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12 Ways to secure your Home

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The FBI says that in the U.S., one out of every 36 homes will be raided by thieves in any given year. Often, the burglars were able to get in due to the residents’ carelessness.

3BUnlike the movies, in which burglars are hiding in the shrubs at night waiting for the homeowner to return home, then jump out and press guns to their ribcages, ordering them inside, real life burglars often literally stroll right through an unlocked door and help themselves to all the goodies. There are many ways the home occupant can make it easy for burglars to get in unnoticed.

  • Unlocked doors and windows.
  • A sloppy yard. This makes a thief think nobody’s hardly ever home, and he’ll likely target the house for a break-in.
  • Shrubs and bushes that obscure entryways. Burglars love it when they can conceal themselves in the dark with the help of plant growth around windows and doors.
  • Posting travel plans on social media. Yes, burglars scout social media to see who’ll be away from the house.
  • Indiscriminately answering the doorbell. Burglars may pose as utility workers and talk their way inside. Or, they may push past the occupant and ransack the place while an accomplice restrains the occupant.
  • A chronically dark house. Don’t be a utility bill penny pincher. Enough lights should be on at night, including when you’re home, to make a burglar think there’s fully-awake people inside. Automatic timers that turn lights on and off will make the house look occupied, and will make it appear people are up in the middle of the night, when many break-ins occur.
  • Newspapers accumulating in the drive or a package sitting on the front stoop, suggesting nobody’s been home for a while.

Beef up Your Home’s Security

  • Get a security system for the house that has it all: motion detectors, surveillance cameras, smartphone connections. Even if money is tight, you can still fool many a burglar with a fake camera installed above the front door, and security company signs around the house—even though you don’t have a system. But really, these days, there are systems for all budgets.
  • Dog owners should hire a dog sitter rather than kennel their pet; a dog’s barking usually scares off a would-be intruder.
  • Put your paper and mail deliveries on a vacation hold.

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

Myths Facts and Burglary Prevention

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Myth: Most burglaries occur at night when nobody can see the intruder.

1HFact: Most burglaries occur during the day because criminals know that’s the most likely time that people are away at work.

Myth: Most burglaries are random and spontaneous.

Fact: Most burglaries occur after the thief has “cased” a residence and pre-meditated an intrusion and getaway plan.

If a thief has not gotten into your house within four minutes of trying, chances are he’ll abandon further attempts. Using multiple layers of protection from intruders will make entry take well over four minutes.

If your neighborhood doesn’t have a “watch” program, get one started.

  • Get to know your neighbors; they’ll be more likely to call the police if they notice someone unfamiliar loitering on your property.
  • Post neighborhood watch signs throughout the area.

Secure the exterior of your house.

  • Install lights at all entry points including the garage; it’s best if they can detect motion.
  • Don’t allow shrubs to grow above window sill height.
  • Don’t let tree branches obscure windows.
  • Plant thorny shrubs around windows so burglars can’t hide in them.
  • Lock all gates and fences.
  • Keep all potential entry points locked, including basement wells and the door to the attached garage.
  • Make the interior always look occupied by never letting the grass get overgrown or snow unshoveled; while traveling arrange for someone to do these tasks.
  • Also when traveling put a vacation stop on mail and newspaper deliveries.
  • Never leave the garage door open.

And then there is your house’s interior:

  • Install a security system that includes loud alarms. The sirens really do scare off would-be intruders, plus alert neighbors.
  • Use timed lighting systems so that while you’re away, it’ll appear that the house is occupied. Timers can also be set for TVs.
  • If you’re gone for a while and especially for travel, set your phone’s answering system so that voice mail picks up after only a few rings.
  • Consider getting a dog.
  • Keep valuables locked in a fire proof safe.
  • Doors should have a complete security system that includes top-flight deadbolts.

