College Home Security:
Careless Roommates
vs
Home Defense

Careless roommates and dormitory neighbors greatly endanger your home security. No group is any safer than its most careless member – and imposing sensible home security habits on careless people is well nigh impossible.

Especially frustrating are the defiant, know-it-all teenagers and post-teenagers enthralled with newfound freedoms and striving desperately to prove their savoir-faire with wild abandon. After all, as a poet once said, “Each generation comes along living as fast and furiously as though it’s never been done before.”

Student Apartments = Burglar Magnets
Curbside appeal drew them in. Palm trees and swimming pools. Fountains and full parking lots. The District looked the part of the prototypical student apartment complex, and everything seemed above-board to 20-year-old Timothy “T.J.” Pemberton and his father, Stanley. ... One call changed that opinion. “They told me my son had been murdered,” Stanley Pemberton said. “I didn’t get it. It didn’t make any sense. This wasn’t supposed to happen at a place like that.” T.J. was killed in a robbery at The District. ... “College students are popular marks for seasoned criminals. They see students as low-hanging fruit. Students often have this feeling of invincibility, even though they may be in unfamiliar surroundings and away from home for the first time”, said Mark Bonistall, co-founder of PeaceOutsideCampus.org, a nonprofit organization that evaluates the security offerings of off-campus properties nationwide. ... Bonistall said video cameras, extensive lighting, and round-the-clock security should be standard at every complex catering to students. ... Stanley Pemberton said if he had checked the calls for police service at the complex, he wouldn’t have let T.J. sign the lease. “It still remains a shock to me,” he said. “We both looked at each other and said, 'Hey, this looks like a nice place.’ I wish I could take that back.”
Excerpted from The Jacksonville News (FL) – 28 December 2009

Before choosing which school to attend, see www.SecurityOnCampus.org. Before choosing which off-campus property to rent, find a superb security checklist at Peace-Outside-Campus.org > Programs > When Looking for a Place to Live. Also call the local police department and ask for the community officer of that neighborhood to evaluate the crime rate.

Then try to choose sensible roommates who always keep the doors and windows locked. And remember that colleges do not screen students for criminal records – or for common sense.

Always Locked = Common Sense (which is uncommon):

Jalon Lassiter's victims were random targets, many of them college students who were vulnerable because their apartments were left unlocked. He and three other men entered an unlocked home to commit a robbery. The home's eight occupants who had gathered for a birthday party were restrained while three women were raped.
Excerpted from The New Brunswick Home News Tribune (NJ) – 08 July 2004

Parties are very vulnerable to intuders - the doors are usually unlocked. Or, if there's a knock at the door, someone usually opens it without first checking to see who's there. Knock, knock. Who's there? You'd better know...

College students tend to share quarters as though it's an ongoing party with people coming and going at all hours. Home security is a foreign concept to the newly independent. Do you really know and trust whomever happens to be there? Read on...

The Collegetown Creeper has intruded on women's bedrooms 18 times. A Cornell University student woke to the sound of someone inside her apartment. The student reported that her bedroom door was locked, and that the intruder did not gain access to her room, but did spend several minutes walking around inside her residence. ... A police expert, Greg McCrary, said that this type of break-in is common with sexual predators who are pre-targeting their victims. "They do it to make sure who lives there, not to steal - but to select a victim," McCrary said. "'Who's living here? Is it men's stuff or women's stuff?' These guys are typically very inadequate individuals, they want to avoid encountering a male. No men, no rottweilers." ... McCrary also said that escalation of behavior to the point of cutting off clothing and rubbing lubricant onto a sleeping woman's vaginal area, as a victim reported on Sunday, indicates the classic "transitioning" of violent sexual criminals.
Excerpted from The Ithaca Journal (NY) – 18 September 2004

It's easy to fortify your bedroom - see Security-Products - Safe Room - especially if you have careless roommates like these:

A student’s voice trembled with fear and anguish as she frantically described the horrors which befell her housemate around 4 a.m. “Someone’s got in the house,” she told a 911 operator. “My housemate just got raped. He’s got a gun. He told her he’d kill her.” The victim had been sleeping when the intruder entered through an unlocked door.
Excerpted from The Oxford Press (OH) – 09 January 2006

Oxford Police say a man walked through an unlocked door at a home near campus, where five female students live. They say at gunpoint, he robbed and raped one of the women. ... Police are urging students to take basic safety precautions, like locking their doors. But that’s something some students are not used to. Nearby, a household of seven female students say they rarely lock their door. “Our friends walk into the house, and no one gets up to see who it is, you just expect it’s your friend,” one said. ... And students say their friends walk into the house at all hours of the night. They say it’s a matter of convenience, and assumed safety. They don’t think of violent crimes happening in Oxford ... The women say they’re scared after the rape, but they honestly don’t think it will change their habits. And police say these women are not alone. They say a lot of students don’t take the most basic safety precautions.
Excerpted from WXIX-TV19 Cincinnati – 11 January 2006

None are so blind as those who refuse to see the risk of careless home security. Gamble in Vegas, not in your life.

The Best Home Security Products for Burglary Prevention

• Doorstops (a wedge under the door) won't stop a Push-In or a kick-in. But a www.Amazon.com – Doorstop Alarm at least slows unwanted entry as well as alerts you to an intruder.
• Door-brace: leans diagonally from the floor to the door - see www.smarthome.com.
• Doorknob Alarm at www.guarddog.net.
• Motion detector alarm with a siren and strobe-light for in-or-outdoors. See www.smarthome.com.
• Chain-locks (a.k.a. Chain Door Interviewers) allow partial door opening, but are far too flimsy to stop an aggressive Push-In. Instead, use a peephole and a wireless intercom to communicate without risk. See www.SmartHome.com.
• Alarm Systems (wireless) at www.smarthome.com, and www.smarthome.com.
• See Security Products - Personal Devices for Pepper Spray & Devices.
• See Security Products - Safe Room for home security insights.
• See Security Products - Apartment & Dormitory Security for more home security products.

Minimal Safety Rules for Home Security in College
• Keep your doors, windows, and exterior doors locked at all times.
• Have the locks re-keyed by a locksmith when you first move in. Former tenants - and any of their friends - might have a copy of your key! See Vivian in the example at the top of Home Security - Cracks.
• If you lose a room key, change the lock as soon as possible. Any key lent out can be copied (whether or not it’s a “restricted” key).
• When alone, avoid isolated stairways, basements, or laundry rooms.
• Make sure you know who is trying to enter your building before you let them in.
• Report suspicious people or activity immediately to the police.

For the first time, Crime-Safety-Security.com handily classifies all home invasions into five types to help you truly understand home security. To add to the familiar police terms of Break-In, Walk-In, and Push-In, I’ve created two new categories: Scam-In and Mug-In – as shown below:

Home Defense:
burglary prevention and
the best home security products

Safeguard your home security even if you live in Sleepy Valley - predators like to prowl where the prey least expect them.

Prevent the vast majority of home intrusions - whether by burglar or invader by making sure all your family members use these home security strategies. Of course, predators will always find prey – but the most cautious targets will be spared.

HOME SECURITY

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