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20 Home Security Tips

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Angee, the new Kickstarter campaign that raised over $250,000 already, will revolutionize home security in more ways than one. Meanwhile, get going on these 20 home security tips: ANG3

  • Keep all doors and windows locked at all times. Yes, on hot summer days it’s tempting to keep windows open, but at least be very discriminate about this.
  • Keep the garage door closed at all times, even on hot days. But if you’re positive that leaving it slightly open cools the rest of the house, limit this to about four inches.
  • Reinforce doors with door jamb reinforcements.
  • All doors should have high grade deadbolts.
  • All first-story and basement windows should have Charlie bars, rods or gadgets that prevent horizontally-sliding windows from being slid open.
  • The address numbers for your house should be big and easy for first responders to see.
  • Though you may not care what your grass looks like when not cut, burglars do. That’s because a lawn that looks like it hasn’t been cared for in a while makes burglars think nobody’s been home for weeks…
  • And speaking of which, burglars also notice if paper delivery has been accumulating, or the house is always dark in the evenings. If you’re away a lot or don’t use much lighting when you’re home, use automatic lighting devices.
  • Never put a note on any door outside that says you’ll “be back in a few.”
  • Before you go out on errands, put the phone’s ringer on mute so that burglars don’t hear unanswered rings.
  • Before dusk approaches, close curtains and blinds. A favorite way burglars case houses is to look inside when it’s dark.
  • Never smoke when drowsy and always rinse butts before tossing them.
  • Never hide spare keys near your front door; a burglar will find them. Give to a trusted neighbour or other adult.
  • Put valuables in a safe—preferably a big one (small safes are often stolen without being picked open on the spot).
  • Doors should have peepholes. Never open the door if you can’t tell who’s there and are not expecting anyone.
  • Have a smoke alarm on each floor.
  • Devise a fire escape plan and then regularly drill the family in it.
  • Always turn off hot things like curling irons when you’re not using them.
  • Never leave anything burning while you’re outside the house.
  • Flammable items should be kept away from the house. This includes dried up leaves and brush.

Robert Siciliano, personal and home security specialist to Angee. Learn more about Angee in this Video. Support Angee on Kickstarter. See Disclosures.

Surveillance Video captures Home Invasion

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A man was assaulted by three or four men when he arrived home, through his garage door at 5:40 a.m. It’s very apparent that the attackers knew he’d be arriving home at around this time and decided to wait for him, says a report at ksla.com.

2BThis recent home invasion occurred in the Dogwood South subdivision in Louisiana. Though video surveillance recorded the crime, it’s not clear who the assailants are, as they were masked. Detectives are working hard at getting some leads.

The man, along with his wife, were bound with duct-tape. The man suffered minor injuries. The couple’s two young children were not harmed. The assailants made off with money and jewelry.

Needless to say, neighbors are unraveled, and the victims do not want to appear on camera for a news interview. The presence of police that lingered around the victims’ house went anything but unnoticed, so a post went up on the sheriff’s department Facebook page.

Rumors had developed that there were more home invasions in Dogwood South, but the Facebook page straightened this out by reporting “This simply isn’t true.”In fact, it’s been a very long time since the last home invasion in this area.

Residents should not equate the vehicle burglaries in the area with the crime of home invasion.

The Facebook post is asking that people call in tips to 318-965-2203.

I guess the good news is that, unlike some home invaders, these crumbs spared their victims’ lives. But now the victims probably keep wondering if the assailants, who were armed, will return.

Could home invaders be waiting for you? You just never know. Certainly, the victim in this story never thought something like this could happen as he arrived home.

  • Have pepper spray in your home and car, ready to pull out.
  • Look carefully around before you exit your car in the dark.
  • Have the pepper spray in your hand.
  • Close the garage immediately; don’t let it linger open.
  • Make sure no obscuring shrubbery is growing near any entrances to your house or near any windows.
  • Before entering your car, even if it’s been in the garage, look in the back seat. You just never know if a dangerous person could have somehow gotten in and is waiting for you.

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

Introducing Angee Home Security

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Meet Angee.

ANG2Angee (pronounced like Angie) will revolutionize home security in more ways than one. One of the features that sets Angee apart from other home security systems is that this system can learn about you and your family members, and then operate accordingly. Angee is the future, but this future is now here.

Check out what Angee offers:

  • Operates even during a power outage due to a built-in battery and 1.5 Gb storage.
  • Is small and portable, a handsome cylindrical design that can blend in with home decor.
  • Has data military grade encryption.
  • Motion and proximity detection tags that can be quickly and easily placed at all entryways and windows, so you need only one of the small portable units, regardless of the size of your house. Thus, a detection tag in a room on the third floor will allow the Angee unit, which is on the first floor, to tell when someone enters that third-floor room.
  • Recognition of household members’
  • Can connect to your mobile device, tablet or smartwatch.
  • Operation is voice controlled (as well as via smartphone) and includes personal-assistant-type tasks such as answering the phone.
  • Surveillance cameras (which rotate 360 degrees) that will follow intruders by detecting their presence; there’s no escaping “getting caught on tape.” But if you don’t want Angee to watch you during an intimate moment, no problem; just say “Turn away.” And remember, if the burglar says “Turn away,” Angee will disobey because it won’t recognize his voice.
  • Zero subscription fees.
  • The projected retail price will be $429.

