Tips For Preventing Crime And becoming A Victim Yourself

Tips For Preventing Crime And becoming A Victim Yourself
-Birdy

It's true that anyone can become a victim of crime, but there are some very basic things that you can do to deter criminals from choosing you. People generally think of their homes as safe havens where the outside world can not get to them, but statistics constantly show that crime and home invasions are on the rise all over the United States. Do what you can to make your home as safe as possible. It all starts by becoming more active with your neighborhood.

Crime In Your Neighborhood
One of the best ways to ensure that a burglar does not target your house for a break in is to make your entire block a highly secure area. This involves working with your neighbors so that everyone watches out for each other. Think of your block as a mini community, and you can rely on your neighbors to keep you safe just as much as they can rely on you.

Meet the people who live nearby, and get to know their names, what cars they have and exchange phone numbers. Keep a list of this contact information near a phone, so you can call anyone on your block should the need arise. Consider starting an official Neighborhood Watch Group and working with local law enforcement agencies to help watch over everyone in your neighborhood.

Watch For Strangers
Once you get to know the people around you, you will be better prepared to notice strangers who seem to be hanging around a lot. Seeing someone you don't know walk down your street once is not at all unusual, but if that same person were to be lingering and going back and forth on your block frequently, they may be casing the neighborhood and looking for a home to rob or burgle.
Similarly, if you note an unfamiliar car that is spending a lot of time driving on your street, it could be an indication that criminals are looking for potential targets. Warn a neighbor if you see someone looking at their home, and don't be afraid to call the police to report suspicious behavior. As it is often said, the best way to avoid being victimized by crime is to prevent it from happening.

Get Involved In Community Youth Groups
Much of the crime that occurs in residential areas is carried out by kids who are just bored and looking for a thrill. To some younger people, the idea of smashing a window, grabbing a few valuables and running off is exciting and adventurous. After school programs such as youth sports teams can provide a great alternative for potentially maladjusted youths who can benefit from the social aspect, learn to cooperate with others and stay out of trouble.

Deter Criminals From Choosing Your Home
Even a well watched neighborhood can be struck by crime. A burglar looks for the easiest target possible, so it is up to you to make your house difficult to break into. The first step is keeping exterior and interior lights on during the night. Criminals prefer a cover of darkness, and will gravitate towards a home that has no lights on at all.

When you go out for the night, keep a television on, or play a radio inside the house. This will give the appearance that someone is still home, which is a great deterrent to criminals. Experts often recommend choosing a talk station for the radio to give the impression that a conversation is taking place inside. A law breaker may still attempt to break into your home if they become reasonably certain they can do so without being noticed. Continue on to the second part of this article to find out some methods of making sure they can't get in.

Criminals have developed methods of breaking into most any home or building, but even a highly experienced law breaker will only devote a very short time to getting inside. The longer it takes for them to make their way in, the better the chances are that someone might see them and call the police. You can take steps to make it not worthwhile for a criminal choose your house by beefing up your security measures.

Make Your Home A Fortress
Burglars look for any easy entrance to a home. A pet door, busted window or unlocked point of access will let them get in quickly. Walk around your house and examine it to make sure there are no vulnerable points that law breakers can use to force their way inside. Fix broken windows, busted locks and any other part of your house that is not secure immediately.

Security windows are designed to not be breakable, so installing them will make your home more of a stronghold. You can even purchase bullet proof glass for extra security. These items can get expensive, so a good alternative is to install a second lock on the window. You can find them at any retail location that sells hardware products, and they do not cost much.

Other areas to reinforce with extra locks and deadbolts are the front and back doors. A criminal may take the time to break or disable one lock on a door, but they will think twice about messing with one that has multiple security devices. Glass sliding doors can also be better secured with a security bar. A solid bar will prevent a door from being opened, and it can not be moved from the outside. You can also find steel pins that lock into place at the bottom of a sliding door to make it impossible to open.

Utilize An Alarm System
Hiring the services of a professional security company that will install an alarm in your house will be reassuring, but can also be very expensive. People who can afford it may want to pay extra for the peace of mind it comes with. Not only will your home be monitored at all times, criminals will also be discouraged from attempting to break in when they see the signs and window decals that inform them of the alarm.

