Security in the home

Patrick Bhunu

As I was reading through the Bible on Tuesday, I came across a verse which left me thinking. “But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” — 1 Timothy 5:8 KJV.

This verse is so near, quite reasonably, to the age-old adage that says “charity begins at home”. We have talked about security in business organisations but there are some, in the communities that we live in, who have fallen prey to criminals in ways that could certainly have been avoided had the victims been well informed. Therefore, in this week’s article let us leave the workplace and focus on security in our homes.

The most important thing to note is that criminals are allergic to delays, thus security at homes should be centred on the facets of deterrence and delay.

Deterrence is about creating an environmental defence with the ultimate goal of preventing the criminal from even attempting to attack the property. Delaying is an act of slowing down the criminal through target hardening and physical security solutions.

Criminals usually study their intended targets for days, weeks or even months. Sometimes they hire someone who is very close to their intended victims to provide them with information that they need. Many a time burglaries have been committed by people who have been inside your house before.

It is, therefore, imperative that when you have guests at home that you don’t know well of, usually during parties, ensure that doors to all the bedrooms are locked and do not leave anything of value lying around. Most of the time the criminals will not take anything during the party or function but will return later with their accomplices.

Criminals very well know that absence of signs of movement at a property means that no one is at home. If there are no lights switching on and off, no curtains being moved or there are newspapers accumulating in the letter box or just heaping in the yard, criminals become interested.

It is always good that when people are going away for a couple of days, they assign a very close and trusted person to visit the house at intervals and pick up the newspapers from the letter box or from the yard as well as switching on the lights during the evening and switching them off during the day.

Where the occupiers of the house cannot find or trust anyone to pick up the newspapers from the yard, they can simply stop the supply of the newspapers during the period of absence and the deliveries can be resumed when they are back.

Owning a dog is one of the best deterrent measures one can have. Even a small noisy dog can be very effective because criminals do not want to have attention drawn to their presence. Some may want to point to the fact that dogs are noisy but I would say the louder the better.

Being in good terms with neighbours is also a good measure. Criminals always delight in neighbourhoods where neighbours do not look out for each other, they know that they can get in and out without people noticing that a stranger has been at the place.

In this age of cellphones and WhatsApp groups, it would always be ideal for neighbours to have each other’s contacts or even forming WhatsApp groups where they can easily alert each other whenever there is an attack.

The “Bridge Boys” — those boys that sit on culverts in our neighbourhoods are very helpful and they indirectly provide a free guard service. No criminal would dare enter into a property in the vicinity of those boys and go scot-free.

Great care should also be taken when selling items of property online. We always see people flashing pictures on social media platforms, giving criminals a virtual tour of the whole house, enabling them to see everything that you own and they would be able to use that information to plan their route in and out.

Still on the issue of social media, it is not advisable to post about your vacation on social media. So many people have had their homes broken into because of this. It is only sensible to post the pictures when you have gotten back home.

There are some people who allow their big screen TVs to be seen by passers-by through the windows. These people will simply be advertising to the criminals. But in instances where the set-up of the house allows the valuable property to be seen by those passing by, it is always important to ensure that there are no easy entry points to the house.

You may do that by installing motion sensing flood lights outside the house or even around the perimeter wall. Put up burglar bars on all exterior doors as well as windows. Criminals always want to be in and out as fast as possible and if a house has a lot of physical barriers, they move elsewhere.

Alarm systems, security cameras are able measures as well, if one can afford them. Tools that we use can also be used by criminals against us. Tools such as crow bars or ladders need to be stored in locked sheds, lest you will be making the lives of the criminals easy.

It is a risk to move around with equipment and as such criminals will utilise what they find in your yard. It should also be a religion to put identifying marks on one’s property. Criminals avoid things that are easy to identify.

One other important thing that people take lightly is when they move into a new property. Whenever people move into a new home, they should change all the locks. When you lose your keys, it is also advisable that you change locks immediately.

As my closing prayer, I would like to say your house is only as strong as its weakest point. Try to ensure that all the entry points to your property are secured enough. You can simply act as the criminal as you go round your property and I am sure you will come across weak points that need to be strengthened.

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