Home Security News

Neighborhood Watches & Community Crime Prevention More Important Than Ever

While it's important to put in place a home security and safety plan for your house and your property, it's really worth considering your neighborhood as well.  Do you have a neighborhood watch in place and are the majority of homes and yards upkept well?

Various studies have shown that a well-maintained neighborhood and volunteer watch can actually go a lot further toward preventing crime than all the surveillance cameras and pit bulls you can adorn your property with.  And the need for community-involved crime prevention becomes even more important in a down economy when crime tends to go up.

As someone in the CNN article (link below) says, "Nowadays, you have so many people just walking around pretending, leaving fliers, doing marketing surveys or some such baloney. But what they really are doing is looking for opportunities, watching to see who is or isn't in their homes."

Burglars like to do their work when no one is around, so if there's usually someone paying attention to things in your neighborhood (and reporting suspicious activity) the word will get out that this isn't the easiest area to hit.

For more on starting a neighborhood watch or the effectiveness of them, check out the articles below:

CNN: Neighborhood Watches Are on the Front Line in a Bad Economy
How to Start a Neighborhood Watch in Your Community
Neighborhood Watches Can Be Effective Against Crime

Honeywell Water- and Fireproof Safe Protects from Fire, Flood, and Burglars

A safe is a good purchase for the home or office, since it allows you to protect cash, important documents, and other valuables.  Most respectable safes are rated to withstand your typical house fire as well as tampering from would-be thieves, but not all of them can be toted as waterproof as well.

The Honeywell 2087 .94-Cubic-Foot Safe protects against theft, flood, and fire, all of which a homeowner may have to contend with over the course of living in one place.

For security, the safe has concealed hinges to make it pry-resistant, a 4-number combination dial security lock, and four solid steel locking bolts.  For fire reistance, the safe has a UL 1-hour fire rating, which means it will withstand an external temperature of 1700 degrees F while keeping the stuff inside at no more than 350 degrees.  According to the product description, "the safe has been tested by an independent testing lab and verified to protect electronic media including memory sticks, CDs, DVDs and external hard drives" as well as the usual "documents, electronics, and other valuables."

Where the Honeywell safe is unique from many other offerings in the home safe arena is in its waterproof feature.   "The composite construction with water tight seal prevents water damage to the contents caused by flooding or by water used in fighting a fire. This waterproof safe will float making it easy to find during a flood, and it will remain dry inside even if fully submerged."

At less than $150, the safe is relatively affordable.  If you're interested, you can pick one up at Amazon:

 

Honeywell 2087 .94-Cubic-Foot Fire Waterproof Safe with Combination Lock

Affordable Wall Safe Fits Between the Studs for Easy Installation

If you want to secure your valuables, a safe is a smart investment, and a floor safe or wall safe is much wiser than a freestanding unit (which, no matter how heavy, can simply be lifted and walked away with if there's enough manpower involved).  Safes that are sunken into the floor are extremely effective for deterring thieves, but they're also expensive and time-consuming to install (if you're not ready to rip out a section of your floor to do it, they may not be a great option).

Wall safes, on the other hand, still offer a good deal of security, but they aren't as expensive and they are usually less complex to install.

For example, this compact "Stack - On" Between Studs Wall Safe slides right between the studs, so all you have to do is knock out a bit of drywall in order to place it.  Mount it to the studs, and it won't be easy for a thief to remove.  At less than $100, it's quite affordable, and the reviews at Amazon say it's a decent safe for the money. 

The nice thing about a wall safe is it's easy to turn into a hidden safe (a between-the-studs model, in particular, won't have anything sticking out to alert passers by).  If you want to be ultra secretive, you could even put the drywall back over it, but let's assume you may want to access your valuables some day... For the truly hidden effect, just try putting the safe somewhere that isn't obvious (burglars know to look in the master bedroom and behind paintings!).  In the basement behind the water heater might be less obvious.  