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

Home Automation in your Security System

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Having a house run like the Jetsons’ is becoming increasingly possible: It’s called home automation. If you’re not familiar with the futuristic cartoon family, the Jetsons, just about everything in their house was automated. Today, we can have the following:
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  • Sensors that make noise when a door or window opens are nothing new, but real-time video surveillance of a home’s interior and exterior, viewed remotely through a smartphone thousands of miles away, is relatively new technology.
  • Controlling the temperature inside the house from anywhere outside using a phone. The smartphone connects with the thermostat’s sensors that detect radio frequency signals.
  • Odorless but deadly, carbon monoxide gas will be detected by a detector—and this has been around for a long time, but what’s relatively new is that the detection will trigger ventilation: a head start for the home’s occupants to scramble outside. Sensors can also alert to possible gas leaks.
  • Recently in the news was the seven children who died in a Brooklyn, NY house fire started by a hot plate. Apparently the house had one smoke detector—in the basement—that nobody on the second floor heard when it went off while they were sleeping. The kids would have likely survived had there been multiple fire detectors to alert the residents.
  • Furthermore, smoke alarms detect smoke before the fire begins and can simultaneously notify a central control center that then contacts the fire department. Seconds count.

Home automation may seem like something that only the rich can afford, but the makers of these systems want to score a big profit, so they develop systems to fit different budgets. Reputable home security companies can offer different packages and give price estimates.

Realize that there exist security scams, including the one in which an employee comes to your house unannounced, wearing a jumpsuit with the name of your security company on it, claiming that your system needs servicing. What he really wants to do is scope your house for vulnerabilities and also find out when you might not be home in the near future—so he could rob the place.

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

Promote Child Home Safety

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A recent controversial SuperBowl commercial from a major insurance company depicted a young boy who died as the result of numerous preventable household accidents such as poising and falls. The commercial got lots of traction via social media. Although it was presented tactfully, many people didn’t approve. The truth hurts and sometimes isn’t pretty. However the message was clear; so many child deaths are preventable!

1H“I’m home!” If your child is not reliable at notifying you they’ve arrived home from school, set up a real-time alert system. Home security/automation systems can assist with this.

Don’t answer the door. Your kids should be under strict orders never to answer the door no matter what. Role play this with them; pretend you’re a stranger on the outside of the door, begging to use the phone for an emergency. Instruct your child that if someone’s crying help, to NOT open the door and instead dial 9-1-1.

Smoke detectors. Have smoke alarms in the house and educate your kids about them.

Carbon monoxide detectors. Newer smoke detectors are 2-in-1 carbon and smoke detectors. CO gas is odorless and invisible. Ingestion is painless. That’s why it kills so easily.

Hide cords and wires. Not only are these a tripping hazard for adults, but toddlers just love to pull at these. Toddlers have been known to put these in their mouths and stick objects into electrical outlets. Put “baby proof” covers on outlets and bundle and/or hide the cords.

Eliminate anything that can act as a noose. It’s difficult to imagine how a toddler can end up hanging dead from a curtain cord, but it’s happened.

Buckets. Babies and toddlers love playing in small spaces like card board boxes and even buckets, but buckets can easily robs them of life under certain circumstances. Never leave a toddler unsupervised near a bucket of water (you’re bathing the dog and you leave the area to answer the phone or check your cooking food).

Toddlers have been known to topple head-first into buckets of water and drown because they couldn’t lift their heads out. Note the proportions of a toddler’s head to the rest of his body and you’ll see why this kind of fatality happens.

Baths. Never leave babies or young children unattended in bathtubs, even for “just a few seconds.”

Hide the matches. Why is it that parents can be so good at hiding the candy but not the matches? All to often we read about home fires being started because a child was “playing with matches.” Disclosure: I lit an entire couch on fire in my house as a kid while playing with matches. My mother will vouch. Sorry mom!

Hide the guns. Keep your guns available to you for protection but impossible for your kids to get to. There are numerous gun safes and lock that should be deployed.

Poison control. Our first child was allowed to go into the bottom kitchen cabinets and pull out everything she wanted to and scatter it all over the floor. Once. Made for a fun video. Of course the cabinet containing the cleaning supplies was off limits. The second child didn’t have this option due to all the cabinet locks. Don’t forget the bathroom and linen closets and even the garage.

Home security. The smartest child in the world can still be victimized by a thug who broke through a window. Windows should have shatter-proof film. Your child should learn how to activate the house alarm so that it will go off if someone tries to break in. You can be connected to all this with smartphone applications.

