Because of the tremendous number of actions you can take to improve the safety and security of your home and family, it is helpful to organize these security upgrades into categories. While other security professionals may have different methods of arriving at much the same place, I have chosen to divide my list of security improvements into four categories. Those categories are fortifications, deterrents, practices, and responses.
First up are fortifications, which is often the first thing people think of when they think of security improvements at home. Fortifications are things that restrict a criminal or other unauthorized person’s access to you or your property. In a residential or small business setting, this type of improvement includes upgrading locks, securing sliding doors, securing windows, securing garage doors, pinning hinges, solid core doors, fences, gates, bars over windows, and the like. Note that while most of what I refer to as fortifications apply to locations, they also include padlocks on lockers or luggage, or passwords to access computers or accounts, as these also restrict access. Many fortifications obviously fall under the home security category and are available here.
Next are deterrents. As you probably guessed, these are security improvements that deter criminal activity targeted toward you or your property. It is often much easier to make a criminal choose another victim than to resist an attack head on. Deterrents include anything which makes a criminal’s activities more difficult, less profitable, or more likely to result in detection and capture. Deterrents also include those actions you can take to convince potential criminals that it may be more difficult for them. Alarms, surveillance systems, Neighborhood Watch, Business Watch, or similar groups, interior timer lights, motion detector exterior lighting, keeping valuables secured out of sight, and alarm signs and stickers are all examples of deterrents.
Practices are a very important category, as they are often the security improvements that travel with you, improving your safety no matter where you are. As the name entails, practices are actions taken by you in order to reduce the likelihood of becoming the victim of a crime. I have listed many of the personal security practices I recommend on this page. The most basic of these are maintaining an awareness of your surroundings and locking the doors. Do you begin to see how many of these are related? If you don’t lock the doors, the locks don’t restrict access, negating the most basic fortification of your home. Other examples of practices include parking in well lit areas, avoiding known trouble spots, not displaying cash or valuables, carrying a cell phone, promptly cleaning graffiti and repairing vandalism (after reporting of course), not disclosing your absence from home via social media, and travelling in groups when appropriate. The final practice mentioned leads directly into the final category.
If after all of this you are targeted by a criminal, it will be necessary to respond in the manner most likely to keep you safe. By maintaining an awareness of your surroundings, you are often able to respond to an imminent threat, instead of after the fact. As one might guess, it is very much preferable to respond sooner, as this gives you far more options. You could call for help, escape into a locked car or secured building, prepare yourself to meet a physical attack, activate an alarm or otherwise attract attention, or even deter the criminal merely by making it obvious that you have seen them. If you do not see the threat coming, then often your only choice is to call the police after the criminal departs. If you are able to, that is. Click here for information on self defense that obviously falls under this heading.
Many, if not most, of the security improvements I will share with you fall into more than one category, or require more than one category for optimum performance. Any fortification, practice, or response that is visible to others is also a deterrent. Many fortifications or responses are maximized in their effectiveness when combined with the appropriate practices. There is a place for all of these and it is up to you to decide which are appropriate for your circumstances, though I do hope you’ll choose several from each category. Apply them one at a time, and keep adding Crime Repellent until you are comfortable your local criminals are likely to pick on someone else.