Crime and Home Turf Advantage
All
the technology, training, and skills in the world won't help you if you don't
notice that something's wrong in your home. So when we understand when and
where we are most vulnerable and take actions to minimize our response time and
vulnerabilities, we will truly be secure in our person. Once we have confidence
in ourselves and our abilities, we can learn about our habitat and how to
defend it.
In
this article, we'll take a look at the Home Team Advantage. You can't choose
whether or not to be home when someone decides they want to rob you, so you
might as well be prepared. Only you have the intimate details of your home. You
know where the rickety floorboards are, where little Tommy left his Tonka truck,
where the hole in the fence is. Use this to gain the initiative if you ever get
to Threat Level Red. Knowledge of these things is second nature to you, but
what we need to do is take an active understanding of their dynamics. Simply put, take the viewpoint of a burglar
scouting a potential 'job'. What I mean by that is, firstly, what is your
neighborhood like? Is it quiet? Busy because it is a main thoroughfare? Gated
(lucky!)? How about the perimeter of your property? Is there a chain-link
fence? Or is there a wooden one? Now
carefully inspect it. Now inspect it from the outside. Take note of any terrain
features that may make it easier to breach your perimeter. Things might
include: Trash cans or boxes next to your fence that would make it easier to jump
over, a hole that could be squeezed through, or a gate or section of wall that
isn't 6 feet or higher. If you have a back yard, take note of any features that
may hinder a possible intruder, such as thorny plants, compost piles, or soft
dirt. At night, do you have security lights? In order to be economically
efficient, motion sensing lights near doorways should be enough to deter a
direct approach, and that leaves the windows.
Invest
in blinds or curtains. Not only will they lower your air conditioning bill
during summer, but it will serve another purpose: concealment. If someone
cannot see into your house, then they will begin to ask themselves -what if".
True to movies and TV, this sort of thinking undermines confidence and creates
doubt in the mind(s) of would-be robbers.
They might not see the small bookcase on the other side of your window
until they trip over it on their way in. Consider this: A tourist goes to a
place he hasn't been to before. What does he do? He looks everywhere, up, down,
and around. He takes a moment to soak everything in. The locals, who see the
same thing every day, think -what a schmuck, he looks like an idiot." That's
exactly what will happen if someone breaks into your home. Their brains have to
process the visual information. If they see you looking at them, they will
probably get more scared than you will.
Not
only that, if they decide to crash through your drapery, they might get caught
or tangled, giving you extra time to help them regret their decision.
As
a general rule, the curtains should always be drawn when no one is home, when
it is time for sleep, or when the windows are closed (make your own exceptions
for sunlight, weather, etc.)
A
final word about the perimeter security of your property: don't dismiss any
route that may be taken to gain access to your property. Even in life itself,
the things we least expect to happen have an agonizing way of -teaching us a
lesson" that we rather would have learned the easy way. Consider night vision
security cameras where you perimeter is vulnerable. They have become a cost
effect solution for home security applications.
Remember,
the gap between what you know and what they don't know about your home is how
big of an advantage you have over them. The more of the inside of your home you
let them see, the more confidence they will have. If you can be clearly seen
from the outside, you may be profiled and your routine memorized. Mischievous
robbers may use this to purposefully catch you unaware. Don't let them do
that.
Ryan Ng