Please note: The content of this article is only to advise you. Should to wish to implement any advice, you do so at your own risk. Please ensure you follow the law at all times.
FEELING SAFE
The distinction here is that for a householder, security is generally just a ‘feeling’ of safety. For the Police or Insurance Company it is a physical barrier or deterrent. This is why after a break-in an owner may never feel ‘secure’ in a property again and often will move, regardless of any new safeguards, alarms or cameras fitted ‘after the event’! I have a friend that cannot leave his elderly wife alone at his farmyard after a break-in, and has to arrange (and pay extra) to take her with him on any overnight business trips.
The second problem after the event is once your Insurance company has paid out for nice, new, replacements for stolen property, the original thief is confident in the knowledge that whatever was good pickings the first time, will be even better a month or so later. It will all have been replaced under ‘New For Old’ policies and therefore more saleable pickings will be available as telly’s don’t seem to be getting smaller each year! Not a pleasant thought, but in reality, they may come back!
DON’T BE LAZY – BE AWARE
Leaving big shiny boxes by your bins after purchase / upgrade / Christmas / birthdays etc broadcasts exactly what new goodies your house contains to ‘ eagle-eyed’, passers-by. Just be careful and cut up boxes into smaller pieces and pack them neatly into your recycle bin or take a run to the local tip (Solihull). There are a lot of “men-in-white-vans” driving slowly around estates looking for ‘opportunities’. Whatever you leave out on your drive indicates what is new inside your property, it may also give them a justified reason to be on your drive unheeded. Wheelie bins left carelessly in the street, on drives or by your gate also gives someone a simple step, up-and-over.
LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR
Sadly a big, unspoken part of home security is making YOUR HOUSE LESS ATTRACTIVE A PROPOSAL THAN THE OTHERS IN THE STREET! So you may find you do have to “keep up with the Joneses”! If your house is as well protected as your neighbours in the street, a burglar may just move on to the next street. If the next street is the same, then Bannerbrook Park becomes very unappealing for the casual criminal and the organised gangs will all learn quickly to look to pastures (estates) new.
