Rings of security

Good Morning, Everyone,

I've noticed a disturbing trend in the news recently. There has been an increasing number of home invasion robberies, especially those targeting seniors. Officials are attributing this to the problems in the economy. Some are saying it's related to the drug war on the border. Whatever the cause, we need to do what we can to keep ourselves safe.

Though most communities have 911 service, there's an old saying. "When seconds count, the police are only minutes away."  This is not a reflection on our law enforcement. They do the best job they can, and each day they put their lives on the line doing their job. But they are only human and can only be in one place at a time.

The national average response time for a 911 call is 6 minutes and 42 seconds according to USAToday. This is after the call is completed and the police have been dispatched. Add another 30 seconds, assuming you get your information to the operator quickly, and now you're at 7 minutes and 12 seconds. Plenty of time for some criminal to do you harm.

Most times the police never get the opportunity to stop a crime in progress. They arrive and are stuck with the unfortunate task of making a report on a crime that has already happened.  We can make it less likely that the police will have to fill out all that paperwork for us by making the job of the criminal harder.

We can start by making rings of security around our home. Think of this concentric circles starting at the outer most limits of your home and moving inward.

If you have a house, it starts in the yard with a fence. Criminals are generally cowards and lazy. This doesn't mean they won't do what they feel they have to do to take your stuff or do you harm, but they will look for a target that makes it as easy as possible with the least likelyhood of getting caught.  A fence is a small deterant. But put a dog inside that fence. Ah, now we have a second deterant, one that not only might bite, but acts as an alarm. The last thing a criminal wants is the home owner to know he's coming. Though I personally prefer a larger dog, sometimes those little yappers make the best alarm systems. I know that many of us live in apartments or condos where we can't have a dog and that's unfortunate, but you do the best with what you have.

Next, be sure to lock your door.  So many of us grew up and lived in the days when no one locked their doors. I know I did and I have really had to retrain myself to get out of that mindset. Also, never leave a key under the mat or the "garden gnome". Criminals are well aware of all the normal hiding places. 

Don't answer the door, that reads unlock the door since it should be locked even when you're home, unless you know who is there.  If you don't have a peep hole to look through, call out and ask. If you are really not expecting someone, it might be a good idea to do it in that Clint Eastwood, "Get off my lawn" voice. The worse that could happen is you might have to apologize to a friend, the best is that the criminal rethinks which door he should have knocked on.

One of the most common rues I'm hearing about is criminals knocking on the door and when the resident starts to open the door to see who's there, they push the door open, knocking the homeowner down, putting you at a definate disadvantage. So don't open the door until you know who is there. Ask to see identification through the peep hole of anyone who says they are there in an official capacity, for example telephone or electric personel, police or delivery people. If you don't have a peep hole, you can ask them to move to a nearby window.

Next, keep some sort of self defense device handy. For those of you who have concealed carry permits, this means keeping you weapon on until you go to bed and keeping it handy after that. For those of us who, for one reason or the other, don't have a firearm available, there are other options.

Pepper spray is a good option for many. It's small and requires basically no training to use. One of the best pepper spray devices I've seen is called TigerLight. This little device is a high lumen flash light with built in pepper spray. I love dual purpose things. They have an excellent video showing how it works. Check it out at http://www.buytigerlight.com/ . Tigerlight is rather expensive, so if price is an issue, get what you can. It is better to have a cheaper tool than no tool at all.

Other options for self defense are baseball bats, knives, or anything you can think of. The problem with most of these is that they can only be used at close range, which gives a younger and stronger criminal a definate advantage.

So let's do the "what if" scenario. You're asleep and you hear a loud noise in the living room. Don't do the typical horror movie thing of walking out there, unarmed, to see what it is. Don't you scream at the tv when that happens. I do.

First thing, call 911. Tell them there is someone in the house NOW. This will put you in a priority cue for response. Next have your defensive tool of choice at hand, be it a handgun, shotgun, pepper spray or baseball bat, along with a good, high lumen flashlight. The flashlight serves two purposes. Firstly it momentarily blinds the subject when the room is dark. Secondly and most important, it helps you identify who is there. You never want to accidently protect yourself against your spouse who just got up the get a snack at 2 am.

At this point you hold up in this "safe room" until the police arrive. If the criminal comes in your room before that, you do what is necessary to defend yourself. Hopefully the police arrive before that is necessary. If you are armed when the police arrive, put the weapon away. Police have no idea that you are not the criminal so never greet them with any form of weapon in hand, this includes the baseball bat.

Man, it is later than I thought. I have to run. Hopefully some of this will be useful to you. For those of you who are into the self defense thing, I know I left out a lot. But I'm working with limited time this morning. And I've made a commitment to myself and to you all, to do my best to get out something everyday. So please bear with me. We'll go over this subject in more detail another time.

Well, got to run. I'll see you next time.Until then, keep prepping because what you do matters, and remember, "Just 'cause there's snow on the rooftop, doesn't mean there ain't a fire in the fireplace."  
Candy