Of course a burglar will not know if you don't really have an alarm in place. People who can't afford to install a home alarm company can still buy signs and stickers that announce that they have one. Place a sign in your yard and the decal on your window to give the appearance that you are guarded by a security service. You can also purchase other warning signs such as Vicious Dog an NRA sticker to make criminals think you have attack animals or guns on the premises.
Now that you have better protected your property while you are at home, continue to part 3 of this article to find out why it is important to safeguard the house when you are away and how to stay safe while out for a walk in your neighborhood.
When you leave your home, do you lock the doors and make sure the windows are closed ... every time? Even if you will not be gone for long it is important to thoroughly secure every part of your home.

Break Ins Happen Quickly
It only takes a few minutes for a break in to occur. In fact, most criminals move as quickly as possible to avoid the possibility of being caught. Someone could come home at any time, so they work fast to collect your valuables and get away.

Burglars know where to look for items of value in any home. They will target key areas such as dressers, desk drawers, jewelry boxes and bathroom counters. Before leaving, they will also look in common hiding spots like under the bed or mattress, inside the toilet tank, in the back of the refrigerator or freezer and under rugs that may conceal a hidden compartment with a secret stash of valuables. Some people think that keeping their things in a small safe will make them secure, but if the invader can pick it up and carry it with them, they will.
One of the best possible hiding spots for your most beloved treasures is within a diversion safe that is designed to look like a standard household product like shaving cream or a soda can. The look and weight of these products are duplicated exactly, so a burglar who is looking through your home will never spot them.

Of course the goal is to ensure that people do not break into your home at all, so always remember to lock your doors and windows. Do it without fail, every time you leave the house.

Going For A Walk
You may leave home for a short time to take a brisk walk around the neighborhood. If you have an established watch program in place, your block will be a much safer place for even a late night stroll. There are more things you can do to make sure you are safe while getting some exercise and fresh air near your home.

Walk with confidence and be extremely aware of your surroundings at all times. Pay attention to anything and anyone around you. Criminals do not want to be seen, especially before they make an attack, and they will be likely to leave you alone if they realize you have noticed them. This ruins the element of surprise that they rely on to catch their victims off guard.
While you are out, carry a cell phone with you so you can make an emergency call if you are in danger or come across someone who is in need of help. You may also want to bring a self defense weapon with you to use against a potential assailant. There are several options to consider. A personal alarm will activate a loud, shrill scream that will grab the attention of people all over your block. They will be alerted that there is danger nearby and dial 911. A predator will most often flee the second the ear splitting alarm is sounded. Stun devices are available for use up close or from a distance. They send a powerful shock straight into the central nervous system of an attacker that will completely impair them for several minutes. Pepper spray or MACE are also powerful devices for your personal protection. They spray a shot of highly potent pepper that will sting their eyes and make breathing very difficult. All of these weapons are non lethal, produce no lasting effects and will give you the opportunity you need to get away unscathed.

Make your home and your neighborhood a safe and secure place to be. The police will help during emergency situations, but by following these tips you can help prevent crime from hurting you where you live.

The Neighborhood Watch
There are many things you can do to keep your own house safe from burglars, such as installing automatic outdoor lights, keeping the hedges well trimmed so law breakers don't have a convenient hiding spot and making sure all your doors and windows are locked at all times. However, if someone is determined to break into your home or steal your property when they think you are away, they will very likely at least try even if you've done everything possible to safeguard your home.

There is something else you can do. Participating in a neighborhood watch program is a great way to deter crime and discourage criminals from spending time on your block. One of the most important things to remember about criminals is that they never want to be seen by anyone, because if they are ever caught by the police they won't want someone to be able to identify them. When a criminal knows there is a good chance they are being watched, they will be far more likely to move on and look for an easier target.

A neighborhood watch is a program in which all the people who live in one area agree to watch out for each other. So if one of your neighbors notices a suspicious character hanging around your house, or a car that keeps driving up and down your block, they will notify you and contact the police. Criminals are warned of an active watch by signs that are posted prominently in the area. When they see these clear signals that the people in this community are working together to prevent crime, they will know their chances of being caught are much higher and go somewhere else.

