5 Home holiday security myths

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It happens every 15 seconds in America: a burglary, says the FBI’s 2010 Crime Clock Statistics. Don’t fall for the following myths.

Myth 1: “I can’t afford an alarm system.”

2HThere are security systems for every budget. You can even get monitoring from an alarm company for just $9.95 a month—easy money if you give up a little soda and chips every month.

Myth 2: Never tell anyone when you go away on trips.

Someone should know when you’re away—such as a trusted family member, friend or neighbor, to keep watch of your home. Yes, don’t reveal your travel plans on social media and to someone you just met in the slow moving line at the grocery store. But a trusted person should know your travel agenda.

Myth 3: Hide a spare key under the door mat, fake (or real) rock or flower pot.

This advice went out with the dinosaurs. The first place a burglar will look is under these items. Leave the key with a trusted person, or better yet, go keyless:

There are no more keys to lose, hide, carry or forget, so you can secure your home while you run or walk around the neighborhood.

I run and used to have to wear a small runner’s pouch just to keep my house key on my person, but not anymore. Schlage’s Touchscreen Deadbolt is the best keyless lock out there. It’s a motorized bolt that automatically locks and unlocks when a four-digit user code is entered, and its lock-and-leave functionality requires only one touch to instantly safeguard the home.

Myth 4: “Intruders wouldn’t be interested in my home.”

Many people who’ve been burglarized thought their neighborhood was too safe for such a crime. What’s to stop a robber from a “bad neighborhood” from venturing into your neighborhood? A burglar may be drawn to what seems like an idyllic neighborhood because he figures there will be few home security systems, not to mention plenty of unlocked doors and windows.

Myth 5: “I don’t have anything of value.”

A burglar will grab anything that’s easy to grab and run off with, then sell on the street or eBay. Portable electronic gadgets may be just what the thief is looking for.

Robert Siciliano home security expert to Schlage discussing home security and identity theft on TBS Movie and a Makeover. Disclosures. For Roberts FREE ebook text- SECURE Your@emailaddress -to 411247.

10 Holiday home security checklist tips

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You can have peace of mind while away from home during the holidays by implementing the following home security tips.

  1. 1SHome vacation checks. Arrange with your local police department to periodically cruise by your house when you’re out of town.
  2. Alert your neighborhood watch group. Inform the group of your vacation plans so they can be extra alert to suspicious activity about your house. If there’s no formal watch group, ask a friend or neighbor to check up on your residence. This includes having them remove any packages on your doorstep or accumulated newspapers.
  3. Police inspection. Schedule a police officer to assess your residence for security ideas.
  4. Update the burglar alarm. Inform the alarm company you’ll be out of town; provide them a phone number where you can be contacted. Give the alarm company the phone number of anyone checking up on your residence. If the alarm is tripped, the company will be speaking to you or your friend, rather than the burglar in the house when he picks up the phone.
  5. Inspect motion detectors. Make sure that motion detectors cannot be set off by billowing curtains or pets.
  6. Secure all portals. Make sure all the locks work. Repair any cracks in doors or windows. Set the pin lock on your garage if it opens by remote. Sliding doors should have bars that prevent giggling them open.
  7. Conceal valuables. Keep valuable items out of sight from peepers outside the house. Don’t keep spare keys in places obvious to burglars such as under a flower pot or fake rock. Remove valuable items from sight in your car, if parked in the driveway, and put a lock on the steering wheel.
  8. Stop mail and newspaper delivery. Arrange with the post office and newspaper service to have your mail and newspaper on vacation hold.
  9. A lived-in look. Mow your lawn just before you leave for a long trip so that it looks recently cared for. Use automatic light timers for holiday lights if your house is decorated with these to fool burglars that you’re home.
  10. Discard any signs you have expensive items in the house. Examples might be empty computer containers or flat screen TV boxes lying around outside. Store bikes, toys, etc., in the garage.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.

10 common sense holiday home security tips

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It’s that time of year where burglars are casing out homes to rob, so at a minimum make sure you have strong quality door locks such as Schlage’s Touchscreen Deadbolt.   Sounds crazy but burglars have families too, and they’d rather steal than pay for gifts to give to them. Here’s how to protect your home.

5H#1. If you have an alarm system, make sure that its stickers or lawn signs are clearly visible to any potential unwelcome visitor.