The Birth of Angee

Angee Inc., is a start-up company that formed about a year and a half ago. Its founders had an ultra-strong vision and thus, introduced their system on Kickstarter. The founders needed experts in serial production, so hence teamed up with Dragon Innovation.

Who are the founders?

Tomas Turek is a serial software entrepreneur. He and his team have been working tirelessly for over 18 months to bring Angee to life.

If you’d like to support this futuristic layer of home security to bring it to the present, go to the Kickstarter campaign.

Robert Siciliano, personal and home security specialist to Angee. Learn more about Angee in this Video. Support Angee on Kickstarter. See Disclosures.

A new kind of home security. Smart, voice controlled and autonomous

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One of the reasons you—and many others—don’t have your alarm on during the day is because you know you’ll keep forgetting to turn it off every time you want to step into the garage or go outside. So you just keep it off. And that’s not smart because many home invasions and burglaries occur during daylight hours.

ANG1Typically, home security systems require you to push buttons.

  • What if you panic and forget the code?
  • What if you accidentally disable it?
  • What if your naughty visiting nephew messes with it?

It’s high time for the kind of home security system you’ve seen on ‘The Jetsons’—one that’s activated automatically when you leave your home.

Enter Angee—an up-and-coming company devoted to a smart, voice-controlled home security system.

What can Angee’s system do for you?

  • Say so long to those unsightly wall keypads where you might accidentally hit the wrong button.
  • Kiss goodbye to having to remember numerical codes, worrying if your elderly parent will remember it and worrying if a burglar could crack it.
  • By detecting the Bluetooth signal from your phone, Angee will automatically arm when you leave, and disarm when you arrive home.
  • As a backup method of identification should you lose your phone, or the battery run out, you can use voice recognition to disarm Angee. This can also be used for two-step authentication if you want to be extra secure.
  • Enjoying your private moments? Don’t want Angee to observe? Just say “Turn away.” You can even set Angee to automatically activate privacy mode when specific people are present at home.

Video Surveillance

  • Instead of cameras trained on one spot, Angee’s surveillance will respond to motion and rotate to face it. This allows Angee to capture events, wherever the action is. This way, an intruder will not be able to avoid camera range.

Angee Knows You’re Coming

  • When Angee is paired up with your smartphone, it will perform commands once you get near enough to your house after being out. So if you want the alarm to be disarmed as you approach your front door, Angee will do this—because it will detect when your mobile device is within a certain range.

There is a working prototype and the team behind it is on Kickstarter right now asking for your support to start serial production and make the future of smart home security reality: http://meetangee.com/get/08a33a.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to Angee. Learn more about Angee in this Video. See Disclosures.

Summer of Home Invasions

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Even three men in a house aren’t immune to a home invasion, as was the case in Bedford, Massachusetts recently, says a report at boston.cbslocal.com.

2BThree men broke into the apartment’s second floor at 2 a.m. and attacked the three male occupants. Three men, especially when one has a gun, really don’t care what gender the occupants are. In fact, one of the residents was shot in the leg, and the three intruders are on the loose.

However, police report that at least one of the intruders knew the victims, who might have been targeted for a bad drug deal or just for a robbery. This is the first shooting in Bedford in at least 10 years.

Another home invasion recently took place in Minneapolis, says www.kare11.com. This one had a far more tragic outcome than the one above. Susan Spiller, an artist and community activist, was killed by her home intruder, who apparently forced his way in. The thug, however, spared the life of Spiller’s greyhound.

Police may never know how he got in or if he even knew the victim. It’s not known if she answered the door and that’s when he forced his way in, or if in some other way forced open a door or window.

In Spencer Township of Michigan, a man invaded a home and murdered a man, says www.freep.com. Recently, the killer, Isaac Fezzey, 22, was convicted of his crime and will get life locked up. Fezzey and several other masked men forced their entry upon the home, seeking thousands of dollars related to a drug deal that they thought was inside.

They forced Brent Luttrell, 34, into a vehicle, then shot and stabbed him, then dumped his body onto a road. One of the invaders was sentenced last month, and two are facing trial in the near future.

Though two of these invasions may have been related to drugs, that in no way takes away from the brutality of home invasions. A drug dealer or buyer who’s owed money for a drug deal, who shoots and stabs someone involved with the deal and then dumps the body along a road, is certainly quite capable of forcing himself into your grandmother’s home, tying her up, robbing her and then shooting.

Lock up. Get a home security system.

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

How to deal with difficult people

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It’s been said that nobody can make you feel bad about yourself without your permission. Well bah! Some people don’t wait for your permission to denigrate you. They are toxic. Lifehacker.com offers some ways to deal with such people.

