This week a friend who lives across town had his house broken into. They were leaving on a road trip the next day and went downtown in the afternoon for some last minute supplies. They came home about 2:30 PM and entered through the back door. As they went to the front of the house they noticed parts of wood scattered in the entrance. Then that awful feeling of being violated slowly dawned on them as they realized that they had been victims of a break and enter. The police think that when my friends came home they scared the bad guys out of the house.
So in discussion with my friends I began to think about how safe my house is. About twenty years ago I installed dead bolts on my doors. About ten years ago I installed security lights that would come on if motion was detected. This was in response to some vandalism which had occurred. For ten years my security light has been faithfully coming on mostly in reaction to cars going by or walkers on the sidewalk and the odd jack rabbit.
This summer during a loud thunderstorm my neighbor woke up just after midnight. He was watching the lightning when he saw a person walking down the side walk and up my driveway. He ran to another window to get a better angle and saw the kid running away. The security light had come on and scared the kid so he ran away. So this is the only time I know of when the security light chased the bad guy away.
My district is fairly quiet as far as crime is concerned. There's the very odd break in.
Now with my friend's breakin it's time to consider if I need added protection for security. If I need something more what will it be. My friend is shopping for a security system so I may listen to him and decide to add something else.
I think those motion sensor lights are a great deterrent. I hope he finds a good security system, but it seems you have done due diligence already.
ReplyDeleteSecurity systems seem to be a solution for many people. We have one at the museum..it does its job. We also have security cameras, sometimes just knowing that a place has cameras is a deterent.
ReplyDeleteAs the economy slips lower I am sure that crime will increase..it is probably the same for you up in Canada.
Good to hear that your light scared someone off..thieves like darkness:)
The key word is deterrent. Many small things can add up.
ReplyDeleteFar Side , I'm not worried about crime or an increase in crime, but we have to take some responsibility for our own safety. Museum securitry is another issue. I was on our library board here and the security in the facility is amazing.
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