#2. Make your house look occupied when you’re not there by using automatic timers for various lights, and leaving a TV on.

#3. It’s best to ignore solicitors at your door; they can be a crook wanting to case your home (interior and exterior) for a possible return later to burglarize.

#4.When purchasing items to be delivered to your house, arrange delivery to coincide with your presence. A big package left on a stoop is very enticing to thieves.

#5. Rethink making a pile of gifts under the Christmas tree visible to people outside; a burglar casing your house will be very tempted to break in.

#6.To conceal your ownership of new, high price items such as a large flat screen TV, break down the boxes these items came in so that they can be hidden inside your trash container.

#7. Instruct your kids never to reveal your travel plans with their friends, including online. In fact, refrain from sharing your travel plans yourself in cyberspace.

#8. Put your mail and newspaper delivery on vacation hold. Have a trusted friend watch out for your house however they can, such as parking their car in the driveway.

#9. Inform the local police you’ll be absent; give them the contact information for the friend who’ll be looking out for your house.

#10. Have a dog? Rather than kennel it, arrange to have someone come by often enough to pet sit, so that if a prowler comes by, the dog will be there to bark.

Robert Siciliano home security expert to Schlage discussing home security and identity theft on TBS Movie and a Makeover. Disclosures. For Roberts FREE ebook text- SECURE Your@emailaddress -to 411247.

How to design a secret Safe Room

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Your house can easily have a “secret room,” for its novelty, for children and for a safe hideout from intruders. Entrances to these rooms are concealed by normal looking household features such as bookcases.

2BPurpose

Designing begins with determining the secret room’s function: a hideout? fantasy playroom? a space for meditation or writing your novel?

Location

Next, figure out where to have it. It’s easier to figure this out if your house is under construction. Otherwise, it can be located centrally, or inside a room or even in the basement. A smart option may be unused space such as beneath a staircase, in a huge closet or inside a storage room.

Furnishings

To save money, do as much remodeling, restructuring and furnishing as you can (including drywalling, painting, etc.). Hire professionals for electrical and plumbing unless this is your line of work. The room also needs proper heating, cooling and ventilation.

Secret Entrance

It’s best to have an expert design a spectacular secret portal. In fact, there are companies that specialize in secret room customization. An automated entranceway or portal can be created by a mechanical engineer so that this passageway is truly hidden (camouflaged as a dresser, fireplace, bookcase, what have you—even merged into the surrounding wall).

How It’s done

The automated doorway is built in the company’s workshop, custom-designed and shipped to the purchaser with complete installation instructions. The company can also send out installers. A secret entrance that’s 100 percent created professionally is nearly impossible to detect.

Truth or hoax?

The story on the Internet is that a guy was playing around in his house when his younger brother accidentally ran into a bookshelf—it opened to a secret spiral staircase that led to an unknown crawlspace…where a stranger was living. The older of the two crept down the steps far enough to discover the secret room, where his Halloween candy and a banana peel were scattered on some bedding. This story hasn’t been validated as true and is likely just an Internet hoax.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.

Home invader stuffs victim into gun closet…and…

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And he comes out shooting! Three invaders in Houston kicked in a homeowner’s door then proceeded to beat him up and stuff him into a closet that just happened to contain all the homeowner’s firearms. How ironic.

What would you do?

2B

I suppose most people would come out shooting. There are other options here: If I were by myself, maybe I’d wait it out until the home invaders left—or, if they did come back to get me in the closet, be ready to shoot them. However, there are significant risks associated with pulling a gun on someone. It may not fire. The other guy may have his own gun or guns. You may miss. He may not. And if you had family to protect, laying low may not even be a consideration.

Gawker reports, “Waiting until the coast was clear, the victim armed himself and exited the closet. He proceeded downstairs, where he encountered one of the three perps, and gunfire was exchanged. The burglar was struck in the shoulder and leg; the victim was unharmed. The two other intruders quickly fled the scene in a Chevy Tahoe. Their injured accomplice chased after them for a short while before collapsing on the street.”

Well, there you go. Happy ending. Bad guy is bloodied in the streets. Let’s celebrate!

I’m all for justice. But sometimes these things don’t turn out so well. When asked what the most effective deterrent to a burglary or home invasion is, many people will answer, “A gun.” And while the United States has more guns per capita than any other country on the planet (Yemen is second, and you see how well that’s working out for them), a gun is a purely reactive form of security—and it only works if you are home, and you have to be lucky enough not to be killed first or be stuffed into your gun closet.