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

Learning to trust your Intuition

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The old TV show “Star Trek” has and episode where Spock is telling Kirk of a human flaw called intuition. Spock was all about analysis and logic, while Kirk often relied upon intuition to solve problems. Intuition is a complex human sense that isn’t entirely understood or even believed to be real by some. Some call it mothers intuition or women’s intuition. But I believe everyone has it even though some don’t know how to properly cultivate it for their benefit.

12DIntuition vs. Analysis

A Rice University research team wanted to know if intuition was more effective than analysis. The team also set out to discover if the intuitive approach was better if a person had related knowledge of the matters surrounding their choice.

For the first study, subjects viewed videos of 13 basketball shots, then rated them in difficulty based on a numerical scale. There were two groups of subjects. One group (analytical) was allowed time—prior to the actual viewing—to ponder any details to be considered, such as the athlete’s particular stance.

The other group was the intuitive group who did not have this time to reflect. Both groups had 10 seconds to give their rating. Their assessments were then compared to those of a basketball coach and his assistants.

Whether or not the analytical-group subjects had any basketball knowledge was irrelevant to how well they rated the shots. However, experience with basketball was indeed a relevant factor for the intuitive group. In summary, the most accurate ratings came from subjects with basketball skills in the intuition group.

The second study had subjects viewing 10 designer handbags and determining which were authentic and which were phony. The intuition group had five seconds to give their answer. The analytical group was allowed to look at details and then had half a minute to assess the handbags. The highest scores came from owners of at least three designer handbags—in the intuition group.

So what does any of this really prove?

Let’s apply this to a somewhat risky situation. An adult is learning to ski for the first time. Too much analysis hampers their efforts: “I’ve never done this before,” “I’m way off-balance,” “I might fall,” “If I fall I’ll injure my knee,” etc. As a result, it takes a good while for the analytical adult to actually be skiing.

However, put skis on a three-year-old for the first time, and what happens? It’s not long before the preschooler is zipping past the adult, even though from a neuromuscular standpoint, the adult is far superior to the preschooler. What’s going on? The preschooler’s brain isn’t developed enough to analyze. They have no fear.

Let’s take this a step further: self-defense. Hannah is approached by a much bigger man intent on assaulting her. Immediately she’s thinking, “I can’t fight him off; he’s a foot taller; he might have a knife; he’ll strangle me with his big hands; his eyes look glazed—he’s crazed on drugs…” She gets assaulted.

This same man approaches Kaytie, who’s the same size as Hannah. Kaytie has no self-defense training, facing the same situation by this disgusting being, it doesn’t register to Kaytie that he’s bigger or that he might have a knife.

She’s not logical. She doesn’t analyze. She’s pure raw emotion—and intuitively knows her desire to protect herself is far greater than his desire to violate her. She goes wild on him, resists and she flees.

This same principle can be applied to situations like getting into an elevator with a strange man. A woman should trust her intuition or gut feeling, rather than analyze: “I’ll seem rude if I tell him I’ll wait for the next elevator,” “I must be imagining he’s dangerous; after all, he’s well-dressed.”

Too much cerebral cortex can put women (and men) in danger. An animal in the wild relies upon gut instinct. We can learn from wild animals.

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

Are you Mentally Prepared for a Predator

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A bear in the wild that wants to protect its young from another predator isn’t worried about manners. This is how people should feel when in circumstances that don’t feel right. The bear has a gut instinct not to let its young near a predator.

A woman who feels funny about getting into an elevator with a creepy looking man should have this same instinct. But often, she lets analysis take over: She steps inside an enclosed box with a stranger who makes her feel uneasy.

She fears he’ll think she’s rude if she waits for the next elevator. She may have the grandest home security system in the world, but one slip in judgment could cost her her life: Inside that box, the man strangles her.

A predator can sense when a woman is more concerned about his perception of her than of her safety. But men, too, make mistakes, like the man who gives a ride to a man he’s meeting for the first time at a country road gas station late at night. The stranger could be dangerous. And if he’s innocent? Well, so he doesn’t get a ride this time. He’ll live.

But predators are just everywhere. And some are female. It’s amazing that some people will go all out in securing their home and sports car…but when it comes to the safety of their person…they’re incredibly lax.

People need to employ layered security: like going out in the cold; you don’t just wear gloves. You also wear a hat, scarf, wool socks, maybe thermal underwear, a sweater, a coat.

Conversely, there’s the MMA champion who has no home security system. A lot of good his hook kicks will do when he’s not home while the intruder breaks in. A solid home security system has motion detectors, a loud alarm, timed lighting fixtures, an advanced lock system on all the doors and an anti-penetration system on the windows.

As for your person? Are you a good screamer? We are told to scream when attacked. But there’s a difference between hollering “Fire! Fire” when being abducted (“Fire!” is supposed to get everyone’s attention), and screaming “No” or “Stop” or even profanities. These are control words that are far better at getting control.

Many people want to lose weight. Kill two birds with one stone by taking up martial arts: Lose weight, tone up and learn to be productive in a threatening situation.

Put the pink dumbbells down and pick up a heavy barbell—even if you must struggle, because that struggle will prepare you to survive a crisis situation. Men aren’t off the hook from preparing for survival. Put down the cigarette and pick up a barbell to put some muscle on that body. You never know when you’ll one day need it.

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

12 Home Security Mistakes We Make

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Smart criminals love dumb homeowners, but even a dumb burglar can score big when the homeowner makes just a little slip in security measures.3B

  1. Don’t nickel-and-dime your door locks; get high quality locks. A cheap lock is cheap.
  1. Don’t hide keys. Anyone knows to check under the flower pot or on top of the ledge above the door frame. Consider a keyless lock.
  1. Make sure valuables aren’t visible through windows—including those of your car.
  1. Flatten boxes that valuables came in like flat screen TVs so that you can then put them in large garbage bags, then put those out for trash pickup. Don’t tip off the bad guys what you have in your house.
  1. Imagine you’re a burglar…or rapist…on the prowl looking for an easy crime opportunity. You’re jiggling one doorknob after another in a neighborhood, knowing that sooner or later, you’ll find an unlocked door. Why oh why, then, would you try to break through a locked door? Homeowners need to see things from the perspective of the bad guy. LOCK YOUR DOORS! Stop making excuses: “I keep forgetting,” “It’s a hassle,” “I’m going in and out.”
  1. Keep your house alarm on—because some intruders will try to break through a locked door—or get in through a window. The second he penetrates, the alarm will emit a piercing sound that will instantly drive him away. But keep the alarm on even when you’re home. Yes, sociopaths think nothing of breaking in during the day.
  1. Keep your garage door locked at all times except during the seconds it’s in use.
  1. Used timed lighters inside and out so that your place is never dark.
  1. Don’t leave any ladders in the yard.
  1. Don’t post anything on social media that indicates you’re away from home.
  1. For when you’re away on trips, arrange for a vacation hold of your mail and newspaper deliveries.
  1. To increase an occupied-look to your house while you’re traveling, have a trusted person park his car in your driveway and mow your lawn (overgrowth suggests vacancy).

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

5 Home Security Myths

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If you’ve decided to avoid getting a home security system, I’m banking that the reason is at least one of the myths described below. Check them out:

1S“I have nothing valuable inside.” First of all, unless a burglar has X-ray vision, he’s going to have to break in to find out you have nothing valuable. He might be so pissed at this that he trashes the place before fleeing.

Secondly, a burglar knows that your “blue collar neighborhood” probably isn’t replete with alarm systems, but rather, lots of doors with simple locks and lots of windows with broken locks or already-torn screens.

Finally, what may not seem of value to you may be the burglar’s ticket to his next drug fix—anything he could quickly take off with and sell on the street or even eBay. They also like simple stupid stuff such as clock radios, DVDs, ornaments, even unopened bottles of vitamins.

“It’s too expensive.” Of course, the high-end, super sophisticated alarms that movie stars have for their mansions cost an arm and a leg, but home security companies know that they can make a tremendous profit off of selling less fancy systems for the average working class Joe and Jane. Why sell only to the rich? Some systems come as low as $9.95/month for monitoring. If you can’t spare $10 a month, see what vice you can give up that costs you at least $10/month.

