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Children significantly affected by Burglary

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Here’s why you should never assume that burglary won’t have negative effects on your children.

2BVictim Support, an independent charity, and home security specialist ADT, have new research findings: Children who’ve experienced a home burglary are more likely to have problems at school and sleep difficulties.

Ten percent of the participating parents said their child’s school performance was negatively affected, and one-fourth of parents reported that their child had problems sleeping, post-burglary.

Bedwetting was a problem, according to 10 percent of the parents. One-third reported that their kids’ sense of personal safety was affected.

The investigation also turned up that the psychological impact of burglary can have a long lasting negative effect on children.

So what does this mean for adults, who, as children, experienced a home burglary?

One-third of the participants in the study, whose homes were burglarized when they were kids, believed that this experience was affecting them as adults. Thirty percent slept with the light on; 44 percent preferred to sleep with another person in the home.

Back to the effect that burglary has on children:

Forty percent of parents reported that their kids needed mental support after the crime.

There was a separate survey of 53 young victims of the crime, and the results indicate that the negative effects may be greater than parents realize.

About one-third of these young victims admitted they still have nightmares, and said that the burglary impaired their self-confidence.

Victim Support and ADT have launched The Take No More campaign. The purpose is to change the way people view and respond to burglary. The campaign calls for harsher sentences for criminals who target homes with children.

For the next three years, Victim Support and ADT will be working on this campaign, which will include free crime prevention schemes for members of a household. Also on the roster is increasing awareness of the support services that are available for victims of burglary, and the drive to get justice for victims.

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

Triple Murder Home Invasion Testimony Ends

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This is just a bad, bad story with no happy ending.

There are home invasions, then there is this home invasion. Just when you think humans can’t get any meaner towards each other there is Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky, the 2 men accused of a home invasion in Connecticut in 2007. Hayes and his lowlife accomplice allegedly met at a halfway house. They saw the mother (who was eventually murdered) in a parking lot one day and followed her home. A total random act.

The home was invaded at 3am. The father was immediately beaten and tied up in the basement. The father was held captive for a time but he escaped alive. The kids were tied to their beds and the mother was forced to go to the bank and withdraw money.

While at the bank the mother told a bank representative what was happening. The bank called the police who sent cruisers to the scene.

The police were outside for over 30 minutes to prevent the murderers from escaping. At one point the home invaders assaulted one of the children then killed the mother. They set the home on fire and the 2 kids died from smoke inhalation.

The NY Times reported that the state’s attorney John A. Connelly had “described the case as the ‘most horrendous murder in the state of Connecticut in the last 30 years,’ adding, ‘There are about five ways you could charge capital felony.'”

These guys might get the death penalty. But will justice be done? No. There is no justifying the death of a woman and two children and no justice in the prosecution or even death of the accused. And the father of the deceased, he will only mourn his loss, while he might crack a smile if they are prosecuted, he will never celebrate.

I can tell you right now my home security system will be on when I go to bed tonight. And then some.
Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing home invasions on the Gordon Elliot Show. Disclosures

Situational Awareness; Spotting a Terrorist

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We are all in this together. Whether it’s a home burglar or a home grown terrorist, preserving the sanctity of everyday life is everyone’s responsibility.

“The attempted bombing in Times Square on 1 May 2010 highlights the need to identify Homegrown Violent Extremists before they carry out a terrorist act.”

The Department of Homeland Security encourages all citizens to report anything or anyone who is suspicious to your local authorities.

I was in Time Square that day. At one point I was in range of where the vehicle that had the rigged explosives was parked. If that bomb had gone off, this blog wouldn’t be written or read. I did a segment on Fox News in Manhattan the next morning and had breakfast on the same street the car was towed from.

The people in the restaurant were all a-buzz about what happened and all felt lucky they were spared from tragedy.

“The ability of the bomber to operate under the radar demonstrates the difficulties associated with identifying terrorist activity and reinforces the need for law enforcement, at all levels, to be vigilant and identify individuals who are planning violence or other illegal activities in support of terrorism.”

Law enforcement cannot do this alone. They need our help, as was the case in Time Square. It was a pushcart vendor who spotted the vehicle and notified the police.  In this situation the vendor noticed smoke coming from the vehicle and heard a popping sound. He notified a local cop who called in for the bomb squad. Fortunately for everyone the bomb malfunctioned.

The FBI released a document highlighting some serious red flags citizens should be aware of if someone they know may defect to the bad side :

  • New or increased advocacy of violence including providing material support or recruiting others to commit criminal acts.
  • Adoption of new life styles and segregation from normal peer and family groups in association with advocating criminal or terrorist activity.
  • The adoption of a new name.
  • Behavior that could indicate participation in surveillance of potential targets.
  • Acquisition of excessive quantities of weapons or materials that could be used to produce explosives such as ammonium nitrate-based fertilizers or hydrogen peroxide.
  • Travel to or interest in traveling overseas to attend violent extremist institutions or paramilitary training camps.
  • New or increased interest in Websites and reading materials that advocate violence and then initiating action in support of this activity.
  • New or increased interest in critical infrastructure locations and landmarks, including obtaining aerial views of these locations.

While this may all seem “extreme” it is, and these are the characteristics of the home grown terrorist. My dad always said to me, be good, behave, be careful and be aware. Take Dads advice.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing terrorists and burglars on CNN . Disclosures.

Woman Captures Alleged Theft on Video

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Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert

If I’ve said this a bazillion times I’ll say it again, video rules! Being able to access video footage of the day’s or evening’s “goings on” provides a tremendous amount of security. The UK has always been the leader in introducing video surveillance in public.

“Public video surveillance in the UK began very unassumingly in 1986, on a single square mile industrial estate outside the English town of King’s Lynn. Three CCTV video surveillance cameras were used and their impact was immediate. In the years before the cameras were installed, there had been 58 crimes (mostly vandalism) recorded on the estate. In the two years following the installation, there were no crimes reported”

Since then, millions of video cameras have been installed all over Europe, Asia and the United States.  Residential adoption of home security cameras is growing here in the states too. People everywhere now understand the benefits of being able to record activity that goes on at your residence while you are home or away. There is a tremendous piece of mind that goes along with being able to securely and remotely monitor over the Internet, what goes on at your home.


“A Chicago woman says someone stole her boyfriend’s brand new computer that had just been delivered to her apartment building lobby. She caught the theft on videotape and police tell her there have been dozens of similar cases in the past two weeks. A security camera set up in the lobby of the building clearly shows a delivery person entering the front door of the building. The videotape shows a man walking up to the front door, apparently referring to a message on his phone and then punching in an access code to open the front door. Less than a minute later, the video shows the man leaving the building with the package under his arm, then running down the street.”


Scenes like this are playing out all over the country. In many cases, home video surveillance is a great deterrent. With posted signage to add another layer of security, a criminal will generally think twice about stealing from “that” home and move onto one that doesn’t have video. Criminals don’t want to get caught for their bad deeds, and if a camera is on them they are less likely to strike.


The benefits of installing a home security system go way beyond deterrence or catching the bad guy. When you are at work, you can check in on your family at home. If you have a babysitter or nanny at the house, you can check in from the road. Some home security surveillance systems applications allow you to check in from a mobile phone too. If you have a vacation home, having a surveillance system installed there is fantastic.  And if you have an elderly parent who is home alone, having a security camera checking on them is a wonderful piece of mind.


Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing home security on Fox Boston Show. Disclosures