Home Security Plan

Home Security Action Plan

Running a home is like running a business - you need a plan. We all seem to lead extremely busy lives - raising children, your job, school activities, and on and on. Having a home plan, and in this case a home security action plan just means you’ve laid out a way to keep your home and family safe and protected to the best of your ability. Having a plan ensures everyone knows what to do in specific situations. You can review the plan from time to time with family members so everyone is still up-to-date and knows what to do.

Here are 10 things to consider as you go about setting up your Home Security Action Plan. Good luck!

pic-of-action-plan-8-19-08-11. Invest in a home security system. Let’s face it - in today’s economy more and more people are out of work (9.4% unemployment). Many of these people are becoming desperate and turning to burglarizing homes. In my 20+ years as a security consultant I have never seen as many violent home invasions that are happening across the country. The initial investment of a home security system with 24-hour protection is minimal compared to any loss you might experience from a home invasion/home burglary crime. When you select an alarm company, be sure to put the alarm yard signs and decals up right away to start the protection. The signs and stickers are a great deterrent because they are the first things the intruder sees as he approaches your property. If you have a reputable alarm company like ADT protecting your home, that’s even more of a major deterrent.

2. Establish a Safe Room in your home. This is a room where everyone can meet if there is a burglary or home invasion robbery, and it should be centrally located near the bedrooms. More than likely it will be the master bedroom area - but each homeowner will determine the precise Safe Room location taking into consideration small children and others in the home. This room should have reinforced doors and deadbolt locks. Keep a fully charged cell phone and a flashlight in the Safe Room in case the phone lines and/or power is cut. If you have an alarm system, keep a remote panic put inside your Safe Room to alert the alarm company of an extreme emergency situation and to send the police immediately. Keep your doors locked until the police arrive or help has arrived.

3. Make a habit of keeping doors and windows locked whether you are home or away. When you become complacent and let your guard down, you become more vulnerable to attack. Locking up is a simple habit that everyone should get into. When you leave the house or go to bed - do a quick walk-through and check doors and windows. Most break-ins happen through an unlocked door. If you have contact sensors on doors and windows, when either is opened and the alarm is OFF your keypad will beep at you so you know someone just came in or went out. If the alarm is ON and a door/window is opened, the alarm is activated and the police notified.

4. Reinforce wimpy hollow doors with solid core wood or steel doors. Be sure to include a one-way peephole if you don’t have sidelights next to your door. Make sure the frame around the door is also reinforced with heavy duty screws. You want to make sure your doors and deadbolt locks can withstand a forceful kick.

5. Update old locks with newer, stronger deadbolt locks. Reinforce strike plates. Use at least four three inch screws to reinforce the plate. Make sure the bolt is at least a 1-1/2 inch long. Since the front door is usually the first point of entry burglars know exactly where to kick the door for it to bust right open. Make these punks work very hard to get into your home. If it’s going to be difficult with a lot of work involved, most intruders will give up and go to an easier home.

6. Add simple common-sense Dowel Rods to your windows and slider doors. Check the number of windows on the main and basement level that either lift up or slide side-to-side to open as well as your slider doors. Then go to your local hardware store and get some dowel rods - about an inch or so in diameter for windows, a more heavy duty diameter dowel rod for slider doors. These rods fit right into the track of the slider door or windows preventing them from opening. The dowel rods are also difficult to see inside the track. You may want to paint or stain the dowel rods to match the door/window trim color.

7. Don’t open your front door unless you know who is there. Make it a habit for everyone in the family-especially children-to follow a simple rule that unless you are expecting someone or can see who is at the front door - DON’T OPEN THE DOOR. When you open the door to strangers or solicitors, you make yourself vulnerable to home invasion intruders and scam artists. Is someone claims they are from a company there to do work, verify identification by calling the place of business. Make sure you have a way to see out either through a sidelight, a window near the door, or through a peephole. Too many home invasion scams are happening right at the front door. You don’t have to open your door to anyone. If you feel unsafe after asking them to go away, call 911.

8. Get a dog. A good barking dog - small or large - is a big deterrent. The intruder may not know the dog’s size and won’t want to deal with a vicious barking dog. A dog can also alert you if someone is messing around your home or is inside your home. I always said there wasn’t any better security than your alarm system and a good barking dog. (Don’t rely solely on your dog as your security system. We’ve seen dirtbag intruders shoot and kill dogs).

9. Keep some type of personal protection near your main entry areas. This could be pepper or Mace spray, a TASER C2, or a Stun Gun. If you have one of these personal protection devices in your home make sure you are properly trained in how to use it. This type of protection may help defend against an intruder. Be sure to keep your non-lethal protection away from children but where you easily reach it in an emergency.

10. Consider taking a self-defense or personal security awareness class. Knowing what to do if faced with a potential attacker can give you a certain amount of confidence and empowerment. The security awareness class reiterates and heightens your awareness and gut instincts to things around you. When you combine this training with your personal protection, the above listed habits, and your security alarm system, you become a formidable homeowner that an intruder will definitely not want to deal with!

Start on your Home Security Action Plan today! Make sure you are positioned to be the home an intruder avoids, or at least his worst nightmare should he enter.

Make it a safe and secure day!

Security and Convenience

Increase security at the touch of a button. Don't fumble for keys when you can lock your door with a push of a button. Unlocking is just as easy with unique access control security.

Tips to ensure your child isn't locked in their car

Between 1998 and 2007, nearly 360 children died as a result of being left alone in a car. By leaving your children unattended in a vehicle for even a few minutes, you are needlessly risking their lives.

With the Florida summer heat on the rise it’s crucial to follow steps to prevent your little one from being locked in the car.