10DLove Yourself

If someone’s words have made you feel bad about yourself, then spend some time giving yourself pats on the back and positive labels. Make this a habit.

Empathy and Compassion

Towards the offender? Yes. Like Madonna says in her song, “Oh Father,” You didn’t mean to be cruel; somebody hurt you too.

Talk to the Offender

This part takes place after you can feel some compassion for them. See if you can connect with this person. Admit that making a connection is trying, and you want their support. Arrange ahead of time with yourself that you will not feel defeated if this effort does not yield favorable results.

Talk to Others

Find someone you trust, and share with that person how the toxic individual makes you feel. This is not a sign of weakness. You certainly won’t feel worse after you’ve vented a little. And if the listener offers advice, be a good sport and graciously accept it.

You Are Whom You Associate With

It’s been said that we are the composite of the five people we hang out with the most. Ooh, that is scary, isn’t it? Maybe not; depends whom you always hang out with. But anyways, make sure you associate only with positive, upbeat people. They share your attitudes; they believe in the same important things that you do.

Don’t Mimic Their Behavior

If someone’s being toxic and you get mad, realize that your hostile reaction may escalate the situation (though I’d be lying if I said that reacting with some serious feistiness never makes them retreat).

Snip the Ties

If all else fails, you may have to sever the relationship, or at least, minimize contact. Do what you feel like doing…and don’t do what you don’t feel like doing. So if you don’t feel like visiting them when they invite you to their place, then simply don’t. If a toxic person is in town and you don’t feel like visiting, then don’t. Keep things simple. No elaborate explanations are required.

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

DC Murders as horrific as it gets

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The latest report says that Darron Dellon Dennis Wint did not act alone in the arson murder of a Washington, D.C., family and their housekeeper. You might wonder how a $4.5 million mansion—presumably with top-flight smoke alarms—could burn enough to kill the occupants.

7HA cnn.com report says they were held against their will since the day prior to the May 14 fire. Wint is being held without bond.

It’s too soon, however, to draw conclusions, as other people are being interviewed by police.

Wint was arrested a week after the bodies of Savvas and Amy Savopoulos, and their son Philip were discovered. Housekeeper Veralicia Figueroa died later at a hospital.

The victims were discovered bound up and injured from blunt force, continues the cnn.com report. Philip, age 10, was apparently stabbed and tortured.

Bernardo Alfaro, the housekeeper’s husband, stated that Veralicia did not return home the night of May 13. (It’s fair to wonder why he didn’t pay a visit to the mansion that night, because next morning he finally did.)

Alfaro received a text message from someone claiming to be Savopoulos, telling him that his wife, who couldn’t drive, was with Amy in a hospital. Someone identifying herself as Amy called a second housekeeper and told her to stay home.

It’s believed that money was the motivation for the murders. Apparently, Wint and accomplices stole $40,000 that was dropped off at the mansion by a Savopoulos employee.

How was Wint caught? On May 13, two pizzas were delivered to the mansion while the victims were bound up. A woman instructed that the pizza be dropped off at the door (it had already been paid for via Amy’s credit card). Wint’s DNA was found on the crust.

Wint’s attorney says that this DNA doesn’t prove Wint was inside the house. So how did his DNA get there? Wint’s record doesn’t help: charges of theft, assault and sexual offense.

Neighbors of Wint’s parents say that Wint had choices and that “he was not raised this way.” Few people want their kids to grow up into murderers and groom them for such. But one must wonder what kind of emptiness and darkness existed in the childhood of a man who grows up to burn to death four innocent people.

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:
3H

  • 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.

Why install a Home Security System?

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Question: No. 1 reason people get a home security system?

3HAnswer: Recently burglarized; The majority of the people I hear from who want to install a home security system were recently burglarized. It often takes adversity or even tragedy for us to wake up to the realities of a harsh world.

Of course, even for people who’ve never been victims of a robbery, prevention of a burglary or home invasion is a top reason people get home security systems.

Home burglary is a very common crime. But deterring burglars isn’t the only reason you may want to consider having a home security system installed. Today’s technology means that a home security system can do so much more than blast a piercing alarm if someone breaks into your house or flash lights if someone creeps up your driveway.

Remote monitoring; For example, a home security system that’s part of an application for your smartphone can enable you to observe the exterior and interior of your house remotely. You can see what the dog is doing, for example, while you’re away; does he bark nonstop?

You can observe your older kid babysitting the younger one; is he really the bully that the younger one claims he is?

Notifications; You can also be notified, while you’re away, that your kids have arrived home from school.

Remote controls; And with today’s options, you can control things in your house remotely, such as the thermostat and lighting.

Peace of mind; Having a home security system installed will give you peace of mind.

Additional layers of protection; The system should include accessories that are not part of the actual system or smartphone application, such as a film you can put on your windows that prevents penetration or breaking, and there are ways to reinforce your doorframe and jamb.

Insurance discount; Finally, most insurance companies will reward you for having a home security system, giving discounts up to 20 percent.

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