Security Door Latch Beefs up Your Home's Doors

The other day we talked about door chains and other ways to make your doors stronger against burglars or anyone else who might try to push in. Another way to improve the security of your entrance is with a door latch.

For example, this brass security door latch from Meranto Technology comes with long screws that you anchor to the door frame. 

The door latch can also be attached up high, so young children who can reach the door knob won't be able to get out of the house when no one is looking.  In other words, the same steps you might take to prevent burglars from getting in can be used for child-proofing your home, so no young-uns can get out!

Number Pad Door Lock Means No More Keys

 One of the biggest home security mistakes people (a lot of people!) make is to have a "hide-a-key" located near their door.  Putting a key to your house--where your family lives and most of your worldly possessions reside--three feet from your door just isn't wise.  If you think professional burglars don't know to look under the door mat, above the door frame, or under that little rock next to the path, you're wrong. 

The most obvious fix for this home security problem is not to have a spare key laying around.  If you're truly concerned that someone in the family is going to lose the key and not be able to get into the house, it makes sense to install something like this number pad door lock.

Installing this attractive Schlage Camelot Deadbolt Keypad (or any number pad door lock) means nobody needs to worry about carrying a house key around any more.  Just program in a code, and your door will open up the same way an ATM works. 

This keyless entry system is easily reprogrammed if you decide you don't want the cleaning lady, eldest son who won't move out, etc. not to know the combination any more (a lot simpler than having locks rekeyed!), and it's only supposed to take 30 minutes to install, so it ought to be a simple weekend project. 

Other perks with the Schlage lock (which is available in a number of finishes, so you can get one that matches your door) include illumination for the keypad (so you can see what you're doing at night), a free-spinning keyway to prevent wrench attacks, and a key override system in case you forget the programming code down the line.

This particular number pad door lock costs about $275, though it's on special for quite a bit less at Amazon as I write this:

Schlage Camelot Deadbolt Keypad

Simple Security Door Chain Is an Easy Upgrade

Of all the home security devices you can install in your home, there's not much simpler (or less expensive) than door hardware.  You can get a lot of bang for your buck though.  A security door chain, for example,  adds an extra layer of protection to your exterior doors and is quite inexpensive to purchase. 

Installation doesn't take much time either.  You can easily install door chains on all your exterior doors in an afternoon. 

Door Chain Options

The National Brass Keyed Chain Door Lock costs less than $6.

For more security, consider this upgrade to the basic door chain: a door limiter.  You've probably seen these in hotels; instead of a chain, there's a solid bar which prevents anyone from entering until you unlock it.

These cost about $12: Heavy-Duty Hotel-Style Door Security Lock

For more door security upgrade ideas, check out this article: Beyond Simple Door Locks

Home Inventory Software Is Inexpensive Yet Valuable

If it's been a while since you updated your homeowners insurance, you may have accumulated more goodies since then, making your coverage a bit outdated.  A good way to determine the value of all your belongings is to get some home inventory software and make a big list.

Not only is an inventory a good idea from a home insurance perspective, but it can be helpful in case you ever are robbed.  You'll be able to efficiently go through everything and figure out what is missing so you can make an accurate report to the police.  That's better than realizing you forgot about some things months down the line.

Home Inventory Software Options

When it comes to home inventory software, there are quite a few options, and they are all fairly inexpensive, running about $20 to $30. 

You can get programs that simply load onto your computer, but if you're worried that your computer could be stolen, it may make sense to sign up with an online home inventory program.  In these cases, your list of goods is stored on a server on the Internet, so you'll still have access to your list, even if your computer is swiped.  Online programs tend to be more expensive since you'll pay an annual fee (usually around $30).

Home Inventory Software Programs

Here are a couple of the options on the market:

Everything I Own by mycroftcomputing.com -- $19.95

Homeowner Site at home.ownersite.com -- $29.95 a year (online storage)