Public Servant Lifestyle

A few pointers to help you make your hearth and home more secure.

Home Security - Where to Start?

According to the Home Office British Crime Survey (1998), in the 12 months to March 1999:

84% of offences recorded by the police were against property, that was 4.3 million offences

Burglary made up 22% of property crimes. Of these, 473,000 were committed against residential properties and 479,000 against commercial premises

If you are a victim of burglary, there is a three-in-four chance that your property will never be recovered

Main Doors

If your front and back doors are not secure, neither is your home. Any lock is only ever as useful as the quality of the door and frame it is a part of. It is a good idea to seek expert advice on the solidity of your frames and doors before investing in expensive locks that may simply have no benefit. Doors need to be of the correct proportions to accept the desired lock, while maintaining its integrity.

To boost the strength of a traditional front door, install a new mortise deadlock, for extra piece of mind at night and while your home is empty. This design of lock can only be opened by a key, from either side of the door. The advice of a qualified locksmith should be sought when considering the best solution for each door and each lock should conforms to British Standards, or be operated by at least five levers.

For insurance reasons locks should be five-lever mortise/sash deadlocks for maximum security. But there are also some very capable rim deadlocks that are recommended for doors too thin to accommodate a mortise lock. Ordinary top and bottom bolts are a very good extra precaution, as is a chain so that you can safely identify callers through the gap.

It's preferable if any glass in or around external doors is laminated so they're not easy broken to gain entry. If you live in a flat make sure the front door is not weak, fit it with hinged bolts that stop it from being pulled off its hinges. And if you haven't already got one, consider having a telephone entry system fitted.

Most burglary is preventable by taking simple steps. By taking a little time and thought you can help to prevent your home and possessions from becoming an easy target for attack and provide for better peace of mind, at whatever time of the year.

Light & Sound

Floodlights coupled to a passive infra red sensor can be used on the front and rear of properties to deter thieves.

Another good idea is to set up a timer system for lights inside your home. Remember, the vast majority of burglaries take place when a dwelling is empty. Any flat or house that remains dark night after night - particularly in the winter and autumn months - will represent a very visible target for thieves. Set alarm clock timers on radios around your home or fit commercially available timers to a television or radio. Tune these into programmes with people talking. This will give the impression that someone is listening to the radio, or themselves talking, and that your home is occupied.

Fit a burglar alarm. A prominently displayed one will deter burglary. Consult with your insurance company to see who they recommend to fit and supply an alarm. Any ladders, in particular, should be chained and locked up, if they are stored outside the home at all. Remember, a stranger working on ladders in your street will most likely go unchallenged.

Security Locks and Keys

House and car keys should be kept careful track of. It is easy to forget how many sets of keys you have. If one went missing, ask yourself would you notice? Car keys need to be kept in a bedroom rather than hanging in plain sight, otherwise you may be making a gift of your car as a getaway vehicle.

Wherever possible you should avoid giving your keys to workmen carrying out repairs or building work. It takes a very short time to copy a key and - although you may think your workmen are reliable or trustworthy - you have no way of knowing what happens to your keys once they are out of your sight.

Never leave keys outside your home. Keys left in sheds, greenhouses, under plant pots or gnomes - or worse of all - hanging from string through your letterbox can all be discovered with ease. If you think previous tenants could still have keys, change the locks.

Another major concern with locks is the issue of escape in the event of a fire or other emergency. You should never become so security conscious that you jeopardise your own safety in other ways. Fire brigades across the country warn against locking yourself into your home. If an external door requires a key to be opened, a copy of that key should be kept on an obvious hook near the exit.

Locking internal doors can stop burglars from moving through a home once they've got in, but additional damage can also be caused by this strategy, as those doors may be broken down in the event of an intrusion. The same consideration should be given to the locking of bureaux and cupboards, which may then be ruined should a search be carried out.

CCTV

If you have lots of money to spend on security you can have installed by professionals a system which will first turn on the bedroom light then, a few seconds later, the landing light, and so on until every relevant light in the house is ablaze.

CCTV is also a good - and increasingly common and affordable - domestic deterrent. These systems can even be linked to a video recorder, to catch potential intruders on camera and the possibilities of using web-cams - set to begin recording when motion is detected in a room - to provide this sort of record have also been explored.

Problems exist with of both of these kinds of surveillance. In the same way locking internal doors can result in additional damage, should intruders realise they have been recorded they may cause more damage in an attempot to destroy evidence. In this instance the computer/VCR doing the recording may itself become a target for vandalism and/or theft.

More information available in Your Home, Home Security