Home Security

Most residential burglaries are crimes of opportunity. The burglars devote relatively little time to advance planning. The more you do to keep your home from looking like an easy target, the safer it is.

Follow these guidelines to keep your home from looking like an easy target.

• Around the House: All sides of the home should be protected by security lighting. The best location for exterior residential lighting is under the eves of the house. This places them out of reach, and makes ground-level assault more difficult. Security lighting should be automatically controlled by photocell. Photocell bases, which screw into the bulb socket, are available at minimal cost. The bulb is screwed into the photocell base. From that point on the light will illuminate automatically as the sun goes down.

• Over Entry Doors: Each door should be equipped with a light that provide quality illumination in the vicinity of the door, including both sides of the door and porch.

• Carports and Garages: In carports, it is recommended either to leave the light on, have the light on a timer, or have a light connected to a motion sensor or photoelectric cell.

• Motion Lighting: Motion detection lighting is strongly encouraged, particularly in areas where lighting may be considered intrusive to neighbors. They can be selectively aimed to detect motion of an approaching intruder and cause the light to activate. This does two things: First, the sudden presence of the light startles the intruder, leaving him exposed to view. Second the light provides a friendly means to light pathways as you return in the evening.

• Landscaping and Plant Materials: Bushes, trees, and shrubbery can conceal an intruder as he attempts entry into a window, door; or worse yet, as he waits in hiding for the homeowner!

• Keep shrubs and hedges trimmed.

• Thorny bushes and plants under windows will discourage entry from this area.

• Limiting Access: Intruders look for homes that have few or no obstacles blocking a quick exit. Fences can prevent burglars from carrying away large items if the gates are locked.

• House Numbers: House or street numbers on a home should be easily visible from the street. Critical time can be saved by emergency responders when the street address for the house is visible from a distance.

• Electric Power: Exterior electric panels often contain disconnect switches which can totally shut off power to the house. Electric panels should be checked to insure that they are equipped with a disconnect switch lock or other provision that makes it difficult to extinguish power. Homeowners should be encouraged to install a number of wall mounted rechargeable hand-held flashlight units in various locations through out the home.

• Telephones: Accessible lines permit telephone service, and thus the ability to call for help, can be severed by simple wire cutters. The best protection is a cellular telephone that can be used should the telephone lines be taken out of service.

• Doors are usually the burglar's first choice of entry into a home.

• Materials Used: Exterior doors should be of solid core (wood, not composite materials) or steel, 2 ¾ inch thick is preferred.

• Door Viewer: Entry doors should have a wide-angle view, 180 degrees. This allows you to see callers without opening the door.

• Strike Plates: The strike plate is attached to the doorframe. The metal bolt of the door lock slides into the strike plate to secure the door to the doorframe. Heavy-duty strike plates, installed with long screws (ideally at least 3 inches), offer good resistance against force.

• Hinges: If an entry door swings outward, the knuckles of the hinges must be exposed and it may be possible to remove the hinge pins to gain entry. A solution to this problem is to replace hinges that have removable pins with hinges having non-removable pins (available at hardware stores).

• Sliding Glass Doors: Sliding glass doors are easy for a burglar to enter if no remedial action is taken. Often, the door panels can simply be lifted out of the tracks. A solution is to, open the active door and install a number of wood screws in the track, allowing the screw to project down 3/8 to 1/2 inch. Locking bars are ideal to keep sliding glass doors from being pushed open by burglars. A broom or mop handle is ideal to be placed in the bottom track. It should be cut to a length so it fits snugly in track between the wall and the doorframe. A metal bar could also be installed to secure at the middle of the doorframe, and against the back frame of the sliding door.

• The door leading from the garage into the home should be a solid wood or metal core door and should have a good quality deadbolt lock on it.

• If a garage door has a “doggie door”, this can be a means of access for a burglar.

• Never leave garage door openers in vehicles parked outside they can be used for easy access into the garage.

• Always put away tools and equipment, tools and ladders can be used by burglars to gain entry into your home.

• Key-In-Knob Lock

• Deadbolt Lock

• Auxiliary Rim Mounted Lock With Deadbolt

The following are suggestions to better insure keys are properly controlled:

• When moving into a previously occupied home, all exterior doors should be re-keyed.

• Homeowners should keep their keys secured at all times.

• Keys should never be loaned, particularly where strangers are involved.

• Never leave house keys, with vehicle keys at repair shops or valet services.

• Keys and key rings should not be marked or identified in such a way so they can be traced to the owner.

• Never hide a key outside.

• Do not hang keys on hooks within plain view inside the home.

• If keys are stolen, the affected exterior door locks should be re-keyed as soon as possible.

Windows can be another way for a burglar to enter a home. The primary interest in securing windows is to eliminate entry by prying open or breaking a small area of glass to reach a single latch.

• Double Hung Windows: Are the most common type of window found in homes. These consist of two sashes that slide vertically. Factory supplied locks on these windows are easily jimmied or pried open. A simple method to secure double hung windows is to drill a 3/6 inch hole from the inside window sash three quarters of the way through the outside sash at a slight downgrade angle. Then insert a nail or pin into the hole to secure the window. The nail or pin should not be removable with a magnet or tool.

• Horizontal Sliding Glass Windows: These windows are often fabricated from inexpensive and lightweight materials. Like sliding glass doors, sliding glass window sashes can often be lifted from their track. Header stops in the form of screws can be used to remove the space between the top rail of the sash and the track in a way that prevents the sash from being lifted from the track. Once this has been accomplished, a length of wood dowel or blocking lock bar can be installed on the window to prevent the window from sliding.

• Casement, Hopper or Awing Windows: These window styles generally hinge or pivot at one point and the locks used on such windows may have lever handles that actually pull the windows tightly closed. They may also have cranks located on the frame which, when rotated, extends the windows to the open position. In most cases, the locks used with these styles are reasonably secure.

• Jalousie Windows: These types of windows are popular in southern climates because they permit good ventilation are generally a poor security risk. They should be replaced with solid glass or other more secure type of ventilating window.

Intrusion or Burglar alarms can provide valuable protection if installed correctly by a reliable vendor and above all, used responsibly. The existence of alarm systems is a major determining factor in the selection of an intruder's targets; most would prefer to go elsewhere when faced with the possibility of an alarm.

Make an inventory of all your valuables include make, model, serial number and description. If possible engrave items with your drivers license number followed by the state. If items are to small to engrave take pictures and list descriptions.

• Join Neighborhood Watch: Neighbors coming together to report any suspicious activity in there area.

• Keep your community clean: Neglect in the neighborhood sends out the wrong signals.

• Residential and Commercial Security Surveys.

For more information, contact the Community Affairs Section at (904) 810-6603, request more information through our Crime Prevention Information Form or send an email to any of the following:

Sgt Kim Bucher - kbucher@sjso.org (904) 810-6603

Dep Diana Bryant - dibryant@sjso.org (904) 810-6694

Dep Ricky Domingo - rdomingo@sjso.org (904) 810-6747

Dep Melissa Underwood - munderwood@sjso.org (904) 810-3623

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