Home Security...?

jharry3 said:

johndej said:

Definitely cameras and motion light help. I'd focus on windows also. I woke up to someone opening my bedroom door after breaking in my 1st floor apartment a few years ago. They first rang the door bell a few times but I didn't do anything other than peek out the front window and didn't see anyone on the stoop. They then broke one of the open side living room windows and climbed in followed by unlocking the back door from the inside for someone else to join. Ran when they realized people were home. We had motions lights but no camera at the time. Camera didn't deter porch pirate though, those guys are brazen AF. A few other friends and acquaintances that have had break ins have also had either windows broken or 1 busted out a sliding glass door for back patio while family was on vacation.

Someone starts ringing my doorbell in the middle of the night the first thing I'm doing is picking up my handgun and looking around.   I hear more noise I'm calling the cops.  Hopefully the cops get there before the person breaking in makes their final mistake because its cheaper for there to be an arrest than having to deal with the fall out of a self-defense shooting.  

In a rural or more independent area, sure. This was right next to a restaurant on main street in Richmond's fan district (college housing / young professional area), friends had been known to stop by (if lights on) or dingdong dash us after a night out so thought nothing of it, was like 1:30-2 am on a Friday night if I recall correctly, the bars had just let out.

I thought the steps in the hallway were one of my roommates getting up to have a look out the door so didn't think anything of it till my door started opening. As with what Stuart just said, I started with saying "Charlie?" (roommates name), then heard "oh E36 M3", and I jumped up and chased whoever had broken in out the back door as everyone else was getting up.

lnlogauge said:

I'll go even further, do people break into houses anymore? I hear of car breakins often, but I don't ever hear of random home burglaries anymore. 

From my experience on the Theft Team at State Farm as a claim rep, the VAST majority of break-ins are drug/gang related or family disputes.

The random ones almost always happen during the day when most people are assumed to be at work. 

In reply to johndej :

totally not pertinent to the subject matter of the thread, but hello fellow Richmonder!

In reply to BumpHeadRacing :

Woot yeah there's a few of us in the area for sure.

A simple DIY tip to your doors is to add 3" or 4" screws to all of the hardware. Many years ago I began replacing all of the hinge hardware, striker, knob and deadbolt with 3" or 4" coated exterior screws. For $20 or less and an hour of your time, you can replace all of the screws in your exterior doors.  I went further and did 4" in our front door, rear patio doors and garage man door. Since it was going though the 3/4" door frame and double 2x6 framing, it was as long as needed.
 

Here's a video of what the difference is once you replace the original hardware.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOiYyNm92Ws&t=17s

The number one thing that nobody here has touched on is community. Get to know your neighbors. Say hello. Be a nice guy, help them when they need it. If you have their back, they'll have yours.

Secondly stop advertising. Don't leave boxes of the new fancy E36 M3 you've bought out at the street, don't leave your garage open showing off all your tools and goodies, and for berks sake don't put up one of those protected by smith and wesson signs. I know it makes you feel manly or whatever but all it really does is tell people that there are guns inside they can steal. Guns are one of the few things that are worth more if they are stolen.

AClockworkGarage said:

The number one thing that nobody here has touched on is community. Get to know your neighbors. Say hello. Be a nice guy, help them when they need it. If you have their back, they'll have yours.

Excellent point. Good neighbors watch out for each other, it's helped me out more than once when it comes to security issues.

Paint your truck camo and put some hunting and gun stickers on the back window

footinmouth said:

Paint your truck camo and put some hunting and gun stickers on the back window

I'll say it again. This doesn't scare people away. This tells theives if you break into this house/truck there's probably a gun in it.