4 Approaches to Home Security
Why Iron Barriers are the Best Option
When it comes to home security, you can never have enough protection. Many people assume that an alarm system is all you would ever need to protect your family and belongings in the event an intruder wants to get in. However, many of the protections that you imagine would keep your house safe take a REactive approach. That is to say that the alarm sounds only AFTER an intruder has breached your home. There are many other things you can do to protect yourself from harm and that includes a mixture of PROactive and REactive approaches.
- Protective Iron Barriers (proactive)
- Lighting - Landscape or House (proactive)
- Dog/Weapons (reactive)
- Alarm System/Video Surveillance (reactive)
Home invasions are one of the most emotionally disturbing events that could happen to a person leaving you feeling violated and vulnerable. According to a report by the Arizona Department of Public Safety, there were 48,169 Arizona burglaries in 2010 and 2,159,878 nationally. A burglary is defined as:
...the unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or theft. The use of force to gain entry is not required to classify the crime as a burglary. A structure is considered to include, but not limited to, the following: dwelling houses, apartments, public buildings, offices, barns, cabins, etc. Burglary is divided into three subclassifications: forcible entry, unlawful entry where no force is used, and attempted forcible entry.
Many of the unlawful entries in Arizona (39%) required NO FORCE at all which means that those homes were unprotected by a physical barrier, presenting no challenge to the "bad guys". Alarms can be a deterrent, but savvy burglars can outsmart these systems and false alarms often make police departments slow to respond, giving an intruder just enough time to snipe the swag and make a fast getaway. In fact, one report suggested as many as 98% of alarm calls made to police departments were false!!
Dogs can be persuaded not to react with a juicy bone and a pat on the head. My own dog shows her teeth and acts really scary, making a lot of noise when I am home. I recently learned, though, that when we hired a dog-sitter to come and check the mail and feed our "house guard" while we were away on vacation, she ran and hid behind the air conditioner unit in the back yard each time her caregiver came to visit! Not so reassuring! More than likely the dog-sitter would have been licked to death had she actually approached the dog!
Exterior lighting can help deter an intruder from approaching your home but homeowners generally use lighting on the front of their homes and a burglar's preferred entry point is a back sliding door where they are often able to operate under cover of darkness and privacy from neighbors watchful eyes. Lights deter, but do not prevent an intruder from getting access to your home.
Stop intruders before they enter your home with a First Impression physical iron barrier. The mere presence of these products sends a message to a potential intruder that your home is secure, not to mention the functionality of keeping them from entering. When the burglar sees this visual cue it tells them to choose another house. If there is an iron door, gate, fence or window guard on the home, they are much more likely to select an easier target since they prefer the path of least resistance.
It's always better to use as many security methods as you can accommodate, and the more proactive you can be, the more effective your home security measures are. Far better to prevent a home intrusion by stopping a thief from even entering your home to begin with.
Protect your home and family today with a free consultation by First Impression. Call today and we can make some recommendations that will increase the security of where you live and work. Call 1-800-361-7989 and speak with a Design Consultant NOW!
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