Just get a home alarm. A home security system is paramount to protecting your family, home and stuff. If you want guns too, lovely—but at least get a home alarm too.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.

10 Holiday Security Tips

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Christmas trees, mistletoe, candy canes, turkey and stuffing bring out scammers, phishers, burglars and identity thieves. I’m not purposefully trying to be a Grinch here, but I’m just reminding you that good times, unfortunately, bring out the worst in bad people. This time of the year is prime season for criminals to seek out victims and separate them from their money and stuff.

Stay merry. Here’s how:

  1. Lock up. No matter how long you are gone, lock your home’s doors and use quality locks from Schlage.
  2. Don’t forget car locks. Don’t leave your keys in the ignition; lock your car doors, even when you are at the gas station and filling up.
  3. Be aware. When in parking lots or garages, at malls or festivals, watch your back, be aware of your surroundings and look for red flags.
  4. Free up your hands. Don’t weigh yourself down with lots of bags and packages. Use a carriage.
  5. Get delivery notices. Package theft is big. Most shippers offer email notifications for tracking packages, so you have the tools with which to become acutely aware of when your stuff is supposed to arrive and be there to accept it.
  6. Set up security cameras. Inside and outside your home, you should have cameras to allow you to peek in on all home activity. They also act as a deterrent to burglars and thieves.
  7. Put your jewels away. When home or away, and even when you are entertaining, lock up your stuff in a bolted safe.
  8. Update your browser. Viruses often end up on a PC because the browser is out of date.
  9. Update your operating system. It’s not enough to have antivirus; you must also update the critical security patches in your computer’s operating system.

10. Check your statements. Every week around the holidays, pay close(r) attention to your credit card statements and reconcile your charges.

Robert Siciliano home security expert to Schlage discussing home security and identity theft on TBS Movie and a Makeover. Disclosures. For Robert’s FREE eBook text- SECURE Your@emailaddress -to 411247.

12 biggest home security mistakes

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We all make mistakes; the key is to make them once or twice and learn from them. If you keep making them, bad things happen—and home security mistakes are not ones you want to repeat. Here are a dozen mistakes that you don’t want to make even the first time.

  1. Cheap locks. It’s easy to walk into the hardware store and see all the shiny locks and look at the prices and see considerable differences. With locks, like anything else, you get what you pay for. Schlage is my go-to, and I’ll never be cheap and make that mistake again.
  2. Unlocked doors. What’s the point of having locks if you aren’t going to lock them? Burglars walk up to doors all day, ring the bell, get no answer, jiggle the doorknob and walk right in. And people are surprised their home was chosen.
  3. Hide a key. Burglars know they are in or under the flowerpot, under the mat, in the mailbox, in that stupid fake-looking rock and in/under/behind whatever else is on your porch. Get Schlage’s Touchscreen Deadbolt; it is the best keyless lock out there.
  4. Ladders in yards. It’s a good thing I’m not a burglar, because I see ladders in yards every day. They boost a bad guy to the unlocked second-floor windows easily enough. Lock ’em up.
  5. Disabled alarms. You were smart enough to get the alarm, so be smart and activate it when you are home, sleeping and away—even for 10 minutes. Set it and forget it.
  6. Opened unlocked windows. Sure, you’re only going to the store and you’ll be right back…but the kid next door with his little crack problem knows your routine and as soon as you leave, your grandmother’s ring and your husband’s knife collection are his. Lock up.
  7. Unlocked garages. Just because the garage door is down and the side entrance is closed, doesn’t mean a burglar won’t just walk right in and through to a home that is attached. Lock up.
  8. Valuables in plain sight. Everyone in the neighborhood knows you just got a 70” LCD TV because it’s prominently displayed in your living room window. Put your shades down.
  9. Social media postings. When you let everyone know you are sipping a margarita in Cabo, you are also letting a burglar know you aren’t home. Be discreet.

10. Revealing trash boxes. That Dell computer box, the Sharp TV box and the Xbox box in your garbage tell bad guys to come into your home to do their shopping. Hide those boxes in a trash bag.

11. Dark house. When you are away and your mail and newspapers are piling up and your house looks abandoned, you make it easy for burglars to choose your house. Give it that lived-in look with timers, and have a trusted neighbor grab your stuff.