“My neighborhood is safe.” If you think your neighborhood is safe, chances are it’s upscale. But that’s exactly where many burglars like to steal! They’re skillful at figuring out who doesn’t have the alarm system, while some know how to get past the alarm system. They want high-end valuables and won’t find them in “bad” neighborhoods too easily.

“Hide a spare key outside the door under a flower pot or welcome mat.” Even the world’s dumbest criminals know to check the rock that just happens to be by the front door for a key underneath. Either have a trusted person hold onto a spare key, or use keyless technology.

“Don’t let anyone know you’re traveling.” Actually, this means don’t blab about your trip indiscriminately, but do secretly tell a trusted adult so they can keep tabs on your house.

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

Protect your Home post Holidays

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After Santa has gone back to the North Pole to take a long rest, don’t think for a second that burglars too will be resting in January.

1HTrue, the holidays are a prime time for many burglaries, knowing that underneath that gargantuan Christmas tree in the picture window is surely a pile of expensive gifts. But people give burglars easy entry to their houses year-round.

The prowler will ring the bell. If nobody answers, he tests the door knob. If he does this enough times, this numbers game will pay off, because there’s always some lunkhead who will leave a door unlocked when they’re not home or overnight while they sleep.

If the main doors are locked, the thief may still persist and try other portals and may even break a window.

For safety year-round but especially post-holiday security, here are tips:

  • Get a home security system. If you already have one, good, but not good enough.
  • Keep all portals locked, even when you’re home. Yes, intruders enter occupied homes—these are more likely to be violent sociopaths wanting fast cash for their next drug fix, or rapists.
  • When you’re away, even for just a shopping trip, make it look like someone is inside (leave a TV on so the flickering can be seen, or a loud stereo, and/or lights).
  • When you’re out of town, arrange to have your house look like it’s being very lived in by installing automatic timers for exterior and interior lights, and arranging for trusted people to mow your lawn and park their car in your driveway.
  • As for the boxes that expensive items came in, keep them in your garage, out of public view, for three months. Then demolish them before leaving them curbside. Better yet, stuff the remnants in a trash bag.
  • I know you don’t want to live like a vampire, but do your best to keep shades and curtains closed even when you’re home in broad daylight.
  • Whether or not you have an alarm system, post stickers on your windows and signs in your yards that you do have a system.

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

13 Cheap Simple and Smart ways to secure your Home

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You don’t have to be wealthy to have a superbly protected home. You just need to have some common sense.

  1. BeOnKeep your doors locked overnight! Smoke blows through my ears and nostrils every time I read about someone “entering through an unlocked door” in the middle of the night and committing a sicko crime. This goes for windows, too. Rapists love to enter through unlocked windows. If you’re a big male bruiser with no children, and these things don’t scare you, then consider that you could still be up against a burglar with a gun to your head as you’re counting sheep.
  2. Keep doors and windows locked during the daytime when you’re home, too. Not all intruders operate in the dead of night.
  3. Keep the garage locked: always.
  4. Though some locks cost a lot more than others, we’re talking about door locks, not cars. If you want a $60 lock badly enough, this money will come out of the woodwork.
  5. Make your home looked lived in at all times. The BeOn smart lighting home security system is affordable and doesn’t have the month to month monitoring costs.
  6. Always keep the alarm on. A deranged sociopath doesn’t care if you’re home and it’s 2:00 in the afternoon when he needs money for his next drug fix.
  7. Make sure that your valuables are not visible through any windows.
  8. Never hide keys near doors because burglars will find them. Go keyless entry or leave keys with a neighbor.
  9. When you’re out, leave a TV on so that its flickering light makes your house look occupied. Use automatic timed lighting devices.
  10. Never announce on social media your travel plans.
  11. Always break down the boxes that expensive items came in before leaving them curbside for trash pickup.
  12. Put a vacation stop on your mail and newspaper delivery when you travel if you don’t have a trusted neighbor who can collect them for you.
  13. You won’t appear to be on vacation if a neighbor uses your driveway to park their car.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BeOn Home Security discussing burglar proofing your home on NECN. Disclosures.