Criminals are getting smart and you need to get smart too. Burglary is an easy choice and here's why:
- The chances of getting caught are very low as the burglar is in and out of your home in 3 to 5 minutes. They know the national average is 15 minutes for police arrive.
- Evidence is hard to collect and usually the police don't have time to collect evidence anyway.
- According to the FBI Uniform Crime Report the conviction rate for burglaries (property crime) is only 16%. And their chances of serving time is even less.
So what can you do to keep burglars out of your home? Security experts know that the burglar is looking for quick cash. 85% are not professional burglars so they look for the fastest and easiest opportunity they can find. Don't let your home be an easy target. Burglars will spend less than 2 minutes trying to get in. If you can prevent them from getting in for 2 minutes you will keep the burglar from stealing your property and ransacking your home.
By being proactive, you can keep your home from being an easy target. Here are the two biggest targets for criminals: doors and windows.
- Reinforce your outside doors with StrikeMaster II to prevent doorframe failure. 80% of all break-ins come right through an outside door usually with a simple kick. The weakest part of the door is the doorframe. It's made of soft wood that is easily broken when kicked. A deadbolt without a reinforced doorframe is nearly worthless. Available online at www.asafehome.net.
- Put window film on your downstairs windows to make the windows more difficult to break. Breaking a window is not the preferred way to gain access to your home because of the noise but criminals do resort to breaking windows sometimes. Window film makes it much more difficult to break a window. The longer it takes to gain entry the better chance you have that they will give up.
These are inexpensive and simple Do-It-Yourself projects. Remember the best way to protect your home, your family and your belongings is to prevent the criminal from getting in. With a little bit of time and a few inexpensive products you can harden the target. Make the task of breaking into your home so difficult they will give up and move on to easier hunting grounds.