Crime Prevention Begins With You
To get your own neighborhood watch together, set up a meeting and invite everyone who lives around you as well as representatives from your local police department. Try going door to door to either tell people personally or create a small flier that announces the time, location and intent of this meeting. On the night you do meet, explain to everyone the benefits of working together to watch over each others property, and allow a police officer to speak to the group. The officer will be able to offer great tips and training that will help you protect your neighborhood more efficiently. It's a good idea to have someone who can speak English and Spanish present so they can translate to residents who are not bilingual.

One final thing that is important to remember - although people who are part of a local watch group can help prevent crime, they are not trained to stop a criminal. Stress to the members of your watch group that they are not taking on the job of a law enforcement officer, they are working with the rest of your neighbors to keep an eye on each other. Your group should work together to help deter crime, warn others of potential danger, but never put themselves at risk by trying to stop a crime on their own. If any criminal activity is spotted, the best thing to do is call the police immediately.

Diversion Safes
Diversion safes are one of the most efficient products for keeping your prized possessions well protected at all times. They are small safes that are designed to look exactly like common household products. Each one is also made to feel exactly like the real thing, so if a criminal were to pick one up they would never know the difference.

Law enforcement statistics have proven conclusively that burglars only spend a few minutes in any home they break into. In most cases they will be in and out of a targeted house in less than ten minutes. They know that the longer they spend inside, the greater the chances will be that someone will come home or a neighbor will notice something is wrong and call the police. For his or her own self preservation, a thief will have to move quickly!

Because a burglar only has a short time to look around, they will generally check out a few areas that are well known for being hiding spots for cash, jewelry and other valuables. The law breakers may know all about diversion safes, but they won't have time to look through every product in your home just in case you have one. You might have a safe that is a replica of a soda can, shaving cream, book or even a wall outlet. There is just no way for the scofflaw to look through every item in your home, so you can hide your most cherished items right under their noses.

We offer a large variety of replica safes that will fool anyone who looks at them. They are available in bulk orders at incredible wholesale prices. These safes are hot sellers no matter what is happening with the economy. In fact, most people know that when times are difficult crime rates skyrocket and that's when people need to guard their valuables the most. Look through our catalog to see the many different secret safes we have to offer.


Lethal Weapons in the Home

Picture this. It's late at night and you hear a noise at the back door or a window inside your home. You get up to investigate and find an intruder breaking into your home. What would you do?
The first answer is to call the police, but in the time it takes for them to arrive, a criminal may harm you or your family. Chances are the home invader will be armed with a knife or a gun, so the job of defender may be left entirely up to you.

Owning A Gun
While it's always wise to do everything you can to safeguard your home from a break in, if a criminal is intent on getting into your house, chances are they will. This frightening concept causes home owners all over the country to purchase firearms and keep them easily accessible. Simply having the gun can make people feel safer, but if you own one it is vital to learn how to properly handle, maintain and fire the weapon.

The seriousness of owning a gun must never be forgotten. Every year people are killed by accidental gunfire. It is a deadly instrument that should be treated with care and respect. There are many classes in which new gun owners can learn to handle and fire it correctly. These courses also teach people to clean and maintain their weapons to keep them in top working order.

When Children Are Involved
Make no mistake, there are hazards to keeping any lethal weapon in the home, and when children are present the danger is multiplied. All children are naturally curious, and a gun is something that can easily peak their interest, especially when they see them prominently displayed in television shows and films. Adults who own any type of deadly weapon must take every precaution to keep it out of the hands of young kids.

Storing a gun in a locked drawer or cabinet and keeping the key with you is an ideal solution. This will help to ensure that a child can not get to it for any reason. It is also advisable to keep the gun unloaded, just in case. That way if a young one is able to find the weapon, at least it will not be a danger. Try to find places for the firearm and the bullets that are secure but also easily accessible in case you need to get to them in a hurry.
At some point you may feel your kids are old enough to learn about the gun you keep in the home. When this time comes, express how important it is to be very cautious when handling a weapon and how dangerous they are. Have your kids take a gun safety course when you feel they are old enough to handle a firearm on their own.

Before Purchasing A Gun
Every state has laws that govern gun use and ownership. You will need to find out what they are, and make sure you have the proper permits to legally own a firearm. The laws can vary depending on whether you are attempting to buy a handgun, shotgun or other type of firearm. Most of these weapons have a mandatory waiting period before you may bring them home, and during this time a background check will be conducted to make sure you do not have any felonies and can legally own a gun.