12. Dark yard. Burglars like to creep around in the dark. Put your lights on timers from dusk to dawn.

Robert Siciliano home security expert to Schlage discussinghome security and identity theft on TBS Movie and a Makeover. Disclosures. For Roberts FREE ebook text- SECURE Your@emailaddress -to 411247.

13 Year Old Hides Under Bed During A Boston Burglary

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The Boston Globe reports: The girl sent a text message to her father, said Police, and then called the police as she hid under her bed while the unidentified man stole three laptops, a large amount of change estimated at about $500, an iPod, and possibly some jewelry.

“The little girl did a fantastic job staying calm and calling us, letting us know what was going on, we had direct communication with her.’’

She must have watched this video of me on Montel saying that exact thing!

“The man had gained entry by kicking the side door of the two-story home off its hinges, and by the time they responded, the suspect had fled,” police said. “The intruder never knew the girl, who was not injured, was under the bed,” police believe.

First, never leave a 13 year old home alone. Maybe a 13 year old is perfectly capable, but still, that doesn’t work for me. If it’s legal in your state to have a 13 year old home alone, then at least discuss home security tips, which in this case maybe someone did. She did well by hiding and making the call with her mobile.

At least install a home security system with home security cameras as another layer of protection with signage outside. Do you think a sign outside that denoted the house was alarmed would have helped? If it did, I bet the guy would not have broken in.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to Home Security Source discussing Home Invasions on Montel Williams.

Is It A Home Invasion Or A Burglary?

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There has been lots of media attention on home invasions due to their frequency and the brutality that accompanies them.

A home invasion is much like a bank robbery when the robbers use force to get what they want. Robbery as defined in Wikipedia is the crime of seizing property through violence or intimidation. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear. Robbery differs from simple theft, a break-in or burglary on its use of violence and intimidation.

Burglary on the other hand generally involves criminals who prefer the home is without occupants. They may impulsively enter a neighborhood and seek out homes that are dark, no car in the driveway, mail piled up and the doors and windows are left unsecured.

Often they will case a certain home and determine the specifics of when the resident is gone. Often they will make an effort to get a phone number of the home by getting the family name from a placard on the side of the house or from information in the mailbox.

In both situations proper security can reduce risk. In my home the home security system is always on. This means whether home or not, any unlawful intrusion is met with a piecing alarm and an automatic call to the police.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to Home Security Source discussing  home invasions on the Gordon Elliot Show.

10 Tips to Post Holiday Home Security

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For Christmas, one of my neighbors got a 60 inch LCD screen TV. I saw the same TV at Costco for $2000.00. Another neighbor got a Mac Book Pro. I saw this online for $2000.00. Another neighbor got a Nikon Digital SLR camera, and I saw this at Amazon for almost $900.00. These are neighbors I’ve never spoken to, ever. I know this because the boxes were prominently displayed in their trash like trophies one would put on a mantel in their living room.

Trash day is coming and burglars may case your neighborhood looking for boxes where electronics such as computers, flat panel TVs, game consoles and other re-saleable items are. Then, while you are at work, they just break into your home and take it.

It’s pretty obvious whose home and who is not when the lights are off or there is no car in the driveway. All a burglar has to do is ring a door bell to see of you are actually home. If no one answers they jiggle the door knob to see if it’s locked or not.  If it’s locked they will head to the back door and jiggle that.

Many times they will walk right in because people are often irresponsible and leave the doors unlocked because they believe “it can’t happen to me”. If the doors are locked they may try a few street level or basement windows. Brazen burglars will not waste any time and may break glass or use a crowbar and forcibly enter the residence.

For post holiday security, use these home security suggestions:

  1. Lock your doors and windows
  2. Install a monitored alarm system. Consider ADT Pulse.
  3. Give your home that lived in look
  4. Leave the TV on LOUD while you are gone
  5. Install timers on your lights both indoor and outdoor
  6. Close the shades to prevent peeping inside
  7. Use defensive signage
  8. Store item boxes for at least 90 days because if you have a defective product you will need the box for a return
  9. After 90 days tear up the box so it’s undistinguishable then recycle or put it in a black trash bag
  10. Update your home inventory. This is a good time to catalog/document/video tape what you own. Contact your insurer to discuss what they need to properly insure your new gifts.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to Home Security Source discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston.