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Thread: Protecting oneself and one's home.

  1. #1
    Senior Member razz's Avatar
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    Protecting oneself and one's home.

    I was sent an email advising me to keep my car keys handy as a form of alarm for my security.

    It then occurred to me to do some online research on ensuring one's security beyond sound bolt locks, locking doors at all time, keeping shrubs etc low to prevent hiding spots, using peep holes, no response to unknown calls on phone and knowing my neighbours.
    I have considered getting cameras for the ground floor, basement and entrance which use wifi but the choices have been overwhelming. I want just a basic system that I can install myself.
    My doors are metal and windows have locks that are continually in use.

    What security systems and practices work for you?
    As Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”

  2. #2
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by razz View Post
    I was sent an email advising me to keep my car keys handy as a form of alarm for my security.

    It then occurred to me to do some online research on ensuring one's security beyond sound bolt locks, locking doors at all time, keeping shrubs etc low to prevent hiding spots, using peep holes, no response to unknown calls on phone and knowing my neighbours.
    I have considered getting cameras for the ground floor, basement and entrance which use wifi but the choices have been overwhelming. I want just a basic system that I can install myself.
    My doors are metal and windows have locks that are continually in use.

    What security systems and practices work for you?
    hooo boy, living in Murder City in a high crime zip code as I do, my answer will be for that environment. Take from it what you will.

    For us, cameras are stupid and a waste of time. At least once a week someone in my ZIP Code posts their security camera footage on Nextdoor of someone stealing something. Cameras are not a deterrent here. Camera footage MIGHT be helpful in SOME Circumstances when police are interested in apprehending a criminal. Usually that means one criminal is operating and hitting many houses. They don’t do one off investigations.

    30 years ago we installed a wired security system because that’s what you did at the time. We had our house walls open to the studs anyway so it wasn’t hard. But we were too cheap to pay for monitoring, so we had an unmonitored system that was supposed to blare a loud siren and flashing light if someone broke in. We only turned it on for about six months and then we stopped. Six months out of 30 years years, a complete waste of our time and resources.

    In our high crime area our house has been burglarized once (and part of that our fault for showing the criminals where the tv sits) and our garage once, in both cases they kicked down a door.In both cases the perps knew people were not around so there was never any threat to our persons.

    Petty crime is common around here with thefts of statuary and plantings and yard ornaments. Car crime is far more rabid because it’s common for car windows to be broken, catalytic converters stolen, etc. Every time I leave my car doors unlocked, every freaking time, I come out to my car the next morning and find that someone has been in it and rifling around. That tells me that there are regular patrols of men in the wee hours of the morning trying car doorhandles.

  3. #3
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    So what works: everything is fenced here with 6’ wood fence in back and iron fence in front. We lock our house doors all the time automatically. I keep my car, which is parked on the street, free of stuff.it is usually locked and has The Club on the steering wheel. Once my car was stolen when I didn’t have The Club on it.

    when I am working in our yard and need access to our alley, even then I keep our garage door closed, and open it only when I am right there moving plant debris to dumpsters in the alley. If I leave the garage open and unattended for ten mintues, there is a chance of theft.

    We regularly call neighbors about their open garage doors, alerting them to it.

    All houses on my block and on MOST blocks around here are an impenetrable force because there is no way to scoot between houses. That is one area of safety, keeping foot traffic on the streets and alleys. We actually had a neighborhood fencing effort some years ago to block off access to “between” places. The fencing is intended to drive all foot traffic down streets.More eyes on the street is the idea.

    I’m seldom concerned about crime against my person, but I’m always aware of keeping doors locked. Here, there’s so much crime and opportunity for crime, you just have to put up barriers so that the criminals move on to the next open target.

    I do look forward to the day when we move to Hermann and I won’t have to be so vigilant. Once I left my billfold in the front seat of the car in Hermann for a few days. That would never have been successful here.

    When we have guests stay overnight we want them to park in our garage, not on the street, because their cars are almost always full of crap and it’s an open invitation for their cars to be burglarized.

    When our friend moved from this neighborhood and piled all of his stuff into his open truck, he had a week before he took off to his new home place. We had him drive to Hermann and stay at our house there because his open truck was not safe here in the city.

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    Senior Member Rogar's Avatar
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    I live in what is probably a quiet low crime area and don't have much for advanced security. Our neighborhood has neighborhood watch signs out and I have the names and phone numbers of all the neighbors (willing to give that out) should anything happen where neighbors need to be alerted. I've never had to use it for any suspicious activity. When I upgraded windows a few years ago the new model has a feature to block the window from sliding opening fully, so one can leave a window partially open in the summer and there is not enough room for person to get into the house though the slightly open window. It can probably be forced with enough abuse, but I use it. And a home defense weapon. My neighbor is in his nineties and slightly paranoid and calls the police routinely for anything that looks out of place. He's sort of a human security system.

  5. #5
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    It is nearly useless here to call the cops. Statistics released this week show that 36% of calls to 911 were put “on hold.” Holy hell.

    That doesn’t even begin to address the prioritization of incidents and we seldom see a police car respond to property crime.

  6. #6
    Senior Member JaneV2.0's Avatar
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    I lock my doors, park the car in a garage, keep an eye out when I'm near a window in the front of the house...

    That said, I was just talking about crime with friends in Oregon, and I discovered that my suburb has less crime than about 75% of the country, and one murder every ten years or so, so I feel pretty comfortable. I did have mail stolen a few years ago.

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    Senior Member Tradd's Avatar
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    You can harden your door frames and put better locks on. Don’t leave valuables in your car where they can be seen.

    My home defense weapon is my 9mm carry pistol.

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    We just have two big dogs.

  9. #9
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by razz View Post

    What security systems and practices work for you?
    1. Living in a low crime rate area (to IL's point)
    2. Not having stuff that's worth much or that I would mind getting stolen
    3. Living between two neighbors who have a lot of guns

    Tybee's dog strategy will probably be my next one

    I am notoriously bad at locking houses and cars. One time it did bite me in the butt when my computer was stolen out of the car--it was foolish of me to have it on the back seat in plain sight. But normally I tend to be on the carefree side, and because of points 1&2 above, I can afford to be that way.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
    www.silententry.wordpress.com

  10. #10
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    When Noki died we bought simplisafe security system. It’s reasonable and you can install it yourself. Monitoring is also cheap at 15/month.

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