Windows are a very common entry point for burglars. They are often left unlocked or even wide open. When closed and latched, windows can easily be shattered with a rock, brick or any other heavy object. There are several options available to help secure your windows.

Window Add Ons
Metal bars can be placed over all the windows in your home. This makes it impossible for a burglar to gain access. Even if they are able to break the glass, there is no way to squeeze in through the bars. The drawback is that some people feel the metal bars make their dwelling look more like a prison than a home.

There are also laminated films that can be placed over every window. The films bond with the glass to make them nearly impregnable. In addition, the film is clear so the window will remain completely transparent. A burglar won't even know the glass is protected until they try to break it.

Reinforced Glass
Another option to burglar proof your windows is to use glass that is strong enough to withstand extreme force. Some window panes are even bullet resistant, so a single shot from most guns will not break them. This type of glass may be more than you need and it is very expensive, but there are other choices.
Some glass contains thick wires all throughout, making it both decorative and functional. Burglars will know right away that this will not be an easy window to get through. After breaking the glass, the wires will still be in the way, and would need to be cut before entry is possible. Criminals will most likely pass on a window like this because getting through them would be difficult and time consuming.

Glass that is tempered has been placed in a very hot oven and then immediately moved to frigid surroundings. This is done to bring the glass to a melting point, and then freeze it back into a solid piece, which makes it stronger. Tempered glass is far more durable than standard window panes, and very difficult to break. A burglar can not shatter it with normal tools of the criminal trade, and will tend to give up and move on to an easier target.
Windows do not have to be made from glass. Plexiglas looks like the real thing, but is actually made out of a thick plastic. It is transparent so it gives the illusion of being a regular window, but burglars will find it is impossible to break.

Sliding Widows
Some homes have windows that slide open on a track. Burglars may find it easy to gain access through these windows, so it is essential to secure them. By installing latches, such as those found in a "Casement Window" you can make them very difficult to open. You can also find bolts and locking pins for sliding windows, but burglars are often able to pry them open if they are determined to get in.

Ensuring your windows are burglar proof is an essential task for every home owner, but it is important to remember that you may need to use the windows as an escape route during a fire or other emergency. Make sure you have the ability to get out through a window if it becomes necessary to do so.

How to Burglar-Proof Your Doors
Burglars break into your home when they believe no one is around so they can take your most valuable possessions. They look for houses that appear to be easy to get inside, either through a window or a door. That makes it imperative for every person to make sure their doors are as secure as possible. There are several ways to do this.

Keep Your Door In Plain Sight
A burglar won't care if they break in through the front or back of the house, but if they feel the front door is well hidden it becomes an easy target. A house with overgrown trees and bushes can block the view of the front door, giving criminals a perfect spot to hide behind while they make their way inside. Keep any type of plant life trimmed back so thieves can not use them as a hiding place.

Check Your Doors
Before adding any security devices to your door, examine it to see if it hangs properly and was installed correctly. Make sure there are screws in every hole for each hinge. The more securely a door is attached to the wall, the harder it will be to break down. If the hinges are loose or partially empty, it is important to fix them right away. Create new holes if the wood is rotted out and the screws are barely hanging on. Once the door is on as tightly as possible, you can include new locks and bolts.

Door Locks And Bolts
Some basic door locks are easy to get through. The lock can be pried back with a small instrument, allowing a burglar to open the door and get inside. You can add a Dead Latch door lock quickly and easily to make the entry way far more secure. These locks can not be pried open, so they are an inexpensive and very effective security device.

A rim lock can been installed on the inside portion of a door in just a few minutes. It includes a heavy duty dead bolt to make sure criminals can not pry it open.

The top and bottom of any door can be reinforced with flush bolts. These are bolts that make it impossible for a burglar to open the door for easy entrance. When installing any type of bolt, make sure everyone in the house knows how to lock and unlock them quickly. While they work well for keeping intruders out, they can also lock people inside during an emergency situation if everyone does not know how to operate them.

Your front and back doors are common and easy targets for burglars who may try to get inside your home. Don't let them - take precautions to reinforce every door in your house and make sure they do not provide easy access for criminals.


-Birdy