There is nothing more terrifying than being woken up in the middle of the night by strange noises coming from within your own home. A heartless criminal fresh out of prison just entered your home uninvited with the worst intentions. You do not know what to do, your are having difficulty breathing, gasping for air in a desperate attempt to gain your composure. Your joints stiff up out of fear as you try arduously to get out of bed to see what is going on. Criminals have the upper hand in this kind of situations as they bring a firearm or a knife along to be able to subdue you and your family as quickly as possible. A worst case scenario is if they tie you up and gag your mouth with some type of cloth so you won't be able to scream out for help.



Sounds familiar?

Hollywood has done a terrific job in reenacting this horrific scene about home invasions in films such as "Wait Until Dark", "Straw Dogs" and most recent "Panic Room"(2002). Truth is they could not have done a better job in recreating a real life situation that could cost you your life. Too often we hear about this horrific crime happening all over our nation without taking the necessary precautions to secure our homes.

Therefore, the question is what should we do to prevent a home invasion?

Here are some things we can do to reduce the potential dangers of a home invasion.

Number one inspect all doors in your home thoroughly to make sure they close and lock properly. Check bedrooms, bathrooms, closet and give special attention to your front and back door. Doors that are exposed to passbyers could be a vulnerable point of entry if the locks do not work correctly. You will be surprised how effective this could turn out, just imagine a person chasing after you with a knife, running into the first room you find and lock yourself in. I do not think a crook will spend valuable time into braking the door down to get to you instead he would grab whatever he can and run out.

Number two inspect all windows from inside and out of your home. Try opening one using a bit of force,(NOTE: Do not over do it, or you will find yourself buying a new window). If you are successful in any of the attempts replace the faulty window immediately with a more secure model. You should be able to find one that fits your needs in any home improvement store.

Number three install a house alarm system. This is probably the most expensive of all other options, but by far most effective. Once the security alarm system is installed the company will usually place a sticker logo on your front door or a sign out in your front lawn. The logo is a warning to criminals that you are being protected 24/7 and is not going to be easy if they try to break into your home. It takes a real professional to deactivate an alarm system and most likely is not going to happen.

Another way to prevent a home invasion and becoming a hostage in your own home is to build a security room; best known as a panic room. A panic room is a concrete room built specially to keep criminals out. It is built with 2" rebar in between the cement walls with an underground phone line and a metal vault door with an internal release for outside access. Meaning you can lock yourself in Without having to use the combination and, at any giving moment you can unlock it from the inside to leave the room. You can also use a security room as a storm shelter or bomb shelter.

Whether you decide to fix the locks on your doors, replace broken or unsecured windows, install an alarm system or build a security room it is important to be conscious and well informed of the dangers surrounding our neighborhoods.

Lastly, and most importantly do not wait until something tragic happens to you. Prevention is the key.