From: ems@Apple.COM (Mike Smith)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Home security tips from a burglar
Date: 16 Sep 92 01:53:13 GMT
Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA

In article <1992Sep8.235019.24033@adobe.com> pngai@adobe.com (Phil Ngai) writes:
>In article 14579@gazette.bcm.tmc.edu, so690561@mbcr.bcm.tmc.edu (Susan Elizabeth Olson) writes:
>>I'm
>>interested to see if anyone else out there comes up with other home
>>security tips that don't involve the purchase of a weapon.
>
>Most of the people I know who own weapons feel this way:
>
>Weapons are to home security as root canel is to dental hygiene:
>you may survive, but you won't feel like it was that much
>better than the alternative.

I'd second this, and add that both are the last resort.  FIRST go
for the flossing ... then the cleaning ... then the caps, then ... 

Now, for something less than a root canal: 

I deliberately leave the front door window less obscured than the
rest of my windows.  That way a potential thief can't see into the
rest of the house well, but can see the Alarm Panel on the entry
way wall and know there is an active alarm system that he can't
get to without opening a door or window first.  I also have several
odd antennas on the roof (like Shortwave Radio) which might make 
him think cutting the phone line won't 'cut it'...

For the poster that commented that there is space between the wall
and the thorn bush and a nice leather jacket will protect the 
thief:  First, my bushes are not trimmed away from the wall more 
than an inch or two.  The roses especially.  Second, the fibres
of jacket and (hopefully) skin left on the thorns will be valuable
evidence in the lab for nailing the perpetrator at trial.

I've been 'bit' by my cactus and roses more times than I care to 
think about.  If *I* was going to 'hit' a house, I'd take one
with no cactus or roses ...  I *like* sculking about in the dark
and really liked doing it when I was a kid.  When a thorn bush 
grabs your pants leg in the dark, all you want to do is get the
hell gone.  I wasn't a crook, just a kid who like playing hide and
seek with friends, but I can't imagine a crook who would say 'Golly,
what nice thorn covered Roses to hide behind and shred my $400 leather
jacket on!' 

Also, paint your house a light color.  It avoids the 'dark shadows
to hide in look' and since most thiefs seem to prefer dark colors,
they will tend to be silouetted on the light backgroud.  (A fact 
that many will notice and may help to convince them to move on to
the next house...)

Remember that the goal is to convince a would be crook that there are
easier houses to hit just down the street.  The motion lights, the
thorns, the light color background, the burlar alarm, the dog barking
(real or on tape hooked to the motion sensor), the KILLER dog dish,
the steel front door with dead bolts, etc.  No single one will stop
a dertermined theif, but at some point they will collectively give
him the sense that this house is a hardened target and it's time to
just walk next door for an easier hit ...

I KNOW this works, since my next door neighbor was broken into, but
we were not.  We have more stuff worth taking.  We were away longer.
We were skipped.  Another breakin happened 4 houses away on the other side.

The next door neighbors were just newly moved into their house (a 
prime time to be hit, btw, since it is a published fact and folks 
KNOW you havn't settled into a security program yet ... and are 
likely to be gone a bit more the usual since you have two places 
to deal with for a while).  They didn't have a dog, or outside 
lights, or light color house, or ...

They now have a big dog that barks at any sound... and outside
floodlights. ...

The method of breakin was interesting, though.  It turns out that
the style of window in the houses in this tract are very cheap.  The
glass is replaced by pulling out a rubber strip that holds the glass
in the frame.  This rubber strip (that runs the perimeter of the window)
is removed FROM THE OUTSIDE!  Then the pane just falls out into your hands.

Got it?  ANY ONE can get in NO MATTER HOW WELL THE FRAME IS SECURED by
removing the pane of glass WITH NO SOUND!  

I suggest checking your windows to see how the glass is removed for
replacement ...  Is it 'run a knife around to cut the caulk' and 
out falls the window?  Is it 'pull out this rubber strip'?  Is it a 
crooks delight?

I'm looking into buying new windows, btw ...



-- 
E. Michael Smith  ems@apple.COM

"Nothing can keep an argument going like two persons who aren't
sure what they're arguing about."   O.A.Battista
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house