Prevention Steps:

* Never leave your child unattended in a vehicle
* Crack the car door window enough to be able to reach in, in the event you do lock your child in the car you can easily reach in and open the door
* Keep a spare key in your purse (wallet), if you do lock your keys in the car you have a spare on hand
* Keep a stuffed animal or other reminder next to you in the car as a cue that your child is with you
* Make a habit of checking your vehicle before leaving it
* If you see a child left alone in a car, contact the police or 911 immediately

Safety Facts:

* 33% of children who die from being left in a hot car are less than one year old
* Cracking your vehicle’s windows has very little effect on its temperature
* When left in a hot vehicle, a child’s body temperature can increase three to five times as fast as an adult’s
* Children left unattended in a vehicle are at risk of being kidnapped.
* Children left alone in a car can push buttons, disengage the brakes, put the car in gear or even leave the vehicle and walk away.
MAKE IT A SAFE AND SECURE DAY!

Hire a Trusted Locksmith

“I think we have an epidemic of crime growing through the locksmith industry because criminals are realizing why break a window or knock down a door when you can for $50 go get a business card, call yourself a locksmith, then go put the locks in and the safe in, then keep the combination or keep a key for yourself,” Crist said.
Currently, Florida has no regulation of the locksmith services industry. Other states, however, have looked at similar legislation. Both Maryland and Virginia have passed laws to root out phony locksmiths.

The legislation bans anyone from performing locksmith’s work or representing themselves as a locksmith unless their business is licensed, and requires 16 hours of training. Which I can personally tell you from experience is not enough hours of training. There are so many aspects of locksmithing that just isn’t covered in 16 hours. But I will take it, anything is better than nothing at all. I work daily to build a reputation in Flagler and Volusia County and the illegitimate locksmiths are giving everyone a bad name. Our community is being taken advantage of by individuals who don’t have proper, if any, training and are constantly making the keys to peoples home, office, safes, cars, etc. Then next thing you know that person is missing something. The criminal locksmith went back and took what they wanted.

How can you tell if the locksmith you hired is the real deal? Ask for their information! Ask them for their legal business name, if they don’t tell it to you or call themselves “locksmith services” hang up! Call someone else! Ask them if they are insured. Why? Because a locksmith can make a mistake and cause huge damages to your door or car and if they aren’t insured then you are stuck with the bill. A legitimate locksmith is always insured. Another thing you should look for is their business card, do they have one? Do they use an invoice? Is the invoice marked with their logo or business name? If you answer NO to any of these questions, send them on their way. You may be paying less for their services, but is it worth it? Do you really want a complete stranger with no reputation, no insurance, or no business license to have a key to your castle????
We need your help.

Pop-A-Lock is a legitimate locksmith company and wants Florida to require all locksmiths to obtain licenses. Please contact your representative and tell them you want locksmith requirements for your safety!

MAKE IT A SAFE AND SECURE DAY!

Want to stop a Home Invasion?

According to the FBI, 68% of home invasions occur through the front door. Once an intruder enters your home, you have minutes maybe seconds to react. Find your phone, call the police, hide... once you do that it takes minutes for the police to get to you. In that instance, it will feel like a lifetime of waiting to hear those sirens. If you are lucky enough and they get to you before the intruder does you will think twice about your safety.
I recently spoke to Ron Daniels, a retired police officer and creator of The Ultimate Lock. His mission is to have every home owner equipped with a lock that will prevent a home invasion. In his own words "Once they are in, the Police just can't get their fast enough". So we need to prevent them from coming in! But how? Most intruders enter through the front door, they either kick down the door or pick the lock (which can be learned by just about any novice). Doors are not barriers of the home, any door can be kicked down if they aren't equipped properly. That's where The Ultimate Lock comes in. This lock withstands 4000lbs of pressure, not even a police battering ram could get through the front door. Standard doors can only withstand 200lbs of pressure. If an intruder wants in all they have to do is put a little power behind their kick. It also comes with a added bump proof feature, which means no one can pick the lock- you must have the KEY to get in the home.
In the end whats the point of a lock that can withstand up to 4000 pounds of pressure and can still be picked? So ask yourself, can your lock handle a beating like this? Feel safe, feel protected?
Pop-a-lock a nationwide company in all 50 states challenged The Ultimate Lock on what we said it could do. The following video presents pop-a-lock's top 1% of pickers(I was there) in the nation to try and get into the lock through lock picking methods.

Check it out: The Ultimate Lock Challenge
MAKE IT A SAFE AND SECURE DAY!

http://www.theultimatelock.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyLThkmy3pU

News and Security Alerts

News and Security Alerts

24 percent of non-crash related deaths of children are from leaving them in a locked car

According to Kids and Cars, a non-profit organization that lobbies to prevent deaths and injuries of children left unattended in and around cars, 84 children have died just this year from being left in a car unattended. In 2007, 165 children died because they were left unattended in a locked car. In fact, from 2000 to 2007, being left unattended in a locked car was the second-leading cause of non-crash related fatalities in children under 15, and the numbers are on the rise.

Statistics like these are what drives Pop-A-Lock to offer their Emergency Door Unlocking program, a free service for the community that saves the lives of children locked in vehicles every day and has successfully rescued more than 200,000 children since its start in 1991. Provided nationwide in the cities Pop-A-Lock serves, the EDU program offers free car door unlocking when a child is locked in a vehicle or a human life is in danger. Hot or cold temperatures can be devastating inside a locked car, and Pop-A-Lock is committed to keeping children safe and preventing accidents from becoming tragedies.

The company receives countless letters of thanks every day from customers who have benefited from the EDU program. They speak of Pop-A-Lock's success and the need for this service in communities across the nation. In many cities throughout the United States, numerous broadcasting stations proudly make Pop-A-Lock a continuous part of their community service announcements, as well as sponsors of this valuable program.