Do you Have a Home Invasion Defense Plan?
While most families have fire evacuation plans in the event of a house fire, many overlook the importance of a home invasion defense plan. They either assume that they won’t be targeted, or that the police will arrive within a reasonable amount of time. But as the saying goes, hope for the best but prepare for the worst. Hopefully, your home will never be targeted by a burglar or invader. If it is, however, you need some type of plan to keep your family safe. So, what’s the best approach for dealing with a home invasion?
A Good Defense Plan Begins with Prevention
Before you even think of creating a home invasion defense plan, you should first implement some basic safeguards to help protect against home invaders. Go around your home, both inside and out, looking for weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Are there any broken doors or windows? Do the locks function properly? Is your home’s perimeter well-lit? Are there places where a potential invader can hide? These are just a few questions that you should try to answer when conducting a security audit of your home.
Be Aware of Home Invasion Tactics
Home invaders are different from other burglars in that they don’t care if people are home when they attack. They use various means to either trick or force their way into the home. Alert your whole family to these tactics so they can recognize the risk and take action.
- Distressed stranger – someone, usually a young woman, knocks on the door claiming they are in danger (or ran out of gas, etc.). When you open the door, others, hidden from view, force their way in to the home.
- Utility worker or salesperson – someone comes to the door looking like they serve a legitimate purpose. They may claim they are reading your meter, doing an audit of your cable service or that they are selling magazines. You may innocently let them in and then the attack begins.
- Testing the waters – they knock on the front door and if no one answers, they and their accomplices head to the back of the house and kick in the door out of view of neighbors. This is why it is important that you always respond to a knock at the door. Talk to them through the door or through your video doorbell.
- Casing the place – be alert for cars parked in the area that don’t belong, Especially if there are multiple people sitting inside for a long time with no activity. They may be watching and waiting for the right victims.
- Brute force – the most brazen home invaders won’t use a ruse to get in to the house. They will simply walk up and kick in your door (get a kick guard) and come right in.
Create a Safe Room
An essential step in creating a home invasion defense plan is the designation of a safe room. Ideally, this is a room or area of your home with stronger defenses and greater security that the rest of the house. It’s often made with reinforced walls and doors to help protect against intrusion. So even if an intruder breaks in to your home, families can find safety in the safe room.
However, most families don’t have the extra space or the budget to designate a true safe room. You can still create an area of the house that the whole family knows to go to in the event of a home invasion. A guest room or closet would work well.
You want the room to have a secure lock that can be locked from the inside. Also, be sure there are electrical outlets available and store phone chargers and even a laptop or iPad in there. That way, you can communicate with the authorities and access your video cameras remotely to watch the intruders. Purchase an extra panic button for your alarm and have it installed in that room. This allows you to notify the monitoring company that a crime is in progress and the police are needed.
Exits
Of course, there are times when it’s best to exit the home instead of venturing into the safe room. If a burglar or intruder is at the front door, then perhaps it’s best to escape through the back door. Different situations will call for different approaches, so discuss some of the potential scenarios and responses with your family members. The home invaders will attempt to control you within the first 60 seconds so you have to act fast. Have a trigger word that the whole family knows means there is an emergency. And similar to a fire emergency plan, designate a place to meet up if you exit through different means.
Practice, Practice, Practice
When you practice your fire emergency escape plan, review the home invasion defense plan as well. Role play the different home invasion tactics and be sure everyone knows what to do.
We Can Help
Cultris Security Systems can do a security assessment of your home and offer solutions to make it an undesirable target for burglars or home invaders. Call us at 281-506-8466 or visit us online.
