THIS WEEK: Home invasion safety…videos…Diwali
The clocks have gone back and we all got that extra hour in bed. YAY! Most of us woke up wondering if our phones automatically changed the time or if it’s a lie. I’m still waiting for that one year when my phone decides that its not going to change the time for me. It takes me a few weeks to adjust, the clock in my car still hasn’t been corrected. Somehow it’s easier to minus an hour than actually go into the settings and change the clock.
I want to take some time to talk about home invasions, break-in’s and burglaries because it’s getting dark, which is like Christmas for burglars. There are self defence strategies for these scenarios.
JUST A THOUGHT: There are only 7 more weekends until Christmas! Have I said that too early? It’s too early to put the tree up but it’s never too early to start a countdown!
Our home is our castle. If you, like me, enjoy being and home and value your safety and comfort and that of your family, then these quick tips may be of use to you.
There are 3 steps to surviving a home invasion which I teach – Prevention, preparedness and Protection. Today, we will talk about preventive measures. After-all, prevention is better than cure. This is not an exhaustive list, but these are some simple things you can do to make your home a hard target.
Cameras – have cameras installed outside your house, maybe even inside at entry points. There are some very good cameras that upload straight to the cloud so there is no danger of a burglar taking your hard drive (and so the evidence) with them. A friend of mine works for NEST and was showing me one of his cameras, it is activated by sound and motion, and even continues to record if cut. Well worth the price.
Fortress – Like the moat of a castle, you can put a barrier between your house and the outside. This can be as simple as planting thorny bushes around the house or putting up gates. You can even have invisible electronic trip wires installed at low cost.
Alarm – anecdotal evidence from various interviews suggest that burglars target homes which have no alarm systems.
Dog – a guard dog is always a good option. Though savvy burglars have remedied this challenge by giving the dogs treats and calling them by name.
Lights – leaving lights on makes it seem as though there is someone home. And having lights set on timers to switch on and off give the appearance of movement in the home to anyone running surveillance on your house.
shabby – not the best option but you could leave your home in such a state that nobody would want to enter, you can make it look like there can be nothing of possible value in there. I used to do this with my car at university. In fact I even left it unlocked a few times, nobody in their right mind would want to take it.
Don’t leave keys – goes without saying but don’t leave spare keys in obvious places like under the plant pot or the mat. Do you do this? Be honest. STOP!
Don’t announce your life – ok this one is difficult. Probably the most difficult thing on this list for some people – Nobody that I know, not you but maybe someone on your facebook. Here it is, do NOT announce your life on social media. Don’t let the whole world know that you and your family are off to sunny Skegness for a long weekend. This is basically saying that you won’t be at home, you may as well put a sign up on breakintomyhousethisweekend.com (I hope that’s not a real website)
perception is reality – what we believe is real is real, if you don’t yet have any of the things above, you can just make it look like you do. Put some signs up saying ‘beware of the guard dog’ and have dummy cameras put up or dummy alarm boxes. Obviously having them for real is recommended but even a dummy would be enough to make a burglar think twice.
All of this said, you could take all them precautions in the world and still have a break-in – so it always pays to have a plan for preparedness and protection in place (that’s a lot of P words) and practice them with your loved ones so you have a procedure.
Stay safe, stay awesome, stay LIONS
Happy Diwali – a very happy Diwali and happy Indian new year to you all. Diwali represents a time of spreading light and enlightening the dark spots of our life. I hope that we can all shed light onto those areas of our lives where we need to bridge gaps in our knowledge. If there’s anything Self Defence or personal protection related that I can help with, please drop me an email.
Videos – I will soon begin to make some videos to demonstrate some of the techniques I speak about. Thank you for bringing this to my attention and I will find the time to make them so I can serve you on the highest level.
Great article! Very helpful tips. Thanks