Improving Home Security

[glitterbiscuits]

We live in a small village. Not especially pretty or well off. A mix of mainly private homes and few new housing associations houses. It’s quite quiet and not known for high crime

In the summer my friend had her garden-shed/ garage broken into. In broad daylight.
The year before She had previously been burgled and they had taken all her jewellery, teenagers gadgets and cash they found, even money boxes. Then tipped bleach on her clothes

A week ago another friend walked into to 3 burgers who had broken I through her patio doors. This was at 4.30pm and she had her young child with her.
Today another family has had two of their cars broken into in the middle of the night, on their front drive.
These are just some kind know about.

So you will understand why I’ve stating thinking about increasing our home security. DH has a shed full of flash tools. So need to consider better security there too.

What should I be thinking of?

Alarm system. Proper locks on your shed and any gates. Security lights. Screws on your shed door that mean thieves can't remove the door to get at the contents. Don't leave windows open and doors unlocked. Mark your property for identification purposes. Anti vandal paint on the top of fences and tall gates. CCTV and monitor who is hanging around, unusual parked cars, etc. Start a neighbourhood watch group.

How awful! Sounds like a wave of crime going through the village.

My husband is worried about someone breaking into the garage to steal his fancy boy's toys. It's an attached garage and he parks his car right in front of the up-and-over garage door to make it impossible to open it. We also have sensors everywhere and the system is linked straight to the police. You can have cameras too. Automatic lights can be a deterrent at night. Dogs as wel.

However, professional burglars have see it all before. I recently heard of a case where the family were having their supper downstairs. The burglars sneaked in through the bedroom window that had been left ajar. They cleared the safe and jewellery boxes making away with good worth 6 figures.

It's obviously horrendous when that happens and it has a big emotional impact, but it's worth having adequate insurance to cover the financial losses.

Really must get organised! Hadn’t conis the anti vandal paint love that idea

it would help to know what you can spend.

Good locks on your doors and windows are a first step. For your shed and gate they need to be big heavy things. If you can use a drill and a screwdriver they are easy to fit. If you can use a chisel you can fit neater ones. Wooden doors and windows are easier to upgrade than plastic ones.

Professional installers sneer at DIY alarms but you can buy wireless ones that are quick and simple to fit, and can include sensors in your shed or garage.

Thorny shrubs and climbing roses along your fences and gates will discourage intruders, or at least make holes in them.

We took some steps recently. I think it helps to think about what is the most likely risk and what you would want to happen if that occurs- so for example, we were broken into at night when we were home. It was sheer fluke my husband was there that night, and really concentrated my mind.

We now have: a bolt on the bedroom door, a landline by the bed, a security light at the back and front, much stronger locks at the back, and we never go out/to bed without setting our alarm.

We used to hide things if we went away, but having seen how quickly and thoroughly they ransacked our house while we were there I don't know if I'd bother anymore.

The other likely risk for us is our bike shed, which basically has the best locks possible- someone could get in with an ankle grinder/electric saw but at that point a) they'd probably be seen and b) they could just as easily get into our house.

So the final point is good insurance, and taking care with valuables and what is visible in the house from outside.