingly. Terrified that a burglar invaded their home in the middle of the night, on occasion, firearm users have mistakenly shot an innocent person living within the house, so realistic training is essential.

Firearms must be kept secure and inaccessible to children and others to prevent unwanted injuries or death to gun owners or innocent people. Many states have legislated negligent parent laws that criminally charge parents for “accidental” shootings involving unsecured firearms committed by their children.

Numerous intruder calls made to 9-1-1 operators involved frightened residents who locked themselves in a bedroom or bathroom. Upon arrival, police determined that the “intruders” were, in fact, a roommate or family member who unexpectedly arrived home.

10. Know how to protect yourself if confronted by an intruder. You may not be able to reach that firearm, another weapon, or device in a home defense situation. Almost any item may be used as a weapon. You may not be able to get to a safe room or escape and may have to deal with an assault.

Apply other crime prevention tips and techniques as appropriate and make it harder for a criminal to attack you or your property. Layer your defenses rather than relying on any single item as a sole defense, such as locks, electronic surveillance, a dog, a weapon, and personal fighting skills. A criminal may bypass your layered defenses and still catch you by surprise.

Whether the assailant is a stranger, acquaintance, abusive ex-partner, or stalker, having the fighting experience for similar scenarios is your last layer of home defense.

Even with the best security measures, situations arise where one should be properly trained in physical skills and mindset for a higher probability of success. Model Mugging teaches students how to utilize their body as a weapon for self-defense. Model Mugging students learn to apply the four general options within the Five Principles of Self Defense and how to respond during the phases of an assault, from using verbal strategies to incapacitating techniques practiced full force against an assailant while in a fearful physiological state. This adrenaline Stress Training is based on research, crime analysis, and martial science.

 

Safety Summary
Ten Home Security Tips – Burglary Prevention

1. Always keep your doors locked.
2. Be habitual about securing all of your windows.
3. Assess the condition of all of your windows and doors.
4. Develop a systematic method of securing your home at night and before you leave.
5. Develop an emergency exit plan or safe hiding place.
6. Recognize that showering, vacuuming, or playing loud music causes sensory deprivation.
7. Deter Peeping Toms or voyeurs from looking into your windows or entering your residence.
8. Case your house as if you were a criminal seeking to commit a crime.
9. Keep firearms secured in locked containers that you can reach quickly.
10. Know how to protect yourself if confronted by an intruder.

 

Other Apartment and Home Safety Crime Prevention considerations:

Walking to Your Home
Options for defending against the door blitzer.
Is a burglar inside upon arriving home?
Safety While at Home

 

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